Trophy hope for Jefferson

Malcolm Jefferson has the totesport Trophy at Newbury on February 7 in mind for Issaquah following her respectable effort at Haydock.

The seven-year-old mare is 16-1 with the sponsors for the prestigious handicap hurdle after finishing fourth to Songe in the Blue Square Champion Hurdle Trial.

That was her first defeat over hurdles from four starts. She was, however, only given 9st 10lb in the long handicap for Newbury and there were 80 entries.

“She’ll go there if the ground’s soft and she gets in, but she’s not guaranteed to get in, so I’m not going to get my hopes up yet,” said the Malton trainer.

“She ran a good race at Haydock. I just think she’s better on the inner rather than on the outer as she likes to be competitive with horses who are beside her,” said the Malton trainer.

“In the straight she had to go wide right on the outside, but she was still bang there at the second-last where she made a mistake. Otherwise I think she would have finished third.

“The jockey (Phil Kinsella) didn’t knock her about when it was obvious she wasn’t going to win, so she didn’t have a real hard race and she’s come back fine.”