Annie powered up for 10 in a row attempt
The six-year-old is likely to be a major player in the champion Irish trainer’s team for the Cheltenham Festival, and already holds entries in the Stan James Champion Hurdle and the Ladbrokes World Hurdle as well as being a possible deputy for Quevega in the OLBG Mares’ Hurdle there.
Bearing all possible future plans in mind, the County Carlow handler has decided to send Rich Ricci’s exciting prospect to Town Moor for the Grade Two contest over an extended two miles.
Mullins explained the reasons behind sending her to South Yorkshire. “We had three real options where we could run her. We could have run her against Hurricane Fly and Jezki (Irish Champion Hurdle), we could have gone to England for a Champion Hurdle trial or a mares’ race in Doncaster worth £20,000 to the winner, so it was a fairly easy decision,” he said.
“We don’t think the trip will be an issue, but it wasn’t a question of finding a race over two miles. If the race was two and a half miles she would have run. It just looked the right opportunity.
“She’s beaten some good horses over two miles over hurdles and I don’t see that or the better ground being a problem. This will be her third successive trip to England. The travelling can take it out of some horses and she wasn’t the easiest on herself as a young horse, but she seems to be taking it well
“Hopefully it won’t take the steam our of her for Cheltenham.”
