“Ladies are tougher!” exclaimed Voler La Vedette #8217;s jubilant owner Mrs Margaret Brophy after her mare swept to victory in the six runner three mile Grade 2 Christmas Hurdle at Leopardstown.

She stalked her main rival Mourad into the home straight before powering clear under Andrew Lynch to win.

Doubts over her abilty to see out the trip dissipated when she swept past her old sparring partner on the way to the last and kept going to score by four-and-three-quarter-lengths.

Punters had steamed in for Mourad from the Willie Mullins yard, backing him down from 11/10 to 4/5 on course while Voler La Vedette was easy to back at 13/8 having drifted from an opening show of 11/8.

Winning jockey Andrew Lynch said: “She settled well today and settled well in her last two races. It was a truly run race. She travelled real well to the turn in and she picked up well.”

Trainer Colm Murphy was pleased to have options for his star mare increased after this display. He said: “She was in great form and came out of her last race very well. She has loads of options, she could go back to two miles ot have another three mile race.

“She’s in tomorrow [Grade 1 Istabraq Festival Hurdle] but that’s just an option in case something happened today. I would love to run her but it probably wouldn’t be the right thing to do.

“I had my heart set on the race tomorrow since the last day but after the ground dried up there was no decision.

“She’s a different mare this year as she settles so well.”

Both Boylesports and Paddy Power cut the winner from 8/1 into 4/1 for the mares hurdle at Cheltenham.

Michael Graham