AFTER Green Impact won the Group 2 Champions Juvenile Stakes last September, trainer Jessica Harrington said: “We can dream all winter,” and connections’ hopes remain high ahead of his Betfred 2000 Guineas (3.35) tilt at Newmarket.

It was clear at Leopardstown that Marc Chan’s imposing homebred would improve with time, and when speaking to The Irish Field, Harrington confirmed her charge has developed well physically.

“I think he’s done well, I’m happy with him,” the trainer commented. “Physically, he’s grown and thickened and done everything you would want him to do. He seems a stronger horse this year.”

Unlike some of today’s rivals, the Wootton Bassett colt is proven over the ground and trip, adding to connections’ confidence. “It’s good ground, which is perfect,” Harrington noted. “He’s won on good ground, he’s won on good-to-firm ground, he’s gone a mile. I think he’s speedy enough, and he should stay well; it’s a strong mile there and I think that will suit him.”

Harrington went close in the classic four years ago, when Group 1-winning juvenile Lucky Vega chased home Poetic Flare and Master Of The Seas, under Shane Foley. Should Green Impact prove successful, it would mark a first British classic for Foley and Harrington, who previously won the Irish Oaks with Magical Lagoon, while the trainer also won the Irish 1000 Guineas with Alpha Centauri.

The road to Newmarket

Marc Chan’s racing manager, Jamie McCalmont, was similarly optimistic when speaking to The Irish Field. “I think he’s had a very good preparation for the race,” the bloodstock agent reflected.

“Potentially, we think he’s a horse that will be better over further distance, but we don’t know that for a fact. None of the horses in the race have probably ever run on ground this firm, so that’s all new territory for everyone.”

“It’s great to have a horse that you feel has a shot running in a classic race,” McCalmont says, while recognising the luck that’s involved to get to this point. “When you make a plan in September for a horse and now, on May 2nd, you’re still on that plan. As you well know, in this business nine times out of 10, that doesn’t work. Something goes wrong and you don’t get there, so it’s just pleasing to have got this far.

“We’re going to see how good he is tomorrow. You only hope he’s competitive at that Group 1 level and they’ve always thought he was of that kind of level. In a way, the dream is still alive here, because you’re in uncharted waters, per se.”

Saturday’s test holds extra significance for Marc Chan, as Green Impact is the Hong Kong-based owner’s first ever homebred, bred out of Emerald Green, who was bought by McCalmont for 475,000gns at the Tattersalls December Mares Sale.

“He was very keen to get a Galileo mare,” McCalmont explains. “I tried on a couple in Kentucky first, and then there was a handful of mares carrying their first foal, which was really what he was looking for.

“Without that kind of input, then this would have never really happened - he was the one that wanted the Galileo mare. That’s exciting for him to be able to be that much a part of the whole process.”