We're excited to share with you that we've declared Lady Mendoza for the Novices’ Hurdle at Catterick, which is the first race on the card at 12:40 on New Years Day.

We’ve been on the lookout for a nice race for her for a few weeks now, and hopefully this is the right one for her. Jamie Snowden runs a nice horse called Park This One, who finished fourth in a Grade 3 at Sandown last time, so he seemingly sets the standard, but with his penalty and Lady Mendoza’s allowance, she’ll be getting plenty of weight from him.

Donald McCain and John McConnell had a few nice horses entered, but it looks like they are going elsewhere, so it looks a good opportunity for us. It might be that she bumps in to a good one on the day in the shape of Jamie Snowden’s horse, but even if she’s placed, we’d be confident of finding a nice Mares’ maiden or novice race that she could win next time.

The forecast is mixed around Catterick over the next couple of days, but hopefully there’s not too much rain between now and the race, and as long as the ground isn’t bottomless, then I’d certainly be hopeful of a nice run from her.

She’s been really pleasing us at home lately, so fingers crossed everything goes to plan, and I look forward to meeting all of the winners from the Owner for the Day competition at Catterick.

Rebecca Menzies