After her last run at Market Rasen in early December, we weren’t quite sure what to do next with Lady Mendoza.

Physically she seemed OK, but on too many occasions she just wasn’t performing on the track as her homework suggested she should be.

We had a good chat with the team at Coral, and decided that rather than rushing to the wrong decision, we’d give her a good couple of months off, and then decide.

I’m delighted to say that after this break, we’ve decided to crack on with her again, so she’s come back into full work in the last fortnight, and she is thriving again already. She didn’t put on too much weight – or condition – or lose too much muscle definition during her time off, so she’s looking great. 

She will need a couple of months to get back to full fitness though, so we’re probably looking at early May before she's back on the track. When that time comes, I think we probably just need to have a bit of a reset, take all the headgear off of her, and start her again over hurdles.

She always did seem to like the better ground, so if all goes well the timing should be perfect for a summer campaign. Most importantly she seems on really good terms with herself, we've got a good covering of grass on the gallop here so we can do plenty of work with her, and fingers crossed we might yet get that elusive first victory with her!

Rebecca Menzies, Coral Racing Club Trainer