Kingston Queen brings up landmark winner for O’Farrell

Kingston Queen battled on gamely to win the Weatherbys Cheltenham Festival Betting Guide Jane Seymour Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle at Warwick.

The David Pipe-trained grey was a 5-1 chance under Conor O’Farrell in a Grade Two race transferred from Sandown’s abandoned meeting on Friday.

Prominent throughout in a field of nine, the six-year-old turned into the home straight in the lead and though then wavered from her line once or twice, she was ultimately resolute to regain the advantage and score by three-quarters of a length.

“In fairness, for the whole race we were going a stride slower than I wanted to ideally, but I also just felt she would have been too idle to go forward,” said O’Farrell.

“It turned into a bit of a dash which isn’t really her forte, but in fairness she kept finding and picking up.

“She is a beautiful filly and when I went back to her bumper form I wasn’t really worried about her speed. She ran to a very high level in her bumpers and is carrying that on in her hurdling career – fingers crossed she can keep going.

“There was a lot to look at, and she had a good look around but there was plenty left in the tank for her to be doing that.”

On a possible challenge for the Grade Two Ryanair Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, O’Farrell said: “If it dries out, she might lack a gear but she is entitled to go for it off of that today.”

The triumph was a 400th in the UK for O’Farrell and he paid tribute to David Pipe.

He continued: “It’s great – I knew I was close to it but wasn’t sure that was it! I moved over to David Pipe’s back in October 2010 and it is fantastic to still be riding for him and riding big winners.”