A Kilkenny and Wicklow win at Taunton Bred and 'point-to-pointed' by former star Kilkenny hurler Charlie Carter, Maria's Benefit looked a horse with a bright future in strolling to victory in the totetrifecta Mares' Novices' Hurdle at Taunton yesterday. A surge of late money saw the Stuart Edmunds-trained five-year-old sent off the 11-8 favourite, despite racing against Nicky Henderson's unbeaten Sunshade, owned by the Queen. However, once Wicklow-man Ciaran Gethings bounced Edmunds' charge into an early lead, the outcome of the Listed prize was never really in doubt. The market leader pulled further and further clear, eventually winning by an eased-down 30 lengths from If You Say Run, with Sunshade third. "I had been worried about the ground, but the groundsman rang me at 6.30am to tell me it wasn't too bad and he was right," said Edmunds. "It was a little chopped up in the home straight so I told him to go wide, but she could have gone through Taunton town centre and still won!" He added: "It was a serious performance. There's a Grade Two at Doncaster at the end of January and she might go there before Cheltenham. "We'll probably go there because she's barely had a blow today and that should have been her hardest race - how did I get her beaten first time out at Worcester?"
