Martin Smith breaks new ground with Cheltenham-bound My Mate Mark

My Mate Mark will be a first Cheltenham Festival runner for Newmarket trainer Martin Smith when he contests the Champion Bumper.A narrow second on his debut at Newbury, he went one better with an all-the-way win at Southwell on Sunday."Cheltenham is the plan at the moment," said Smith."He seems to have taken the race well and he didn't give us a reason not to go."He wouldn't want quick ground but they won't let it get fast, and there's rain around."It looked as if they were queuing up to go by him but he was well on top at the finish. Southwell would be up there with tracks that would suit him least."I'd be far more confident about him handling a galloping track like Cheltenham."We did look up the last four-year-old to win and it was Cue Card, so they would be illustrious shoes to follow."