Miss Mardan survives early scare Miss Mardan's bid for glory in the Get Your 2017 Navan Membership Maiden Hurdle threatened to be derailed as early as the first flight with a bad mistake. However, Mark Bolger and the Fruits Of Love mare managed to stay together before going on to land the opening prize at Proudstown Park. Sean Byrne's Miss Mardan went off an 11/4 shot, whilst Broken Soul was the one subject to most of the pre-race attention at equivalent odds-on. Broken Soul was hampered by a loose horse before the third last and the two miler soon swung in Miss Mardan's favour. Front-runner Broken Soul had every chance after but he faded into third on the run-in. The margins at the line were four lengths and five lengths as 50/1 chance King's War took second place. "She was good. She might go for a mares novice in Limerick next month — I'd say that'll be her next start," said Byrne. "She should improve again from that as she jumped very novicey as we saw at the first. We're hoping she'll get better especially as she goes further. "Mark said she would be better on a bit better ground as that was nearly bottomless today. "She was bound to improve from the Naas run as it was such a long absence." (GC & EM)
