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photo: Phil Britt

My Flora duly justified favoritism in this five-runner contest, but in her first attempt over regulation fences and on ground quicker than any she had previously encountered she at times looked far from an odds-on certainty.

Her jumping in the early stages was less than fluent, and at halfway she was having to be pushed along by Richard Burton, but a mile from home her class began to tell and she quickened clear to win by a wide margin.

"She was rusty and needed the run," said her rider. "She was seriously off the bridle after a circuit. She was half dossing, though, and it would have been easier in a bigger field. She'll come on for that."

My Flora had not run since mid-March due to the firm ground, and had been a late withdrawal on this track three weeks earlier. "She's put on a lot of weight," explained Sheila Crow, who trains her for Don Edwards and John Whitfield. "It's been a nightmare to keep her on song, as it's been stop and start the whole time, which is no way to train a racehorse."

Sheila herself rides the mare at home all the time, although she admitted that she had allowed Richard the privilege of doing so just twice!
The target for My Flora, who was bred by Sheila's late husband Edward, is the pointtopoint.co.uk Champion Novices' Hunters' Chase (John Corbet Cup) at Stratford on May 27, a race the trainer won in 2000 with Mike Parr's Lord Harry.

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Had there been a prize for the best-dressed box driver, Sheila would surely have won that as well, as she was attired in regal purple, as befitted the day.

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