My Girl Anna

The five-year-old My Girl Anna is in the form of her life this season, she has already won a handicap at Navan and gone down narrowly to Maarek in another, and she could have won the Listed Galtee Midsummer Sprint Stakes at Cork on Sunday if the ball had hopped a little differently.

She travelled really well in the front rank, though she was trapped a little wide of the stands rail from her draw in stall three. She travelled comfortably until deep in the race, she was going best of all from some way out, she kicked on inside the final furlong and looked set to win (she traded at 1.15 in-running) before she was overhauled late on by the very much in-form British challenger Mirza.

Muredach Kelly’s mare could have won had she moved across to the stands rail when she hit the front, she was clear of Inxile on the rail at that point and that probably would have secured her victory. As it happened, she stayed a little off the rail, in fact she actually drifted away from the rail a little and allowed Mirza - who was under pressure and would have been forced to look outside My Girl Anna if he was to renew his challenge a furlong out - to rally up her inside and get up close home.

My Girl Anna hadn’t been obviously progressive last season or on her first couple of runs this term, and even her recent efforts still her with plenty of ground to make up for this step into listed company, but she is clearly thriving at present, she loves this soft ground, and she can do even better if ridden with even more restraint, she does travel strongly. This run may be a little underappreciated, and she would warrant a lot of respect back in handicaps now off her unchanged mark of 89. Interestingly, she is entered in a five-furlong listed race at Ayr on Saturday, and she will be of interest if she takes her chance in that, especially if the ground comes up on the easy side, which is more than possible with plenty of rain around still.

17th June 2012

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