William Hill's David Nicholson's Mares Betting update

Doncaster on Saturday was supposed to be when the Brits put down a serious marker for this race but Alegralil got found out moving up in class and My Petra was caught close home by another Irish horse in Zarinava therefore tightening the Irish stranglehold on the race.

Jessica Harrington's grey was trimmed after that victory over two miles but her trainer is greatly concerned whether she is as effective over 2m4f and she was comfortably put in her place at Leopardstown over that distance on her previous start by Voler La Vedette giving Colm Murphy's mare a form boost.

The eye-catching performance from the home team over the last week was Candy Creek winning in style at Musselburgh for Nicky Henderson. Still a novice, but so was Whiteoak when she won the inaugural running in 2008, she won the valuable mares' bumper at the Grand National Meeting last season when trained by John Kiely in Ireland and then switched hands for £200,000. This season Candy Creek has won two of her three novice hurdles, the defeat coming at Newbury on testing ground and she looks the most upwardly mobile of the British defence though the Martin Pipe Conditionals Hurdle has also been mentioned as a Festival target, a race the same owners won last year.