The Mac Vidi Novice Chase was run at a Lingfield meeting on the last racing Friday before Xmas. But that meeting was no longer run after 1998, when the card was switched to Folkestone.
They continued with a Mac Vidi chase in 1999, but the following year, the Daily Mail took over sponsorship of the meeting and the novice chase name was changed to ‘Daily Mail Novice Chase in Memory of Lady Harmsworth Blunt’.
The last running at Lingfield was won by the very useful chaser Marlborough. And the sole running at Folkestone was rather fittingly won by a 12-y-old mare called Nethertara, who had a long career in the southern area, winner of 13 points. They included one win in a Mens Open when she was ridden by current trainer Chris Gordon. She went on after the Folkestone win to score in a handicap at Plumpton as a 13-y-old.