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Review punchestown 3rd May

Annie Power and Ruby Walsh in PunchestownAnnie Power and Ruby Walsh in Punchestown
© Photo Healy Racing

< Annie Power got back in the winning groove with an emphatic success in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Mares Champion Hurdle at Punchestown.

Beaten for the first time in her life when second in the World Hurdle at Cheltenham last time out, Willie Mullins' star was sent off the 1-6 favourite and made all the running in the hands of Ruby Walsh as she recorded her 11th victory.

British raider Cockney Sparrow was expected to be the danger in the five-horse field but she never jumped fluently and finished last, and it was left to Jennies Jewel to chase Annie Power home, a never threatening seven lengths in arrears.

Mullins and Walsh took the other Grade One on the card, too, when Abbyssial demolished the opposition in the AES Champion Four Year Old Hurdle to make amends for his fall in the Triumph at Cheltenham.

Walsh, who broke his arm in that incident, made all the running again and Abbyssial (15-2) shot clear on the turn for home to put the race to bed before finishing six and a half lengths clear of Plinth

There was a big pot on offer for the Setanta Sports Handicap Hurdle and with 25 runners it looked a red-hot race, but Ben Case's raider Deep Trouble (16-1) made a mockery of the competition, sweeping clear going to the last under Noel Fehily and winning by seven lengths.

There was another success for the British team when Tom Scudamore, always prominent on Tom George's 13-2 chance Chartreux in the Palmerston House Pat Taaffe Handicap Chase, saw off all-comers from the front over the last four fences to score by two lengths.< Unoccupied (14-1) kept going relentlessly under Philip Enright to take the Madra Irish Dog Foods Handicap Chase by a length and three-quarters, while last year's winner Sizing Australia (6-1) edged a thriller for the Irish Field Chase in the hands of Andrew Lynch, beating Tuesday's scorer Be Positive by a neck.

Long-time leader Boru's Brook looked to have the closing bumper well won but he hit the wall in the final furlong and Ger Fox swept past on John Queally's Uncle Danny (9-2) to c