Feisty Hello M’Lady ready for open grade at New Plymouth
FOUR-YEAR-OLD mare Hello M’Lady is no stranger to the top grades, but Saturday’s run in the ITM Open is the first time it will contest open company.
The daughter of Melbourne Cup-winning stallion Shocking has finished close in behind the likes of Jon Snow, Highlad and The Soultaker in its short career, but after consecutive wins this winter, trainer Vicki Prendergast will take on the older horses.
Hello M’Lady has won both starts this campaign at Rotorua by 2.8 lengths and the feisty mare has been showing plenty at home according to Prendergast.
“She came through her last run brilliantly, bright as a button,” she told Horsebetting.com.au. “She just tipped me over trying to put her in the paddock just now – threw me into the electric fence.”
Some of New Zealand’s best mares have been feisty in the paddock, but Prendergast said Hello M’Lady is the consummate professional when it counts.
“Not many people can ride her track work, no one can hold her,” Prendergast said. “I rode her at home before I took her to the races and in the end I had to stop because she was trying to buck me off all the time.
“She’s the sweetest, cuddliest thing, but she’ll do you over.
“She’s actually easier than most. She eats and is not naughty to have in the tie ups, but she’s just feisty.”
Its last two wins have come on a heavy track which Hello M’Lady relishes, but Prendergast believes it can run in the spring and summer seasons.
“She really likes the wet ground, but she can go on a better track,” Prendergast said. “She just doesn’t want anything too good, anything dead is fine.
“There’s no reason she won’t go in the summer.”
A skin virus put an end to its summer campaign last season after finishing seventh behind Cochise at Te Teko.
“Last summer she needed a holiday and we had trouble with the skin virus going around,” Prendergast said. “They all came out in boils.
“She got struck with that badly and we couldn’t even get a saddle on her.”
The ultimate goal for Hello M’Lady is the Group 3 Spring Sprint at Hastings on Spring Classic day (October 7) over 1400m.
“We might go to 1400m and see how she copes with it. She might even get up to the mile soon,” Prendergast said. “There’s a group three on the last day of the Hawke’s Bay carnival which we might look at.
“We just need to get some more points.”
A win this Saturday would all but guarantee Hello M’Lady a start at Hastings and with only 54kg on its back, it’s chances of winning look strong.
ITM Open Handicap betting market
[rmOC_events_list event_ids=1138060_04]