Grade One prizes are hardly designed to be solo-shows but Annie Power looks to have just such a lucrative prospect in front of her on the final day of the 2013-14 National Hunt season at Punchestown.
She lines up in the EBF Mares Champion Hurdle as the headline act of a monster 20-strong team declared by Willie Mullins for an assault on the final session of a record-breaking campaign by the champion trainer.
Nine of that squad alone are engaged in the Setanta Sports Handicap Hurdle, one of three €100,000 pots on offer, and a race Mullins has won in four of the last five years.
That the trainer is so dominant, and pitches a long odds-on favourite into a top-flight race, is only reflective of the season in general, one in which Hurricane Fly won a Morgiana at a 1/16 SP and Briar Hill beat just a single opponent in the Navan Hurdle last December.
More attention
Annie Power was the focus of more attention than most among Mullins's star-studded team throughout the year and losing her unbeaten record to More Of That in the World Hurdle at Cheltenham was a rare reverse for connections.
But although Cockney Sparrow is a very decent mare in her own right, it will be a major surprise if she can stop Annie Power today and perhaps the most interesting aspect of her Punchestown spin could come if plans for next season are outlined.
Ruby Walsh has opted to ride Upsie in the big handicap but her jumping has been mixed in the past, either very good or poor, and this 25-five runner contest is too competitive to make allowances for errors.
Andrew Lynch teams up with the Potts-owned Smashing who might relish a drop of rain on the ground but proved his big-handicap credentials with a good run in the Coral Cup at Cheltenham won by the subsequent Grade One scorer, Whisper.
It is 15 years since Katarino added the AES Champion Four-Year-Old Hurdle to an earlier Triumph success at Cheltenham and he was just the second to bring off the double after Shawiya in 1993.
Tiger Roll attempts to join the exclusive club today and on form holds Kentucky Hyden and Guitar Pete, the latter having scored at Aintree after running third at Cheltenham.
Abbyssial’s Cheltenham claim to fame was fracturing Ruby Walsh’s arm and dislocating his shoulder in a fall but the champion jockey-elect is back on board today and looks a potential danger to Tiger Roll along with Edward O’Grady’s Kitten Rock.
With Barry Geraghty claimed by Nicky Henderson, Tom Scudamore rides Kitten Rock who was just beaten by Ivan Grozny at Fairyhouse twelve days ago.
