Raceday LIVE – Lady Mendoza
Newcastle,
Thu 31 Oct 2024 15:45
Related horse(s):
Lady Mendoza
Lady Mendoza makes her second start over fences today in the Class 4 Handicap Chase (15:45) over two miles, seven and a half furlongs at Newcastle.
Read our Raceday LIVE Preview below and join us ahead of the race for all the build-up and live updates from the track with the team and Lady Mendoza's lucky owners for the day across our social channels on X (@coral) and Instagram (@coralofficial).
Raceday LIVE Preview
Lady Mendoza returns to the track where she made her debut under rules, as she heads back to Newcastle for the third time in her career this afternoon. She came close to winning on her first ever run for the Club back in November 2022 over hurdles, finishing second after having led until a mistake two hurdles from home slowed her down, opening the door for odds-on favourite, I Am Gonna Be, to claim the victory.
WATCH: Highlights from Lady Mendoza's debut at Newcastle
Following on from that debut, Lady Mendoza ran a further eight times over hurdles and she has been incredibly consistent in those efforts, finishing in the top four on five separate occasions, including a second place finish at Musselburgh just under a year ago after a 166-day break.
Our Rebecca Menzies-trained mare was bought following an impressive four length victory in a point-to-point race two years ago and was always going to end up as a chaser. In fact, we possibly could've seen Lady Mendoza make her chase debut much earlier than we did just a few weeks ago, but a combination of unfavourable ground, minor setbacks and a quiet summer chasing schedule kept her from taking on the bigger obstacles sooner.
Coral Racing Club members at last month's stable visit at Rebecca's yard
Our mare finally made her belated chase debut earlier this month at Hexham in a three mile contest. However, the race didn't quite go to plan after the Daragh Bourke trained Steps Match set a blistering pace from the front, which put Lady Mendoza out of her comfort zone from the start. Throughout the race she struggled to get into any sort of rhythm, and the fences Hexham can be quite unforgiving if you don't find your feet early on.
Although it was a difficult start to life over the bigger obstacles for our seven-year-old mare, we're sure there's still plenty more to come once she gains more experience and gets conditions to suit.
WATCH: Nathan Moscrop shares his thoughts on Lady Mendoza's chase debut
Brian Hughes resumes his partnership with Lady Mendoza today, with Nathan riding Jimli's Island for Susan Corbett. Brian knows Lady Mendoza well having previously ridden her in two races over hurdles last year in which she finished fifth here at Newcastle, before a solid third place finish over today's distance at Uttoxeter.
The ground is currently reported to be Good with no rain in the forecast prior to racing which should suit Lady Mendoza.
Raceday Update from Rebecca Menzies
Lady Mendoza is in really good nick at home, as she is every time we go into a run with her in recent times! She was disappointing in her last run, she didn’t jump with any fluency or confidence, and that did surprise us, as at home she really attacks the fences, if anything she can be a bit over brave and take off from outside the wings. At Hexham she was over cautious, and just didn’t look like she was enjoying it.
We’ve tried to keep her quite fresh at home, we are now able to use the grass gallop here again, so we worked her over a mile yesterday, and that freshened up her routine. The girl who was riding her was struggling to walk her back in, she was really bouncing, she looks fantastic, and we couldn’t be happier with her.
I had a chat with Brian Hughes, and he’s happy to let her do her own thing a bit more today, let her get into her own rhythm, and not force her too much, which will be different to how we rode her at Hexham. That said, we really do need her to show on the track what she shows at home over fences, otherwise we will have to look at going back over hurdles.
She is very well handicapped, and will love the good ground, so if it does all click with her, she could easily outrun her odds. Let’s just hope she got out of the right side of the bed this morning!
Lady Mendoza's Owners for the Day
As winners of the Owner for the Day competition, 10 lucky Coral Racing Club members have been given the chance to enjoy an exclusive owners experience for Lady Mendoza's run at Newcastle this afternoon.
Each winner, along with a guest of their choosing, will receive free entry to Newcastle Racecourse, including exclusive access to Owners & Trainers areas. They'll have the opportunity to meet Lady Mendoza and the Rebecca Menzies team, plus get to head into the parade ring before the race begins to be amongst all the other owners, trainers and jockeys. And last but by no means least, each winner will get to take home an equal 10% split of any prize money won by Lady Mendoza.
Today's Class 5 contest is worth £8,900 in total, with the winner set to scoop £4,700 for their lucky owners.
