Nicky Henderson's star mare Luccia has been given the aim of the Grade One Tolworth Hurdle for her next run with the horse looking to cement her claims for the Grade Two Mares' Novices' Hurdle at the Cheltenham festival.
A winner at Warwick over 2m on soft in January beating smart performer Blow Your Wad, she then went to Sandown in March and improved again to bolt up by 17 lengths beating some extremely smart horses including a Willie Mullins runner.
Having been a non-runner on a few occasions this season ahead of her hurdles debut the mare was seen for the first time over timber at Newbury on Saturday when bolting up in a Listed Mares' Novices' Hurdle.
The Seven Barrows trainer has now nominated the Grade One Tolworth Hurdle as the next progression for the mare, with the talented novice looking to take on the boys for the first time over hurdles.
Three starts. Three wins ...
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) November 26, 2022
Luccia makes a dream start over flights in the Listed @Coral-sponsored mares' novices' hurdle @NewburyRacing 👀@sevenbarrows | @james_bowen_ pic.twitter.com/F78j4sKp9i
(Credit Unibet) Henderson said: “We’re going to go for the Tolworth.
“She’s well-proven. She won a Listed mares’ bumper at Sandown in very bad ground last year so we know she handles the ground and the track.
“She could be anything to be honest with you. She jumped very well at Newbury, she did everything right at Newbury.
“That was a brave shout to start there, you wouldn’t normally start anything off in a Listed race first time out over hurdles, but she was very good and got that done well.
“If she started in a Listed race you’ve got to go upwards really. You could come back to a normal novice hurdle with a penalty, but you’ve got to be a bit more ambitious than that.”