Annexation

Start with the distance. At a mile and one furlong to a mile and two furlongs, Annexation transforms. Three wins from just 10 races at that trip works out to 30% — winning nearly 1 in every 3 races. For a horse that typically toils at the lower end of the sport, winning 7% of those races (1 from 14), that jump in performance is dramatic. It tells you that getting the trip right matters enormously with this one.

Then there is the Dundalk factor. Two wins from 7 races at the Irish track is a genuine course record, and it is the kind of connection between a horse and a venue that experienced followers look for. Some horses simply take to certain tracks — the turns, the surface, something in the way the race unfolds — and Dundalk has brought out the best in Annexation more than once since that first career win there in December 2021.

The most recent win is the eye-catching one. In October 2025, Annexation won a Class 2 race at Nottingham — one of the top races in Britain — which sits oddly alongside a career spent mostly at Class 5 level. That was six months ago now, and the last six runs have produced no wins, with finishes of 9th, 5th, 5th, 6th, 5th and 4th. Solid enough placings, but the winner's enclosure has stayed out of reach.

Trained by Tony Carroll at his yard in Cropthorne, Worcestershire, Annexation is part of a very productive operation — 133 winners sent out this season alone, which is a remarkable training feat. Jockey Jack Doughty has been the regular partner, with 1 win from 10 rides together. Annexation raced just yesterday and is clearly still being campaigned actively. At ten years old, still placing regularly and with a Class 2 win only six months behind it, this is a horse that continues to earn its place in the yard and still has the ability, on its best day, to beat much better horses than it usually faces.