Scope for improvement for Lady Mendoza following her chase debut at Hexham
08 Oct 2024
Lady Mendoza made her long awaited chasing debut last Friday in a three mile contest at Hexham.
The plan had long been in the mind of trainer Rebecca Menzies to send Lady Mendoza over fences, but a combination of minor injuries, as well as unsuitable ground meant that it proved difficult to get a string of runs over hurdles into our mare, to give her the best possible chance of being fully fit on debut.
It wasn't to be on the day however on Friday, as Lady Mendoza failed to jump off in line with the rest of the field and compounded that error with a mistake at the first fence, which put her on the back foot immediately. Nathan Moscrop was called into action early in the race as a result, and tried to cajole the seven-year-old into a rhythm to get back into the race, but was essentially unable to do so, with Lady Mendoza taking up position at the back of the field for the entire contest.
Hexham is certainly not the easiest of tracks to make your chase debut at with the undulations and efficient fences, so there's no doubt that Lady Mendoza will have learned a lot from the experience, and it was positive to see her continue jumping and galloping all the way to the finish line where she eventually came home in 8th place. (12 ran)
WATCH: Nathan Moscrop gives an honest review of Lady Mendoza's chase debut
Trainer Rebecca Menzies had this to say after the race:
"The good news is Lady Mendoza was fine after the race. She downed tools at an early stage after making a mistake at the first and just didn’t enjoy the hustle and bustle of the big field on her first start over fences.
It’s frustrating as she’s a million dollars at home, as well as we can have her, and everything she does at home tells us she’s capable of even better on the track.
So we’ll go again, and look for another race at the end of October where we can hopefully find a smaller field where she’ll get a bit more time and space to run her race. She jumps fences well at home, and won an Irish point to point, so she’s definitely got what it takes to be an effective staying chaser."
Stay tuned for the next update from Howe Hills as we wait to find out the next race target for Lady M, where hopefully she'll be able to get her preferred conditions and be able to prove her ability over fences.
The plan had long been in the mind of trainer Rebecca Menzies to send Lady Mendoza over fences, but a combination of minor injuries, as well as unsuitable ground meant that it proved difficult to get a string of runs over hurdles into our mare, to give her the best possible chance of being fully fit on debut.
It wasn't to be on the day however on Friday, as Lady Mendoza failed to jump off in line with the rest of the field and compounded that error with a mistake at the first fence, which put her on the back foot immediately. Nathan Moscrop was called into action early in the race as a result, and tried to cajole the seven-year-old into a rhythm to get back into the race, but was essentially unable to do so, with Lady Mendoza taking up position at the back of the field for the entire contest.
Hexham is certainly not the easiest of tracks to make your chase debut at with the undulations and efficient fences, so there's no doubt that Lady Mendoza will have learned a lot from the experience, and it was positive to see her continue jumping and galloping all the way to the finish line where she eventually came home in 8th place. (12 ran)
WATCH: Nathan Moscrop gives an honest review of Lady Mendoza's chase debut
Trainer Rebecca Menzies had this to say after the race:
"The good news is Lady Mendoza was fine after the race. She downed tools at an early stage after making a mistake at the first and just didn’t enjoy the hustle and bustle of the big field on her first start over fences.
It’s frustrating as she’s a million dollars at home, as well as we can have her, and everything she does at home tells us she’s capable of even better on the track.
So we’ll go again, and look for another race at the end of October where we can hopefully find a smaller field where she’ll get a bit more time and space to run her race. She jumps fences well at home, and won an Irish point to point, so she’s definitely got what it takes to be an effective staying chaser."
Stay tuned for the next update from Howe Hills as we wait to find out the next race target for Lady M, where hopefully she'll be able to get her preferred conditions and be able to prove her ability over fences.
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