Betting
MRS MILNER: Pertemps winner will be a “different mare” at 2022 Cheltenham Festival
Former Festival winner Mrs Milner steps up to Grade 1 company next week
Last year’s Prestbury Park heroine Mrs Milner will bid to “rectify” her Newbury disappointment in the Mares’ Hurdle next week as she bids to land Grade 1 honours for the first time for trainer Paul Nolan.
The Flemensfirth mare was an easy winner of the Pertemps Network Final twelve months ago under Bryan Cooper before winning her seasonal debut at Limerick.
But she subsequently disappointed in the Long Distance in Berkshire when last seen in November, but her absence is not something to be too concerned about, her handler believes.
“She’s run twice at Cheltenham and she was second and then won, we’ve freshened her up since Newbury and we’re hoping we’ll see a different mare in Cheltenham,” Nolan told At The Races.
“At Newbury I don’t think at any stage of the whole race Bryan was really happy with her, normally she’d run to the line and that day she didn’t.
“A lot of the horses didn’t, it was a funny sort of race as they went quite quick.
“It was just one of those things, I think she was a bit flat.
“Bryan wasn’t happy with her at any point and that’s what we’re putting it down to, hopefully she can rectify that.
“She improved with the step up in trip for the Pertemps last year, now we’re going back in trip and the ground is going to probably be a bit softer unless the forecast changes.
“It’s going to be a good race, but hopefully she’ll run respectably and go well.”
