MARES’ races are now firmly established amid every racing festival. Last week at Fairyhouse, we had a real thriller in the mares’ Grade 1.

It was interesting to Sizing John’s breeder Bryan Mayoh in the Racing Post on Sunday, come to the conclusion that “the single most important characteristic in predicting the ability of a jumps mare as a breeding prospect is her racing ability.”

Mares races were originally criticised as uncompetitive, the public were turned off by them. But it was a means to an end, from little acorns etc.

Few could cast any derogatory aspirations on the battle between Let’s Dance and Augusta Kate (and the same with the Cheltenham race). In the winner Augusta Kate, by Yeats out of Grade 1 winner Feathard Lady we had what was the ultimate intended achievement of promoting mares’ races, a Grade 1 mare breeding a Grade 1 mare.