Lady Mendoza made her long awaited return to the track at Cartmel on Monday after 172 days off, where she finished fourth in the Class 5 Handicap Hurdle over 2m6f.

The decision was made at the end of last season to put Lady Mendoza out in the field for a while, to give her an extended break and to allow her to freshen up to see if it could generate an improvement in her performances. Clearly the break was just what the doctor ordered, as Lady Mendoza put in an excellent effort on her first run back since December of last year.

Our eight-year-old daughter of Court Cave kicked the contest off by taking an early lead just ahead of Kajaki and looked comfortable before being joined at the fifth flight of eleven. Her jumping was fluent all the way around the course, and she looked to be relishing her return to the racecourse. Lady Mendoza found herself headed with four hurdles to take and began to hit a flat spot, where she lost some ground to the leading group. Jockey Brian Hughes kept her up to her work though and didn't give up, and Lady Mendoza responded when she found a bit of running room in between the last two hurdles. She stayed on strongly in the final furlong and made up a couple of positions to come home in a promising fourth position.

WATCH: Brian Hughes reflects on Lady Mendoza's comeback run 
We caught up with Rebecca after the race to find out her thoughts on the contest and the potential next steps for our mare: 

"It was a really pleasing return run from Lady Mendoza. She was gifted a fairly easy lead in the early stages of the race and you could see that she was happy jumping from the front.

She got a little bit agitated when Kajaki came upsides her down the woods side of the track and she kind of just leaned into it a bit and stopped travelling as well as she had been. However, as soon as she got that little bit of space down the straight, you could tell that she was more comfortable and took off again.

I was really happy to see that she took a lot of pulling up after the race had finished, as you could tell that she was happier to be racing.

There are two meetings at Cartmel in June and it would be sensible to bring her back over hurdles here, as it's pretty clear she enjoys her racing around this course. She hasn't had much of a blow after the race, so there are no concerns over her fitness levels, so we should be able to have her back out soon enough.

With that sort of attitude she'll be winning a race like that, and we're looking forward to seeing where she can go from here." 


Rebecca with Lady Mendoza at Howe Hills Stables

The two races in mind for Lady Mendoza's next run are the Class 5 Mares' Hurdle over 2m6f on Friday 27th June, and the Class 5 Novices' Limited Handicap Hurdle over the same distance on Sunday 29th, both of which take place at Cartmel.

Check back soon to find out where Lady Mendoza will be heading next and keep an eye out for her next Owner for the Day competition for your chance to head to the races as one of her lucky owners!