JONJO O’Neill has been quiet this season but he and Jonjo Jr enjoyed a comprehensive victory when Annie Mc defied top weight in Saturday’s Grade 2 EBF & TBA Mares’ “National Hunt” Novices’ Hurdle Series Final at Newbury. In a race where three fancied runners suffered misfortune, the 8/1 chance cleared right away to beat Sixty’s Belle by eight lengths with Our Dot’s Baby back in third.

Annie Mc defied 11st 5lb with such authority that she might well have won anyway, but The White Mouse, making ground, clipped heels and fell on the home bend, seriously hampering Etamine Du Cochet, who unseated Harry Skelton.