Daughter Of Yeats Excites Over Hurdles At Cheltenham

Heaven Help Us (5m Yeats - Spare The Air, by Trans Island) emerged as an exciting prospect over hurdles when making all to win at Cheltenham’s opening meeting of the season.

A bumper winner and previously tried at Graded level, the Paul Hennessy-trained mare made the trip to Cheltenham for her first start since the Punchestown Festival. Danny Mullins rode the mare to lead in the two mile maiden hurdle, pushing her from the third last as she was headed, her rivals produced strong challenges. Staying on well under pressure, she led narrowly on the turn for home and ran on to beat the favourite Master Debonair (Yeats), a previous Listed winner, by two lengths.

It will be interesting to see where Heaven Help Us goes next, given that this maiden hurdle has previously been won by the likes of Lac Fontana and Thomas Darby. Paul Hennessy can also celebrate as the breeder of Heaven Help Us, who runs in the colours of John Turner.

Best known as a top trainer of greyhounds, Hennessy was thrilled by his mare’s performance and later commented, “You have no idea what this means. It's hard to take this in, switching codes slightly.”