WHEN Henry Gallagher’s Annie G went for her third run over hurdles at Tipperary at the beginning of May, she was very much playing second fiddle to Gypsy Island in the pre-race focus.

That is understandable given what Peter Fahey’s mare has achieved in bumpers and the potential she has shown, unbeaten in four starts including the Grade 3 mares’ bumper at the Punchestown Festival.

Gypsy Island was sent off 1/5 to make a winning return but was probably the inverse of that price coming down to the last because she’d met a significant rival in the shape of Gallagher’s five-year-old mare, who looked to be gaining the upper hand. Unfortunately, it was at the last obstacle that Annie G made a significant mistake, handing back the initiative to Gypsy Island who just emerged best in the end.

“We thought she had the beating of Gypsy Island that day,” Gallagher recalls. “But she just made that mistake at a crucial time and that’s the way it goes. We were wondering then if the form was as good as it looked.

“The pair of them finished 11 lengths clear of the third but we didn’t know if we had run big or Gypsy Island was way off her best, which she might have been, because she was coming off a long layoff. I think we found out the answer when Annie G won at Listowel last month.”

Heavily eased

Annie G, didn’t just win at Listowel, she went ahead and got it done by 23 lengths, heavily eased towards the line. It confirmed to Gallagher, who bred the five-year-old mare and owns her in conjunction with his wife Ann and brother Richard, that the Tipperary form with Gypsy Island might well be as good as it reads.

With just five starts to her name the daughter of Getaway and Gallagher’s homebred mare It’s Only Gossip is now a very exciting prospect.

“Henry (de Bromhead) has never rushed her. She ran a couple of times last year but certainly wasn’t pushed because there were no schooling races because of Covid.

“She was a May foal, so she was quite young and we said we’ll see how she gets on in bumpers and it was more of a learning process than anything else. She ran very freely in her first hurdle up at Ballinrobe earlier this year and after the Tipperary run, I was confident going to Listowel.

“Look, we’re just delighted with her. It’s amazing the lift horses can give you. You can go through your life with a few horses here and there and never come close to a winner. It’s just not easy.

“When she won at Listowel, it was the first day owners were back on course and it was great but it was somewhat a strange feeling as well because it was only owners and you know everyone else there is connected to horses in the race as well. You’d nearly be afraid to go jumping around!”

Real quality

Gallagher, from the village of Rathcormac near Fermoy, Co Cork, has just the one mare at home, Its Only Gossip, but she has produced real quality with her horses that have made the track, none more so than 12-time winner Westerner Point.

“Our family has always been involved with racing and breeding,” he explains. “Two of my brothers brought in Only Gossip from the States and she was in foal at the time with Its Only Gossip. My mother asked me would I buy half of It’s Only Gossip and we bred a few from her.

“Westerner Point has been a dream for her syndicate owners, winning the Tim Duggan twice and the other horse she bred was Emerald Chieftain who we won a point-to-point with before selling to England where he has won twice since.

“It’s very much a hobby for us. Richard, my brother, is at home on the farm, he has a few broodmares and we have this one with him. We said we’d race Annie G, not just for the sake of a bit of fun but just to see how she went and maybe she’d turn into a nice broodmare sometime.

“It’s become more attractive to race mares in the last decade. The programme is there and the fillies’ bonus is huge. It made the race in Listowel a €12,000 race for us when you factor in the €5,000 on top of the winner prize money. That will look after the fees for her. It’s great to have a mare that’s paying for herself.”

Surprisingly, Gallagher reports that there have been no enquiries made to buy Annie G, named after his wife, but he says “it would take an awful lot of money” for he, Ann and Richard to sell her on now.

She will be kept in for the summer with possible targets pencilled in for Killarney and Galway.

“You try to keep the feet on the ground but at the same time you just have to say it would be nice if she goes on,” Gallagher says.

“The reality is that she’ll go on if she’s capable and if she’s not capable, we’re not going to be saying we’ll go somewhere just for the sake of going there. We won’t push her.”