SNOW LEOPARDESS


Snow Leopardess in winning ways in 2017 - before motherhood


the National Hunt Chase at Cheltenham last March. On the strength of a comeback win at Bangor- On-Dee in November, Longsdon targeted the Becher Chase over Aintree’s National fences. “She never jumped like a novice and our aim


was the Becher chase with a view – if she took to it – to going down the Grand National route,” he adds.


Running into the teeth of wind and rain on


Merseyside, Snow Leopardess soared over the obstacles and drew 10 lengths clear leaving Valentine’s Brook, five from home. Hill Sixteen came in pursuit on the scramble to the winning post but Aidan Coleman’s mount clung on by a nose to become the first of her gender to capture the race (watch here). “She just got lonely and was idling in front – it


wasn’t stamina,” insists Longsdon. “Aidan said, ‘I’d have kicked myself if she’d got beat.’” Two days before the National weights were published, Snow Leopardess beat Momella by 12 lengths at Exeter to sit 57th on the entry list. “You certainly hope to get in, being number 57, as it is normally about 70-odd that gets in,” says the Oxfordshire trainer.


At the time of writing in early March, Ladbrokes


offer 14-1 – Any Second Now is the firm’s 10-1 favourite – about National glory but those odds will contract closer to the day. A bold-jumping grey mare – and a working mum – will be a magnet for the money of both the form student and the once-a-year punters. And Longsdon wouldn’t discourage either. “It was the manner in which she took to the


fence which has stirred everyone’s excitement, and I don’t think stamina will be an issue – you saw at Exeter that all she did was stay,” enthuses 46-year-old Longsdon, bubbling with fervour. “The National is the one that gets everyone


excited, and especially with her story – she came back from two leg injuries, she’s had a foal and then she’s done what she’s done these last 18 months. “She’s a mare, she’s a grey and she’s got a three-


year-old who’s coming into training in the summer. “The Grand National loves a story – and you’d


love to hope that she might be that story.” For more on the Randox Grand National,


please visit here. RACING TV CLUBMAGAZINE 17


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