Jacksonslady tip-top in Grabel Mares Hurdle

Jacksonslady brought her A game to the table whilst some of her rivals underperformed in the Listed Grabel Mares Hurdle at Punchestown. Barry Geraghty rode Jacksonslady for Philip Dempsey in the valuable two and a quarter mile contest.

She got the better of the game pace-setter Bleakfield Lady from before the last and she went on to score by six lengths.

Meanwhile well-backed favourite Chaperoned (pulled a shoe in running) could only manage sixth of the eight finishers and second market-choice Shadow Eile ended up pulling up.

Not surprisingly owner/trainer Dempsey was a happy man afterwards saying: "That's great, she's a decent filly. She missed the first but maybe the ground was the cause of that as she is a super jumper normally.

"Barry was happy enough to let her pop around. We might leave her off until the spring now. She is not EBF eligible. She's a mare that's kept improving."

Stan James introduced Jacksonslady at 25/1 for the David Nicholson Mares Hurdle at Cheltenham.