THE Coffey family have enjoyed some of their best days in racing thanks to a mare, so it comes as little surprise that they are fans of racing fillies over jumps, and any incentive that comes with it. The object of their affections, home-bred Mrs Milner, progressed through the ranks, from winning a mares’ maiden hurdle at Thurles, to a mares’ handicap hurdle at the Galway Festival.

She went close against geldings, getting within a neck of On The Blind Side in a listed hurdle at Cheltenham’s November meeting and later triumphed at the Festival, capturing the Grade 3 Pertemps Network Final Handicap Hurdle by five lengths and returned the following year to finish third in the Grade 1 Mares’ Hurdle.