Saturday's £1-million Crabbie's Grand National may be the feature of the Aintree meeting, but Champion Hurdler Annie Power (Ire) (Shirocco {Ire}) set the opening day alight with a facile success in the G1 Doom Bar Aintree Hurdle.
The bare result was a carbon copy of the G1 Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham last month, with My Tent Or Yours (Ire) (Desert Prince {Ire}) and Nichols Canyon (GB) (Authorized {Ire}) chasing Willie Mullins's star mare home in second and third, but the manner of Annie Power's victory was even more impressive this time around as she took up the lead after with more than half the race left to run. Cruising through the 2 1/2-mile contest, the 8-year-old was never off the bridle as she posted a spotless round of jumping to surge home 18 lengths clear of the runner-up.
Winnning jockey Ruby Walsh described Annie Power as “dynamite” and added, “She let fly at one or two but she has that tendency to be a bit brave. I was afraid to look back between the last two flights but I could hear the commentator saying that Annie Power was going clear. She is a wonderful mare. She bounced out of Cheltenham and was as good today, if not better.”
In a near-perfect career, Annie Power has won 15 of her 17 starts, her only defeat coming when second to More Of That (Ire) (Beneficial {GB}) in the 2014 G1 Ladbrokes World Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, 12 months before her last-flight fall in the G1 OLBG Mares' Hurdle at the same venue.
Mullins secured a Grade 1 double on the day, both races won by mares, with Apple's Jade (Fr) (Saddler Maker {Ire}) routing her opposition in the G1 Betfred Anniversary 4-Y-O Juvenile Hurdle to win by 41 lengths from Cheltenham's G1 JCB Triumph Hurdle victor Ivanovich Gorbatov (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}).
The hugely popular Cue Card (GB) (King's Theatre {Ire}) bounced back from a crashing fall in the G1 Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup to win the G1 Betfred Bow–the sixth Grade 1 victory of his career.
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