Longsdon contemplates cross-country mission with Leopardess

Molly Hunter
January 13, 2023 1:19 pm

Mare could turn out at the Festival if she takes to it.

Charlie Longsdon’s popular chaser Snow Leopardess will be taken for a Cheltenham schooling session to see how she takes to the cross-country course.

The mare enjoyed a superb run of form last season, which included a brilliant round of jumping to land the Becher Chase at Aintree in December.

She found the ground too quick in the National itself and was pulled up on her return at Warwick before shaping well for a long way back over the National fences in the Becher once more.

Well fancied for the Veterans’ Final at Sandown on Saturday, she finished seventh.

Snow Leopardess (right) winning the Becher Chase last season (Tim Goode/PA)

Longsdon is now considering taking her to Cheltenham for a cross-country schooling session to see what she makes of the banks and rails.

“She’s fine, she ran a funny old race and just didn’t go at all in that first circuit,” he said.

“She just didn’t show much enthusiasm in that first lap, and was then absolutely fine in the second lap when she was pulled out and got a bit of space.

“She flew along in the second circuit, she is going to go cross-country schooling at Cheltenham and we’re going to see how she takes to that, that might be a route we can think about taking with her.

“They went very quick and she looked a bit cold that first lap, she might have just taken a while to warm up, though she doesn’t normally.

“It can happen, she’s a bit older and it might have just been the way it went that day.”