Three cheers for Annie

Got the race completely wrong.

Fair play to her. Runner up in a stayers, would have pissed in over two and a half miles last year then coats home in a Champion Hurdle.

Some mare.

Was there today.to see her bolt up was one of my best experiences on a racecourse

layed herbut won well fair play others were pretty disappointing not the best ch ive seen for sure

I thought it was a really good race, what a mare. With the 3 behind her theres no way you could say it was a fluke, came up on the big screen as a track record. 6 seconds faster than average.

mmm take your point but i think the others were not ch winners for sure

She also hammered Don COSSACK by 20 lengths one day at naas in feb 2013 on her way up the ladder.
And look who is favourite for the gold cup.
don't underestimate this mare.
guess willie will send her on a chasing career next season if she is to take Arkle's record away from him.
but surely she is the greatest horse ever seen on a racecourse.

a filly only gets 3lb from a colt on the flat ,derby/arc ect ,7LB is a lot at the age she is ,she is a big powerful horse ,But yea an outstanding mare and very consistent and improved ,thought the race looked low on quality tbh but Annie Power took the breath away ,every yard a winning one.

If you take the 7lb away she is the same horse as the second/third . Not knocking her ,but thats the truth.

If anything the fillys should get more on the flat and perhaps over a certain age the NH allowance should be reduced although not many good mares  are still in training at that age .

Was saddened to hear today Flakey Dove had passed away recently,not in the same class as AP but a good honest mare.

Few could say they don't think Annie is wonderful but pause for thought and think about this shoddy grabbing stable and the stunts they keep pulling. Had they not been craven farmers, out to milk the game for every penny she could have potentially been a three time winner of the Premier Hurdle race in the world. Who could now doubt she was perfectly placed to really serve it up two years ago but she was rerouted to the World Hurdle to help The Fly and didn't take in the mares because of Quevega. Had she taken that running there would have been an outcry had she not defended her title and we could have had a race for the ages with her and Faugheen. Next year to presumably avoid Faugheen again there now seems the prospect of her going chasing with Mullins waxing lyrical about the pull to do a Dawn Run.

Of course Mullins is the man who thought that she was outstayed in a World Hurdle and didn't want to go that distance again. So of course it makes perfect sense to target her at a race over two and a half furlongs more.

What an outfit.

Cant knock how impressive she was and on a personal level I'm pleased she avenged last year & that I was there for it.

Didn't stop me from having a bitter taste in my mouth all day from Vautour gate. Ruby giving it the big one crossing the line rubbed salt in an open wound. He knows he has the stable and the owners by the short and curly's

I know @Eeternaloptimist, I'm starting to come around to your and others thinking about RR and Mullins because we already know they will do anything to keep them apart and it won't be in the horses best interest, but in theirs. Its really not worth it anymore. I'm a big fan of Faugheen and when hearing RR dismissing the thought of going GC like it was a silly thing for a P2P-ter to go that route, its incredible, the guy is an amateur and is giving interviews about horses targets and whats worst that racing manager of his is even worst.. just not worth the bother to invest sentimental interest in their horses, especially financial interest now with what happened with Vautour in the same fekcing week of the festival...

Sadly timtin I fear Richi has not developed an understanding for the history and romance of the game and Mullins is a pound shillings and pence ledger man it seems. People remember the great races where the best raced against the best. People are still waxing lyrical of that golden age of hurdlers where your Sea Pigeons, Monksfields, Night Nurses et al were slogging it out and together they created a mythical era not forgotten nearly forty years later. Richi doesn't know. Mullins doesn't care. Wanting to do a Dawn Run? Don't make me laugh.

Excellent post E.O. I'd agree with all that. Pragmatists to the core, they will do their best to hoover up as many prizes as possible. They appear uninterested in the romance of the sport or any potential legacy. The Dawn Run comments are just grandstanding to a big gallery, there is more chance of her winning the grand national.

I saw an interview and Mullins father wasn't a fan of sending DR for the GC but the owner insisted to the core and he had no choice. His father had no choice so he could always blame the owner but Mullins can't blame RR so maybe he cares too much about how foolish he'd look if he tried and failed, but this in regard to Faugheen and GC path. The underlining problem here is the routes he takes his horses, I'm  sick and tired to hear how Douvan is the best they had, let me fooking see it in a race RR against proper animals and then have people saying how he didn't came off 3rd gear..

Last year Vautour was better than Faugheen, then Douvan, now if Min won he would've been better than him, its tiresome to hear a stupidity and because they're in the same ownership to never get a conclusion. Any other sensible owner/trainer with great aspirations would've sent Douvan hurdling and see for a year if he's good enough before sending chasing. Then with Vautour, I argued for months that he should go Ryanair because it made sense, then Mullins in all his interviews kept saying he was GC horse all along etc and on top RR came on saying GC bid is a certainty and then everything was turned upside down on first day of the festival. Just how much disdain do they think the racing fans can take?

It's pure logic that you'll want to keep your best horses apart, more so if they are in the same ownership. There can only be one winner of a race so if you're lucky enough to have multiple exceptional horses at the same time, why would you want them racing each other It's not like the flat where it's all about the breeding sheds.

The fact that he veered Vautour towards the leftovers race of the Ryanair means one of 3 things (a) He has hoodwinked the public into believing he was going GC when the plan was Ryanair all along or (b) He has made a decision in the last 2 days that he won't stay and can't win the gold cup or (c) He firmly believes that Djakadam is ready to win the holy grail of a gold cup. If the third option occurs Mullins will feel totally vindicated by his decision. If option (b) was the reasoning then why didn't he train him for the champion chase all along and not for the scraps of the Ryanair. I can't believe option (b) so for me Im willing to believe that Mullins thinks Djakadam is ready to win the Gold Cup. Otherwise how does he explain the decision to Ricci?

I suspect they were trying to convince themselves that Vautour would stay the 3m2f+, but in reality knew he wouldn't, and came to their senses come decision time. Whatever you might think about the credibility of the Ryanair, they now have an odds-on fav for a grade 1 at the festival. They only way the race is going to gain more prestige is if the better horses run in it.

We were used to them switching targets but thats simply lack of respect to do it in the same week as the festival. They don't care about us, they just treat it as a personal remuneration system. We don't matter in their world, its like they're racing in private and we are the uninvited buggers that disturb them while they're trying to have fun. We can't enjoy alongside them, only in special moments like yesterday with Annie but even that it was more of a feel good factor for what they've done to this horse for the last 2 years.

They done Annie a Power a disservice by running her in the World Hurdle 2 years ago to give Hurricane Fly a dream run at it and it easy to argue that in hindsight she would have won that particular race or at least had a better chance than Hurricane Fly. So they have done that horse a disservice. Mullins clearly has his favourite horses, witness for example Hurricane Fly's irrationally special treatment over Faugheen. Witness his premature statements about Douvan being his best ever when he has not accomplished anything outside novice company yet. They have rode the crest of a wave for a few years now but how long before the public weary of a cash machine that has removed any idea of sentiment out of the game at the expense of winning races at any cost.

Interesting comments from Ruby today implying that Faugheen and Annie will not race each other in next years Champion. Which suggests to me that she won't seek to retain her crown.