You Wear It Well sees off Luccia at Wetherby

Jamie Snowden’s Cheltenham Festival heroine stays on best for Listed-class triumph.

Cheltenham Festival heroine You Wear It Well made a successful reappearance with an all-the-way victory in the bet365 Mares’ Hurdle at Wetherby.

Jamie Snowden’s charge won four of her six starts last term, including the Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle at Prestbury Park in March. She also finished second in the Grade One Challow Hurdle at Newbury.

The six-year-old was a 2-1 shot for her comeback in Listed company, with Nicky Henderson’s Luccia the favourite at 11-8, and it turned into a straight shootout between the pair in the home straight.

Luccia was travelling better at one stage, but You Wear It Well refused to bend in front, digging deep for Gavin Sheehan to claim top honours by three lengths.

“It’s very special. She had a penalty for those Grade Two wins last season, so to do that with that penalty is great first time out,” said Snowden.

“She’s big and strong and she’s a legend. Gav gave her a wonderful ride. She’s quite feisty and takes a bit of riding, so fair play to the whole team.

“We were probably a little bit keen and a little bit fresh early on, but she’s jumped great bar the last and picked up well and galloped to the line.”

Paddy Power, Betfair and Coral all cut You Wear It Well to 8-1 to claim a second Festival win in the Mares’ Hurdle at Prestbury Park next March and she looks set to be kept against her own sex in the meantime.

You Wear It Well (right) jumps the final flight at Wetherby
You Wear It Well (right) jumps the final flight at Wetherby (Nigel French/PA)

“We were thinking about going chasing with her this year, but the mares’ hurdle programme is a lot better than the mares’ chase programme,” Snowden added.

“We’re quite keen to stay in mares’ company, so you’ve got the Sandown race, the Warwick race and then Cheltenham in March. That looks the obvious thing to do, but we’ll take it step by step.”

Sheehan was earlier in the winner’s enclosure aboard Kim Bailey’s The Edgar Wallace (9-2), who jumped his rivals into submission in the Bet Boost At bet365 Handicap Chase.

Making his first competitive appearance since February, the eight-year-old was slick over his fences throughout and proved two lengths too strong for the gallant William Cody.

Bailey’s assistant, Matthew Nicholls, said: “He jumped class and galloped well. Gav hasn’t ridden much for us, but he’s given him a lovely ride.

“He had a few issues last year that we’ve fiddled with and if that worked then he was a very well handicapped horse. We came here hopeful because he’d been showing us an awful lot at home, but until they go and do it you never know.

“He’s back on track and he probably doesn’t want an awful lot of racing as he puts a lot into it.”

Cherie D’Am maintained her unbeaten record in the 6 Horses Challenge At bet365 Novices’ Hurdle.

Cherie D'Am won the opening race at Wetherby
Cherie D’Am won the opening race at Wetherby (Nigel French/PA)

A point-to-point winner at Hexham 12 months ago, the Great Pretender mare made a successful debut under rules for Dan Skelton in a Uttoxeter bumper in the spring.

The five-year-old was the 6-5 favourite to beat the boys on her seasonal reappearance and hurdling bow – and having been given a patient ride by the trainer’s brother Harry Skelton, she cruised into contention before pulling five lengths clear of Wild Side Of Life.

“That was lovely. A lot of ours have been needing a run and it’s not for any other reason than usually at this time of year the ground is good to soft and that’s how fit we’ve got them – we’ve got them good to soft fit,” said the winning trainer.

“Of course, the more days that go by and the more pieces of work you get into them, they will get a little bit fitter for this type of ground.

“She’s obviously a very, very talented mare. When we bought her after her point-to-point we thought she looked pretty smart and then we loved her after her bumper.

“She’s going the right way. I probably don’t want to go too deep too soon, so we might give her one more run and then go up in grade.

“I’m not afraid to run her in a slightly better race, but I’m not going to go for the Challow Hurdle on her next run.”

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