Festival specialist can go one better in the Ultima

Nap

Benie Des Dieux
4.10 Cheltenham

But for her last-hurdle fall in the same event 12 months ago, the Willie Mullins-trained nine-year-old would be bidding for a third win in the Grade 1 Close Brothers Mares’ Hurdle and she has all the credentials to make her one of this year’s Festival bankers.

She won the Grande Course de Haies D’Auteuil in May, comfortably beating a high-class French rival into second, and looked at least as good when making a successful return in the Galmoy Hurdle at Gowran Park in January when trouncing her rivals by 21 lengths.