John Burke Mares' Handicap Hurdle

Off time: 16:31 | Winning time: 6m 0.10s

Artemis Angel^h³⁰

Age: 6| Weight: 11-13| J: Ben Bromley⁽⁵⁾| T: C O'Keeffe| OR: 107

7/1

Not long with this yard and good second of 15 in handicap hurdle at Bellewstown (20.5f, good, 18/1) last month. First British runner for trainer.

Form: 456352

Ma Belle Noire^b,t²⁶

Age: 6| Weight: 11-9| J: J J Burke| T: H Fry| OR: 103| CD

11/10

Consistent sort who opened her account in first-time blinkers at Market Rasen (20.5f) in July and added to her tally when seeing off 10 rivals over C&D at the start of this month. The handicapper hasn't missed her with a 7 lb rise but she's very much at the top of her game at present.

Form: 33-2131

Sheila Nash⁵⁹

13/2

Won twice over C&D under Daryl Jacob last summer and back on track when third over C&D in July. Not in anything like the same form back here 3 weeks later and has since undergone wind surgery.

Form: 14P-P37

Pennsylvanie¹⁹

Age: 4| Weight: 10-9| J: Nick Scholfield| T: Alexandra Dunn| OR: 94

17/2

Fair form on 2 of her 3 starts in France. Easily best effort for this stable when second of 8 in 2¾m Fontwell handicap 19 days ago. Claims if she can back that up.

Form: 445-5P2

Stamina Chope¹¹

Age: 7| Weight: 10-3| J: Lee Edwards| T: Dave Roberts| OR: 83

3/1

Landed a small-field handicap chase in spring 2022. Hasn't quite managed to match that form over fences since but she did make a sound return to hurdles when second of 11 in a course handicap 11 days ago.

Form: 635-442

Non-Runners

Blue Sans²²

Weight: 12-0| Age: 8

T: F O'Brien J: Tom Broughton

Maroochi³⁸

Weight: 10-7| Age: 6

T: Kieran Burke J: H Cobden

Jolie Baie³¹

Weight: 10-3| Age: 4

T: Miss J S Davis J: Non Runner

Forecasts

Ma Belle Noire (11/10), Blue Sans (9/4), Stamina Chope (3/1), Jolie Baie (11/2), Sheila Nash (13/2), Artemis Angel (7/1), Pennsylvanie (17/2), Maroochi (10/1)

BLUE SANS needs more to get the 4-timer up but could well be up to the task. Ma Belle Noire is also thriving and has to be feared. Stamina Chope ran well back over hurdles here recently and is also in the mix.