Marta Des Mottes

Marta Des Mottes almost got home in the mare’ handicap chase run over an extended two and a half miles at Cheltenham on Friday. She did almost everything right. Kicked out of the gate by Ben Poste, she led at a good pace. It wasn’t ideal that Dame Du Soir moved up in behind her, the pair of them moved on, clear of the main body of the field as they raced up the home straight first time. Marta Des Mottes continued to lead though, she moved into a clear lead as they raced down the back straight, jumping well, and it looked like she was going to take a lot of catching when she led over the third last fence, travelling well. She kicked again in front over the second last fence and she led over the last, which is probably around about the time at which she traded at 1.64 in-running, but Dame Du Soir just proved to be the stronger on the run up the hill, getting up to beat Marta Des Mottes by a neck, the pair of them clear.

It was still a game performance by Tom Symonds’ horse in defeat. Second behind Saint Segal over two miles at Chepstow on her previous run, a return to that type of trip could see her progress again. The handicapper raised her by 5lb for this run to a mark of 113, but she is only five and this was just her fifth run over fences, she has the potential to go a fair way higher than her new mark, and a drop in trip could see her improve again.
Cheltenham, 9^th December 2022