18 December 2017
Castafiore won her second hurdle since joining us at the beginning of last season as a juvenile. I thought she should have been well handicapped off 116 at the beginning of this season as her form had tailed off last season after she won a Fillies' Juvenile Hurdle at Ludlow, where she beat subsequent 3 time winner Deauville Crystal by 6 lengths. However she has been fairly disappointing up against the older horses this season so it was terrific for her to get her head in front at Doncaster. The cheekpieces obvisously helped her and Paul gave her a galvanising ride. Hopefully now she has got everything together, she will continue the form.
An exciting finish lands CASTAFIORE with the @bet365 Handicap Hurdle for @CharlieLongsdon under Paul O'Brien
— Doncaster Racecourse (@DoncasterRaces) December 16, 2017
Congratulations ?? pic.twitter.com/O64goewdxi
The rest of the horses are obviously turning a corner as they have been running well in defeat, Masterplan finished a close second on his return to the racecourse at Doncaster, Killala Quay showed more enthusiasm with the application of blinkers and Bentelimar stayed on to finish 3rd in a competitive handicap chase at Cheltenham.