Soccer

Martello Sky puts herself in Mares' Hurdle picture

The Mares’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival will be next for Martello Sky after winning in the Unibet 3 Uniboosts A Day Mares’ Hurdle at Sandown Park on Saturday January 8.

The Lucy Wadham-trained six-year-old, who did not look happy on the testing ground at the Esher track, got on top as they turned for home and stayed on well up the hill to claim a comfortable success.

The mare has now won three of her four starts this term and, having claimed this Listed win, she is entitled to take her place in the big race in March.

The victory earned a 12-1 quote Planetsport Bet for Cheltenham, and winning trainer Lucy Wadham said: "That was an amazing performance. Aidan said she hated the ground.

"Down the back he was wondering if he was going to pull up. Anyway, once she got in amongst horses she just took off and he just actually ended up hitting the front a bit soon on her probably.
"She is just very tough. The improvement has been fantastic and we were well in at the weights today, but she has defied the odds to do that. She will probably have a break now until Cheltenham and we will look at the Mares' Hurdle.
"She loves her racing. I said to Aidan that if she is hating it not to give her a hard race and when he got her back in the race she has just taken off. She is so much more relaxed than she used to be - she used to be a little bit keen - but now you can switch her off and that helps.

When you have a filly like that who loves her racing, you can't go wrong and we are so lucky to have her.

She added: "There isn't much for her in between now and Cheltenham. We could go to Warwick which is another Listed, so I think we'll wait as she has had a couple of hard races."

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