Vedette back for more
Voler La Vedette
Colm Murphy has confirmed his star mare Voler La Vedette will remain in training next season following her creditable run in defeat at Punchestown on Thursday.
The eight-year-old won her first three starts of the campaign, grabbing her first Grade One prize in the Hatton’s Grace Hurdle at Fairyhouse.
She ran arguably a career-best when briefly threatening to shake-up Big Buck’s in the World Hurdle at Cheltenham, running with huge credit to finish second.
She again had to make do with the runner-up spot behind Quevega earlier this week and while connections could be forgiven for now retiring a mare with a sizeable paddock value, Murphy is delighted she will be back for more next season.
“She seems grand and I think we just met one too good on the day,” said Murphy.
“She still ran a blinder and I suppose in hindsight, having had a hard race over three miles in Cheltenham, we were asking a lot of her to do the same again, but she still ran very well.
“We’ll give her a good break now and get her back for next season. The owners are keen to give her another year, which is great news for me, and we’ll see where we are after that.”
Murphy’s other stable star, Big Zeb, ran third in the Boylesports.com Champion Chase on Tuesday without ever threatening to land a telling blow.
Now an 11-year-old, Murphy believes his charge will benefit from a drop in class at the start of next season.
“He’s come out of his race well and he ran his race. I think he probably ran to form,” said the trainer.
“We’ll have a look at the programme book and probably take a slightly different route next season.
“There are a lot of good two milers around and we might try to avoid those and try to find some easier races for him, if there are any.”
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