Walsh not giving up any clues on Festival chances

“Ask me in six weeks’ time,” replied Ireland’s premier jockey when asked if she had the speed for the Stan James Champion Hurdle over two miles or the stamina for the three-mile Ladbrokes World Hurdle.

Walsh was not being flippant. He was in an invidious position because he was speaking at Doncaster before the comeback of hurdling great Big Buck’s, who could only finish third at Cheltenham, and yesterday’s BHP Insurance Irish Champion Hurdle in which Annie Power’s stablemate Hurricane Fly rolled back the years to land a world record 19th Grade One win.

However, it is inconceivable that Walsh will not be aboard Hurricane Fly when the Willie Mullins-trained 10-year-old attempts to win a historic third Champion Hurdle in March; the horse could not have been more courageous in defeating young pretender Our Conor.

Yet, with Big Buck’s returning from a 14-month lay-off to be beaten for the first time in five years, the Ladbrokes World Hurdle becomes a more enticing proposition for the majestic Annie Power, who was still galloping strongly at the end of Saturday’s two-mile test on Town Moor.

Her 15-length winning margin over Donald McCain’s Doyly Carte was a false one – John Quinn’s Cockney Sparrow fell heavily at the second last while just in touch with the 1-6 favourite – but Annie Power’s physical scope was striking and her 7lb weight allowance against colts like Big Buck’s could be invaluable at Cheltenham.

The only blemish came at the last when Annie Power faltered slightly, though Walsh instinctively knew that he was approaching the obstacle on the wrong stride and allowed his mount to fiddle her way over the flight before easing clear.

“She was a bit keen early on but she travelled well all the way,” he told the Yorkshire Post.

“You should never look because you know you’ve won and you get indecisive and that’s what happened.

“She was very slick over her hurdles and she’s just a very good mare. She’s 10 from 10 and I’m glad to be riding her. Good horses aren’t complicated, complicated ones don’t tend to be good ones.

“If she’s fit, sound, healthy and well, the race at Cheltenham will pick itself. Getting there would be the big thing in my eyes.”

A dual Grand National winner associated with racing legends like Kauto Star, it is to Walsh’s credit that he did not rush back to the dry sanctuary of the weighing room to watch his old favourite Big Buck’s falter.

Despite Doncaster being lashed by torrential rain, he spent 10 minutes in his riding silks posing for photographs with wellwishers – a gesture that earned loud plaudits, and rightly so, from those bookmakers braving the elements in the nearby betting ring.

If Annie Power was a steering job, Walsh had to earn his riding fee as Hurricane Fly emulated the great Istabraq by claiming a fourth Irish Champion Hurdle at Leopardstown.

As he had done last month, admirable veteran Captain Cee Bee took the four runners along, with Hurricane Fly his closest pursuer, ahead of Our Conor and the free-going Jezki.

Jezki was the first of the three main protagonists to come under pressure in the hands of AP 
McCoy, but Walsh and Our Conor’s rider Danny Mullins appeared confident as they straightened up for home.

There was little to choose between the duo jumping the final flight and, just for a moment, it looked like Dessie Hughes’s charge might be getting on top.

But Hurricane Fly, who suffered a bruised foot earlier in the week, roared back and was a length and a half to the good at the line despite a far from fluent jump at the last.

“I just rode the race as I found it. In fairness to Hurricane, he quickened up well. He wasn’t great at the last, but when I got serious with him he found plenty,” said Walsh, who rode a fabulous four-timer on the card.

As for Mullins, he said: “That was a huge relief. If he had been an ordinary horse he wouldn’t have run.”

Meanwhile, Paul Nicholls is confident Big Buck’s will “improve enormously” after being overhauled by George Charlton’s shock 66-1 winner Knockara Beau, and a revitalised At Fishers Cross, at Cheltenham.

The four-times World Hurdle hero was aiming for a 19th consecutive victory in the Grade Two contest and travelled powerfully in the hands of first-time rider Sam Twiston-Davies.

Critics suggested that Twiston-Davies, 21, should not have taken up the running a mile from home, but Nicholls said: “He has just got a bit tired after the last which he was entitled to after 14 months off.

“He’ll improve enormously for the run and another thing I think is the key to him is better ground. All his best runs have come on better ground and hopefully we’ll get that in March. If he’d have won, we’d have been heroes and now he has been beaten there’s been a bit of criticism, but I’m pleased with how the horse performed.”

Trifolium’s impressive win in the Frank Ward Solicitors Arkle Novice Chase at Leopardstown provided jockey Bryan Cooper with a landmark first Grade One win as Gigginstown House Stud’s new retained rider.

Grand National-winning jockey Ryan Mania’s run of eight second-place finishes ended with Tahiti Pearl landing yesterday’s feature at Sedgefield for High Eldwick trainer Sue Smith.

He will be in action at Ayr today if the meeting passes an inspection.

However, Plumpton’s card is another waterlogging victim.