skip to main content

Walsh: Annie Power may run at Aintree, Punchestown

Annie Power suffered a last-flight fall in the OLBG Mares' Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival
Annie Power suffered a last-flight fall in the OLBG Mares' Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival

Ruby Walsh has raised the possibility of Annie Power running at Aintree and at Punchestown this spring.

Willie Mullins' seven-year-old mare broke the hearts of millions of punters last Tuesday when she suffered a last-flight fall in the OLBG Mares' Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.

But having returned from those exertions unscathed, her regular jockey suggested she could still have two more runs this spring.

He told the Irish Examiner: "Annie Power seems really well with no ill effects from her fall, so there's a chance that she could do both Aintree and Punchestown.

"She seems 100%."

Walsh also said that he plans to step up his pursuit of a 10th Irish jockeys' championship crown.

He currently trails the injured Mark Walsh and Paul Townend in the table, but intends to give it his best shot of retaining a title he won last season.

"I suppose it is the time to start thinking about the possibility of chasing the champion jockeys' title, too,” he said. "I'm in shouting distance so I will give it a go now.

"I was out for four months at the beginning of the season when I had the operation on my shoulder, having held off on it until June so I could ride in Punchestown and Auteuil.

"That gave me a little bit of an uphill climb but I am only six winners behind the unfortunate Mark Walsh, who broke his arm at the end of February, and just two in arrears of Paul Townend.

"If I got a little bit of luck in the next three or four weeks, I would have a good chance.

Read Next