Annie Power at Doncaster

All eyes at Doncaster will be on Annie Power (Willie Mullins/ Ruby Walsh) who will start at long odds-on in the Grade Two mares hurdle at 15.05 CET. This trip of just over 2 miles may be on the short side, but we cannot see her losing her unbeaten record (9 from 9) here. Although listed as Irish-bred, she has a German pediree, being by Shirocco our of a daughter of Anna Paola and she loks a real star. She is so good that she is beginning to embarrass her trainer, who does not know how to campaign her as he clearly does not to start her against stable stars Hurricane Fly and Quevega at Cheltenham. 4 line up against her today, but only one of them has the merest breath of a chance, Cockney Sparrow (John Quinn/ James Reveley), who has won 5 of her 7 races over hurdles and was runner-up to the top class My Tent or Yours in the Fighting Fifth Hurdle in November.

Quinn is a very shrewd handler of ypur hurdlers; he had a good winner here yesterday and we expect him also to take the opening handicap hurdle at 13.25 with Hidden Justice (Dean Pratt).

The novice chase at 13.55 has lost some of its interest with the news that Rock on Ruby will not run. In his absense it could now be between Caid du Berlais (Paul Nicholls/ Nick Scholfield) and Valdez (Alan King/ Robert Thornton), who could signal his stable´s return to form with a good performance.

The novice hurdle over 3 miles+ at 15.40 is another good race and looks very tricky. Urban Hymn (Malcolm Jefferson/ Brian Hughes) might just be good enough, but we are afraid of Timesremembered (Emma Lavelle/ Leighton Aspell) and Racing Pulse (Quinn/ Reveley).

The big betting race is the Great Yorkshire Chase, a handicap over 3 miles at 16.15. German-bred Kruzhlinin (Donald McCain/ henryx Brooke) hads won twice at Kelso but has shot up the weights, while we do not believe Grand National winner Auroras Encore (Sue Smith/ Ryan Mania) can win over this trip. Our three against the field are other top-weights Unionsite (Nicholls/ Harry Derham), Roberto Goldback (Nicky Henderson/ Nico de Boinville) and Gullinbursti (Lavelle/ Noel Fehily).