Mia's storms to victory as King mare flourishes back over hurdles

Mia's Storm sprinkled some stardust on the card by bursting back to life with an impressive weight-carrying performance in the feature handicap hurdle.

Alan King's classy mare lost the plot over fences last term but the switch to smaller obstacles proved a smart move from the Barbury Castle trainer and she gave lumps of weight and a thrashing to her male counterparts.

The eight-year-old was pitched into Grade 1 company last season where she was let down by her jumping, but has clearly rediscovered her spark on this evidence and was impressive enough on what was her first hurdles start since May 2017 that connections might now be tempted to keep her at this discipline and aim her at a race like the Mares' Hurdle at Cheltenham in March.