Saturday was a day to remember for the Coral Racing Club, as our six-year-old mare, Hey Day Baby, who's trained by A J & Jonjo O'Neill, finally put it all together with an impressive victory at Market Rasen in the Class 5 Handicap Chase (19:20).

It was only Hey Day Baby's second start over fences having been pulled up on her chase debut at Uttoxeter at the beginning of June, and she still had lots to prove having showed little over hurdles previously.

However, the team at Jackdaws Castle had been very complimentary of Hey Day Baby's schooling work at home after they decided to focus her efforts over the larger obstacles, but obviously repeating it on the racecourse in competitive action is a much bigger ask.

After getting pulled up last time out, the handicapper dropped her handicap mark down to 69, and with young conditional jockey Ben Macey claiming 10lbs, she was essentially running with two stone less on her back than the well fancied favourite, Unwanted Attention. But as we mentioned previously, she still had a lot to prove, not only with her jumping, but also with her ability to settle better and ensure she didn't empty her tank too early as she has done previously.


Hey Day Baby's Owners in the Winners Enclosure on Saturday

To his credit, Ben Macey, who rode Hey Day Baby at Uttoxeter, gave her a brilliant ride. They went a fast gallop, which definitely helped, and he just allowed her to settle in behind the leaders, and once their stamina started to run out, he picked them off with minimal fuss. Hey Day Baby's jumping throughout was almost faultless, and if she can continue to perform like that, we'll hopefully see plenty more exciting days at the races with her like we did on Saturday.

The handicapper was certainly impressed with what they saw, as Hey Day Baby has been raised a whopping 12lbs in the ratings, which means the next time she runs, it'll be off a mark of 81.

It was great to see some of Hey Day Baby's lucky Owners for the Day at Market Rasen on Saturday, and they got to reap the rewards of their prize as the result meant each of the 10 members who were selected via our Owner for the Day competition which we ran back in June, got to take home £334!

Tune into our latest Raceday Highlights video to watch all the action, including a post-race interview with trainer A J O'Neill and jockey Ben Macey.