Polly best at Sandown Polly Peachum showed guts galore at Sandown to land the 32Red.com Mares' Hurdle in the hands of David Bass. Sent off a 9/2 shot in the Listed event, the Nicky Henderson-trained mare took the longest route throughout, stalking the understandably pedestrian pace set by Gitane Du Berlais (6/4 favourite) and outsider Fairytale Theatre. Given the muddy conditions, the eight-year-old travelled supremely well and she took Bass to the front with a quick leap at the penultimate flight, as Gitane Du Berlais weakened. The Govaness (7/1) followed her through and loomed large, continuing to throw the gauntlet down and closing to within a neck of Polly Peachum, but Bass' mount kept finding more and held on for a head verdict. The game Fairytale Theatre (33/1) stuck on for third, a further three and three-quarters of a length back. Polly Peachum is now likely to have her last run in the Grade One OLBG Mares' Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, according to Henderson, with Sky Bet cutting her odds for that race from 12/1 to 10/1. He said: "She finished second in the Mares' Hurdle at Cheltenham last year and she will end her career in that race before going to the paddocks. She looked like she was going to be second to Annie Power in the race, then she fell, but another one of Willie's [Glen's Melody] came and mugged us - morally it was probably the right result, but it was still a bit heartbreaking. "She is so tough. She hates this ground. Everybody hates this ground, to be honest. "I love her to bits, but I wouldn't fancy her if she was a human because she would be too tough for me. You have to be brave in that ground because she hates it, but she'd still die for you."
