Annaf

What makes Annaf genuinely interesting is his record on different ground. He is phenomenally effective on wet ground, winning 2 of his last 3 races there (a 67% win rate), and handles slow ground well too, with 2 wins from 5 attempts (40%). He is a different proposition when the going gets testing, which explains why trainer Michael Appleby found success bringing him back on the all-weather surface at Lingfield and Kempton, where conditions could be controlled. Lingfield in particular suits him—he has won 2 of his 4 races there. Combined with his partnership with jockey Rossa Ryan, who has ridden him to 5 wins from 12 races (a 42% win rate), Annaf has become more than just another horse in a competitive yard; he has become a horse with a pattern.

Appleby's yard at Oakham has sent out 71 winners this season, but Annaf stands out because the trainer openly speaks of him as genuinely talented—a horse that took time to develop but has improved steadily with age. The loss of form in 2024 appears to have been merely a blip, cured by freshening him up and returning to the surfaces and conditions where he excels. For a seven-year-old who might easily have been dismissed as past his best, that return to the winner's circle at Ascot suggests there is still plenty more to come.