Belief in Honeyball's Credo may not be misplaced in rescheduled mares' final

Wednesday: 2.15 Hereford
Jackson Property Mares' Handicap Chase (Hereford Mares' Chase Series Final) | 3m1f | 4yo+ fillies and mares | Sky

Credit where it's due, saving this £35,000 series final was a good move.

The glass-half-empty response would be to lament races we have lost, like the International Hurdle or December Gold Cup, but this race is evidently even more important for its declared runners, who rarely get to run for this sort of money. Six of the eight who will face the starter were also declared the first time around.

As before, the market revolves around the Anthony Honeyball-trained pair of Credo and Lilith. The former was a hotter favourite before the frost intervened a week past Saturday and the difference is largely down to the presence this time of White Hart Lady, who won a low-grade qualifier by a wide margin five weeks ago.

The temptation is still to favour Honeyball's two runners, given the clear intent in sending both of them here twice. Credo's form stands out a bit and she has clearly taken to fences, just as her pedigree implies given she is a half-sister to a couple of useful marathon chasers in Innisfree Lad and Cyclop. She beat two of her rivals here handsomely at Chepstow last month and a huge pull in the weights may not be enough.

Second that day was Flowing Cadenza and she is worth noting because of her connections. Trainer Venetia Williams has won the last three runnings of this race, so clearly likes to earmark a mare for what is one of the richest races at her local track.
Race analysis by Keith Melrose

What they say

Katy Price, trainer of Lost Connections
She's grand, but the ground just might be too soft for her with the rain they've already had and what might come. But the pot is too large not to have a try and we're glad Hereford have been able to give us this opportunity.

Harry Fry, trainer of White Hart Lady
We've been very pleased with her lately. It was good to get her off the mark in such style at Lingfield last time, and the more rain there is the better. It's good prize-money and hopefully she can be competitive off her revised mark.

Olly Murphy, trainer of Auditoria
She seems to be in good form and we're going to fit a set of cheekpieces for the first time. We hope it will have a positive effect as it's a good, competitive race with some really nice prize-money on offer.

Alexandra Dunn, trainer of Ho Que Oui
She won really well at Ffos Las a few starts back in October and if she can find a way of reproducing that again she could go close. She's well handicapped and having these sort of races for mares is exactly what we need.
Reporting by Matt Rennie

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