1pt ante-post win Heaven Help Us @33/1, Mares' Hurdle, Cheltenham 2022

HEAVEN HELP US looks a top bet at 33/1 for the Mares’ Hurdle on day one of the Cheltenham Festival as her career path is closely matched with that of 2020 heroine Black Tears. Heaven Help Us won last year’s Coral Cup by 9l from a British mark of 138, off the back of winning a red-hot handicap over 2m2f at the Dublin Racing Festival off an Irish mark of 126 – subsequent Mares’ Novice Hurdle winner Telmesomethinggirl was 3l back in third, conceding 2lb. in 2019, the same Leopardstown handicap was won by Black Tears – again with the subsequent Mares’ Novice Hurdle winner, Concertista, back in third – before she went on to place an excellent second in the Coral Cup. Black Tears was hiked up to a mark of 148 and went down the Grade 1 route the following season, famously beating Concertista to land the Mare’s Hurdle. Black Tears has now been retired, leaving the door open for history to again repeat itself with Heaven Help Us, who surely will go down the same path. With Concertista going chasing, the market is wide open and I don’t think there’s much between Heaven Help Us and Telmesomethinggirl – nor is there anything to read into their reappearance defeat at Punchestown this weekend where both looked badly in need of the run. Oh, and Black Tears was beaten in that race too last year!

1pt ante-post win Heaven Help Us @33/1, Mares’ Hurdle, Cheltenham 2022

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