2nd: £2,162 | 3rd: £1,081 | 4th: £541 | 5th: £269
Trainer and jockey form
Rebecca Menzies has been busy in both codes over the last fortnight, with runners on both the flat and over the jumps. However, from those 35 runs she's only managed to saddle one winner, coming on the all-weather here at Newcastle. She has had nine placed finishers in that time period, with two horses finishing third yesterday. Today's course has been a happy hunting ground for the Sedgefield based trainer, with 30 of her career wins coming at Newcastle from 178 rides. Lady Mendoza will be her second horse over jumps to head to Gosforth Park this season, after Boomslang runs an hour before her this afternoon.
Brian Hughes has ridden four winners in the last fortnight, with the most recent coming at Ayr three days ago. Lady Mendoza will also be the second ride he's had for the Coral Racing Club in the last two days, after having ridden Cave Article at Fakenham yesterday, finishing fifth of ten runners. Brian Hughes operates at an 18% strike-rate at Newcastle, with 116 winners from 649 rides in his career, and today will be the first time he's made the trip to the course this season. He also has an 18% strike-rate when riding for Rebecca Menzies, winning 29 times for the trainer in his career from 164 rides, with 5 of those rides coming this season without a winner.
Chris Dixon, Racing TV Analyst, breaks down today's race and previews Lady Mendoza's chances in the contest
I expected a bit better from Lady Mendoza when she made the move to chasing at Hexham last time as she looked the type to improve for larger obstacles given her background in point to points. That progress didn’t materialise but perhaps the lack of cheekpieces backfired that day as she didn’t travel with any sort of zip. Bearing in mind the promise of her previous run when returning from a break at Perth, a track that didn’t seem likely to provide her with her optimum test, then I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see her show more here with the headgear reapplied.
Chemical Warfare has been on a great run of form and looks sure to be a big player under the Champion Jockey Harry Cobden for trainer David Pipe who rarely bothers to send runners all the way up to Newcastle while Ginger Pointe went like a well-handicapped horse for a long way at Market Rasen last time ands is well worth treating as a danger to all after that run.
15:45 NEWCASTLE – LATEST ODDS
We hope you enjoyed reading today's Raceday LIVE Preview. Don't forget to tune in just before 15:45 to watch Lady Mendoza's next run for the club live on the Coral Sports app.
Read our Raceday LIVE Preview below and join us ahead of the race for all the build-up and live updates from the track with the team and Lady Mendoza's lucky owners for the day across our social channels on X (@coral) and Instagram (@coralofficial).
Raceday LIVE Preview
Lady Mendoza returns to the track where she made her debut under rules, as she heads back to Newcastle for the third time in her career this afternoon. She came close to winning on her first ever run for the Club back in November 2022 over hurdles, finishing second after having led until a mistake two hurdles from home slowed her down, opening the door for odds-on favourite, I Am Gonna Be, to claim the victory.
WATCH: Highlights from Lady Mendoza's debut at Newcastle
Following on from that debut, Lady Mendoza ran a further eight times over hurdles and she has been incredibly consistent in those efforts, finishing in the top four on five separate occasions, including a second place finish at Musselburgh just under a year ago after a 166-day break.
Our Rebecca Menzies-trained mare was bought following an impressive four length victory in a point-to-point race two years ago and was always going to end up as a chaser. In fact, we possibly could've seen Lady Mendoza make her chase debut much earlier than we did just a few weeks ago, but a combination of unfavourable ground, minor setbacks and a quiet summer chasing schedule kept her from taking on the bigger obstacles sooner.
Coral Racing Club members at last month's stable visit at Rebecca's yard
Our mare finally made her belated chase debut earlier this month at Hexham in a three mile contest. However, the race didn't quite go to plan after the Daragh Bourke trained Steps Match set a blistering pace from the front, which put Lady Mendoza out of her comfort zone from the start. Throughout the race she struggled to get into any sort of rhythm, and the fences Hexham can be quite unforgiving if you don't find your feet early on.
Although it was a difficult start to life over the bigger obstacles for our seven-year-old mare, we're sure there's still plenty more to come once she gains more experience and gets conditions to suit.
WATCH: Nathan Moscrop shares his thoughts on Lady Mendoza's chase debut
Brian Hughes resumes his partnership with Lady Mendoza today, with Nathan riding Jimli's Island for Susan Corbett. Brian knows Lady Mendoza well having previously ridden her in two races over hurdles last year in which she finished fifth here at Newcastle, before a solid third place finish over today's distance at Uttoxeter.
