Cheltenham: Annie Power beats boys in Champion Hurdle
Annie Power became the first mare in more than 20 years to win the $572,000 Champion Hurdle, run at Cheltenham Racecourse on Tuesday.
Steve AndersenMar 15, 2016
Annie Power became the first mare in more than 20 years to win the $572,000 Champion Hurdle, run at Cheltenham Racecourse on Tuesday.
A specialist in two-mile steeplechases in the last 17 months, Un De Sceaux will be be an odds-on favorite to win for the 15th time in his 17th start in Wednesday’s $500,500 Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham Racecourse.
The gang’s all there, the eight U.S.-based horsed slated for races on the March 26 Dubai World Cup program departed – five from Florida, three from California – for the Middle East on Sunday. The journey is long, especially from California, but the riches at trip’s terminus vast, the horses racing for purses ranging from the $1 million in the Al Quoz Sprint to $10 million in the World Cup itself.
In 2015, Annie Power was comfortably leading the Grade 1 Mares’ Hurdle at Cheltenham as the 1-2 favorite when she fell at the 10th and final hurdle. A win, which seemed certain in early stretch, would have been the fourth that day for trainer Willie Mullins. Annie Power is back on the same program Tuesday at Cheltenham. An 8-year-old mare by Shirocco, Annie Power was the 2-1 favorite in early betting Monday to win the $572,000 Champion Hurdle at two miles.
All across the globe, horsemen are ramping up preparations for the Dubai World Cup card on March 26 at Meydan Racecourse.
Irish jockey Joseph O’Brien will retire from riding to focus on a training career in 2016, it was reported Monday.
Polar River was nowhere near as impressive Thursday in the UAE Oaks as she had been in her three previous starts this winter, but she kept her unbeaten record alive with a three-quarter-length win over South American import Vale Dori in just a three-horse field at Meydan.
Keen Ice is one of 12 entrants in the Group 1, $400,000 Al Maktoum Challenge Round 3, a dirt race over 2,000 meters (about 1 1/4 miles) around two turns Saturday at Meydan.
The road to the Dubai World Cup card March 26 takes its final turn this week, with the last two major racecards at Meydan on Thursday and Saturday before the World Cup program itself.
In the hours after California Chrome won a $150,000 handicap at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai on Thursday, the popular horse had a ravenous appetite.