The Power And The Glory

Annie Power (Ire) (Shirocco {Ire}) laid ghosts of Cheltenham Festivals past firmly to rest with an emphatic pillar-to-post rout of her male rivals in record-breaking time in the G1 Stan James Champion Hurdle.

Becoming only the fourth mare to be crowned champion hurdler in the 90-year history of the race, the Willie Mullins-trained 8-year-old has only twice failed to return triumphant in her 16 starts, when second to More Of That (Ire) in the G1 World Hurdle at the Festival two years ago and, far more dramatically, when somersaulting at the final flight in last year's G1 OLBG Mares' Hurdle with the race apparently at her mercy.

Memories of that terrifying fall still haunt the minds of the army of Annie Power fans, and the 68,000 racegoers at Prestbury Park for the opening day of the Festival seemed to hold their breath as one as the strapping chestnut approached the last still full of running under Ruby Walsh. Once safely over and with just the famous hill standing between her and a collectively yearned-for victory, screams of 'Come on Annie' carried the mare home to a spine-tingling, rousing reception even by Cheltenham's famously emotional standards.

As the roar subsided, a lone voice in the crowd shouted 'three cheers for Annie' and the heroine of the hour stood stock still, flanked by her entourage, her ears pricked towards the crowd as she accepted their adulation with the composure of a movie star.

“She bossed the race,” was Mullins's assessment of her record-breaking performance, with Walsh adding, “I said to Willie I was going to ride her like Dawn Run–buck out and go. She traveled super, she jumped probably better than she's ever jumped. She's put in one hell of a performance. Not many horses as good as her have come here and not won, so she deserved it.”

Flakey Dove (GB) may have been the last mare before Annie Power to win the Champion Hurdle, but comparisons were instantly drawn with the most famous jumping mare of all time, Dawn Run (Ire). The name Mullins connects the two, Willie's father Paddy having trained the 1984 Champion Hurdle winner who became the only horse ever to have gone on to glory in steeplechasing's blue riband, the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

“When I bought Annie Power, I thought she was the closest mare I had seen to Dawn Run,” said Mullins, who confessed that he would love to attempt to emulate his father's achievements.

“She is a different colour, but physically she is a big strong mare with speed and stamina. We bought her to go over fences like Dawn Run, but that will be discussed–the same owner has Faugheen (Ire), Douvan (Fr) and some nice young novice chasers, but the way she jumps with her size and scope, if he wants to try to emulate Dawn Run, so be it.”

Mullins also confirmed that thoughts of retirement for Annie Power are far from his mind. “She's a racehorse to me–a lot of other guys would say she should now be a broodmare, but that's not on my agenda. We're going to treat her as a racehorse, but when the effects of the champagne wear off different ideas may come up,” he said.

One man who doubtless wishes he had relations to Annie Power among his broodmare band is her Wexford-born breeder Eamon Cleary, who named her after his fiery grandmother and watched her win two bumpers in his colours under the tutelage of her former trainer, Jim Bolger, before her sale to Rich and Susannah Ricci.

“Last year was heartbreaking, I couldn't even watch another race for the whole of Cheltenham after that,” he recalled as his star graduate completed a lap of honour of the parade ring. “This makes up for it, it's unreal. She deserves it and Willie has done a fantastic job with her, it's quite something bringing her back to two miles and winning like that.”

An Embarrassment Of Riches…

Annie Power is not the only jumper with which Mullins does a fantastic job, as evidenced by his opening-day haul of three of the four Grade 1 races on the card. Douvan (Fr) (Walk In The Park {Ire}) became the shortest-priced winner in the history of the Racing Post Arkle Challenge Trophy, loping away from Sizing John (GB) (Midnight Legend {GB}) to score by seven lengths at odds of 1-4. With Annie Power fever still raging, Vroum Vroum Mag (Fr) (Voix Du Nord {Fr}) set down a marker as her potential successor when becoming another odds-on winner for team Mullins in the OLBG Mares' Hurdle–a race only once won by any other stable in its nine years of existence.

All three are owned by American-born Rich Ricci, the London banker who has amassed a mouth-watering array of equine jumping talent at Mullins's Co Carlow base, including two more odds-on favourites for Thursday in Vautour (Fr) (Robin Des Champs {Fr}) and Limini (Ire) (Peintre Celebre), as well as Djakadam (Fr) (Saint Des Saints {Fr}) for Friday's Gold Cup, in which he will attempt to go one better than his runner-up finish to Coneygree (GB) last year.

Shirocco Blows Hot…

It was a memorable day for Shirocco (Ger) (Monsun {Ger}) who, as well as being represented by the outstanding Annie Power, is also the sire of Minella Rocco (Ire), winner of the Listed National Hunt Chase for JP McManus and Jonjo O'Neill. The former G1 German Derby and GI Breeders' Cup Turf winner's increasing influence in the jumps sphere prompted his switch from Darley's flat ranks to Rathbarry's National Hunt wing at Glenview Stud in 2014, where he has been kept very busy.

Another name mentioned with increasing frequency in jumping circles is Walk In The Park (Ire), who played his part in a Derby one-two for first-crop sons of Montjeu (Ire) when chasing home Motivator (GB) along the Epsom straight in 2005. Retired to the relatively obscure French stud Haras du Val Requet in 2008 for a fee of €2,500, his success is all the more noteworthy for his having covered small books of mares in comparison to his Irish rivals, with his last three crops each containing fewer than 15 foals.

He has now joined those rivals back in the country of his birth, recruited to Coolmore's Grange Stud for this season with his fee listed as private. Having the favourites for the first two Grade 1 races of the Cheltenham Festival was a strong indication of just what all the fuss is about.

His 5-year-old son Min (Fr) may have been unable to repel the late charge of Altior (Ire) (High Chaparral {Ire}) in the roar-inducing curtain-raiser that is the Sky Bet Supreme Novices' Hurdle, but his paternal half-brother Douvan (Fr) stuck firmly to the script when coasting home in the Arkle.

It wasn't long before Grange Stud's Catherine Magnier took to Twitter to announce that Altior's dam, Paddy and Rose Behan's Key Of Luck mare Monte Solaro (Ire), has been covered by Walk In The Park at Grange Stud this season. Win-win.