The ground is currently reported to be Good with no rain in the forecast prior to racing which should suit Lady Mendoza.
Raceday Update from Rebecca Menzies
Lady Mendoza is in really good nick at home, as she is every time we go into a run with her in recent times! She was disappointing in her last run, she didn’t jump with any fluency or confidence, and that did surprise us, as at home she really attacks the fences, if anything she can be a bit over brave and take off from outside the wings. At Hexham she was over cautious, and just didn’t look like she was enjoying it.
We’ve tried to keep her quite fresh at home, we are now able to use the grass gallop here again, so we worked her over a mile yesterday, and that freshened up her routine. The girl who was riding her was struggling to walk her back in, she was really bouncing, she looks fantastic, and we couldn’t be happier with her.
I had a chat with Brian Hughes, and he’s happy to let her do her own thing a bit more today, let her get into her own rhythm, and not force her too much, which will be different to how we rode her at Hexham. That said, we really do need her to show on the track what she shows at home over fences, otherwise we will have to look at going back over hurdles.
She is very well handicapped, and will love the good ground, so if it does all click with her, she could easily outrun her odds. Let’s just hope she got out of the right side of the bed this morning!
Lady Mendoza's Owners for the Day
As winners of the Owner for the Day competition, 10 lucky Coral Racing Club members have been given the chance to enjoy an exclusive owners experience for Lady Mendoza's run at Newcastle this afternoon.
Each winner, along with a guest of their choosing, will receive free entry to Newcastle Racecourse, including exclusive access to Owners & Trainers areas. They'll have the opportunity to meet Lady Mendoza and the Rebecca Menzies team, plus get to head into the parade ring before the race begins to be amongst all the other owners, trainers and jockeys. And last but by no means least, each winner will get to take home an equal 10% split of any prize money won by Lady Mendoza.
Today's Class 5 contest is worth £8,900 in total, with the winner set to scoop £4,700 for their lucky owners.
2nd: £2,162 | 3rd: £1,081 | 4th: £541 | 5th: £269
Trainer and jockey form
Rebecca Menzies has been busy in both codes over the last fortnight, with runners on both the flat and over the jumps. However, from those 35 runs she's only managed to saddle one winner, coming on the all-weather here at Newcastle. She has had nine placed finishers in that time period, with two horses finishing third yesterday. Today's course has been a happy hunting ground for the Sedgefield based trainer, with 30 of her career wins coming at Newcastle from 178 rides. Lady Mendoza will be her second horse over jumps to head to Gosforth Park this season, after Boomslang runs an hour before her this afternoon.
Brian Hughes has ridden four winners in the last fortnight, with the most recent coming at Ayr three days ago. Lady Mendoza will also be the second ride he's had for the Coral Racing Club in the last two days, after having ridden Cave Article at Fakenham yesterday, finishing fifth of ten runners. Brian Hughes operates at an 18% strike-rate at Newcastle, with 116 winners from 649 rides in his career, and today will be the first time he's made the trip to the course this season. He also has an 18% strike-rate when riding for Rebecca Menzies, winning 29 times for the trainer in his career from 164 rides, with 5 of those rides coming this season without a winner.
Chris Dixon, Racing TV Analyst, breaks down today's race and previews Lady Mendoza's chances in the contest
I expected a bit better from Lady Mendoza when she made the move to chasing at Hexham last time as she looked the type to improve for larger obstacles given her background in point to points. That progress didn’t materialise but perhaps the lack of cheekpieces backfired that day as she didn’t travel with any sort of zip. Bearing in mind the promise of her previous run when returning from a break at Perth, a track that didn’t seem likely to provide her with her optimum test, then I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see her show more here with the headgear reapplied.
Chemical Warfare has been on a great run of form and looks sure to be a big player under the Champion Jockey Harry Cobden for trainer David Pipe who rarely bothers to send runners all the way up to Newcastle while Ginger Pointe went like a well-handicapped horse for a long way at Market Rasen last time ands is well worth treating as a danger to all after that run.
15:45 NEWCASTLE – LATEST ODDS
We hope you enjoyed reading today's Raceday LIVE Preview. Don't forget to tune in just before 15:45 to watch Lady Mendoza's next run for the club live on the Coral Sports app.
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