All The Glory made the long journey from Jackdaws Castle to Musselburgh once more last weekend, as she took part in the Go North Lady Buttons Series Final over 2m4f.

Our eight-year-old mare qualified for the series by running three times in the north this season, including a victory over course and distance at Musselburgh's season opening meeting. Since winning that contest, this race was always one of the targets for the tail-end of the season, as there was a valuable pot on offer for the Class 2 contest. 

It was never going to be an easy race for All The Glory, given the prize money on offer, but it was made even harder when the initial entries for the final were made and it transpired that our mare was due to carry a massive 12st 5lbs for the race, due to her lofty rating of 135. As soon as the weights for the race came out, Jonjo & AJ O'Neill wasted no time in enlisting the talents of their stable conditional jockey, Benjamin Macey, to ride All The Glory and take a valuable 7lbs off her back in the process. 

All The Glory took up her usual position in the rear of the field, well in touch with the leading group, and ahead of the favourite in the race, Rockola Vogue. Everything was going well, until the runners approached the final bend of the race at the top of the Musselburgh track, which is notoriously tight and a favourable position is required. This was the point in which the field all began to jockey for position, and Benjamin Macey couldn't quite find a gap between runners and was forced four wide, losing a lot of ground in the process. From that point on, carrying the weight that she was, the task to get to the front was going to be difficult, and unfortunately she weakened when approaching the second last and finished in sixth position of the eight runners.

All The Glory's Owners for the Day were treated to a fantastic day at Musselburgh, for a great card full of excellent racing, whilst enjoying all of the benefits of racehorse ownership, ending in a share of the prize money on offer for sixth place in the race.

We caught up with AJ O'Neill after the contest and he said this: 

'All The Glory was absolutely fine the morning after her Musselburgh run, and she trotted up OK, so although we don’t believe there were any physical issues that affected her performance, we are getting her blood tested and her trachea washed on Monday to just rule out any problems.

More likely the disappointing run was down to a combination of carrying top weight, and during the race she was taken wider than we’d have ideally liked turning into the home straight. That meant it was hard for her to remain competitive with the leaders, but she stuck her neck out well and kept plugging on as she always does.

Cheltenham next month was always a target, so we’ll get the test results later in the week, and then we’ll be in a better position to know if that’s a realistic aim.'

Check back soon to see whether All The Glory will head to Cheltenham for the Mares' Challenger Series Final on April 17th. 

You can see how the day unfolded, including interviews with trainer AJ O'Neill and jockey Benjamin Macey in the video above.