IT seems pretty trival to attempt to look forward to the 2021 Cheltenham Festival but we have to hope that normal life will be restorted by the time we look at the new jumping scene in the autumn.

One feature of this year’s Festival was the success of mares – Put The Kettle On, Epatante and Indefatigable won against the males. Honeysuckle and Benie Des Dieux are Grade 1 performers and Concertista may be also on the path to a Grade 1 success.

We’ve come a long way with the now Grade 1 Mares’ Hurdle since Whiteoak won the first one back in 2008. The graduation into a Grade 1 (along with those in Fairyhouse and Punchestown) has played a huge part in providing the opportunity to see that race between two top-class mares as we had on Tuesday week.

However, looking forward and thinking of the planned introduction of a mares’ chase, it’s worth considering the number of mares who competed at the Festival this year over fences (excluding novices). It’s still hard to see the justification in putting a mares’ Grade 2 chase on the card.

Only La Bague Au Roi, Shattered Love, Happy Diva, Atlanta Ablaze and Cabaret Queen ran over fences. Assuming the best horses run at Cheltenham, where do we get a decent field?

Sadly, the only casuality at the Festival was a mare – Copper Gone West – and we saw Maire Banrigh, who cost a tidy sum, suffer a bad, probably career-ending injury in the Arkle. It poses the question that, with mares being more valuable for breeding, there is the danger that a very good hurdling mare is too valuable to risk over fences. The good ones are well capable of taking on geldings with their allowance. And mares, as breeding is the objective, are unlikely to keep racing at 11 or 12 years.

Put The Kettle On fared very well in the Arkle, as of course did Epatante over hurdles in the Champion. Surely if Honeysuckle went over fences next year, the Arkle or Marsh Novices’ is the race for her? A mares’ chase would offer little too the Festival as she would scare away any oposition among her own sex. A mares’ chase may not the most vital race needed on the card.