The query was posted by dhutchin back in January of '07 but received no reply. I'm raising the issue again because a) I have a use for it right now and b) I think it's important enough and of general enough interest to warrant a response. MySql provides the (FORCE | IGNORE | USE) INDEX syntax to allow users to optimize their queries by giving hints to the engine. It would be great if one could benerit from this capability while still working within the Criteria (or at least HQL) framework.