In October, Island rider Malzard achieved what all jockeys, amateur and professional, aspire to by winning a race at Cheltenham.
On Friday, she did it again.
The win in October’s Pertemps Network Handicap hurdle earned Kansas City Chief a 5lb hike in his official handicap rating and when he lined up again at Cheltenham last month it seemed the additional weight had narrowly proved too much, with the Chief and Malzard finishing an honourable third in the Paddy Power Games Handicap, beaten nearly three lengths by Sporting John and Onagatheringstorm.
On Friday afternoon, still running off the new rating of 125, horse and rider came up against the two that had beaten them last time who, not surprisingly, were first and second favourites.
However, this time the result was different.
Given a well-judged front running ride by Malzard, Kansas City Chief led every yard of Cheltenham’s tough three miles to win the Citipost Handicap Hurdle.
Malzard came in for praise for the ride from Mick Fitzgerald, a former top professional jockey turned ITV pundit while commentator Francesca Cumani picked the ride out as her highlight of the meeting.
