Anamoe has moved another step closer to earning himself a Royal Ascot appearance but not before he takes on a smattering of international raiders on home soil in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes.
As the European contingent of horses arrived in Sydney on Saturday to prepare for the upcoming The Championships, Anamoe was across town giving them a taste of what to expect in the coming weeks.
Relishing a surprisingly solid tempo in the Chipping Norton Stakes (1600m), the four-year-old smoked his pipe back in the field, easing to the outside around the home turn and unleashing a withering burst of acceleration to quickly put the race in the bag.
Jockey James Mcdonald even had time to look up and take in the crowd as Anamoe ($1.60 betr fav) cruised to a 1-1/4 length win over Fangirl ($8) with Mo’Unga ($11) a head away third.
While many of Anamoe’s wins have been by small margins, James Cummings said a genuinely run race finally gave the horse a chance to showcase his true ability.
“He’s not often finding himself in races with loads of pace so it gives him his opportunity to show how good a weight-for-age horse he really is,” Cummings said.
“It’s a special thing isn’t it to see a thoroughbred as good as Anamoe at full flight. There is a majesty to a horse like Anamoe.
“One of the things about keeping a horse in training is you can’t help but know even more of the intricacies of their personalities and their traits. It’s a great thing for the staff to be so attached to the horse and myself personally, the same goes.
“He is just a special horse and he is so ingrained in our yard. He is really the backbone of our racing team at the moment and we are just so lucky to have him.”
Anamoe is likely to have his next start in the Ranvet Stakes (2000m) at Rosehill in three weeks, although the George Ryder Stakes (1500m) on the same program hasn’t been ruled out.
Cummings says the team’s long-term focus is on getting Anamoe to England in top shape, but there are some races to be conquered in Sydney first.
“We’ll continue to make sure we’ve got a solid plan to stick to when it comes to his assault on Royal Ascot. We’ll stick to the Queen Anne and the Prince Of Wales’ (Stakes),” Cummings said.
“We dare not get ahead of ourselves because he’s got some targets here in Australia first that he needs to aim at, and he needs to achieve in those races before he is a certain starter overseas.”
As for whether Anamoe lines up in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m), in which the international raiders are set to be well represented, Cummings says he is keen to see him there.
“It would be disappointing to have run in the Queen Elizabeth as a three-year-old and not as a four-year-old so we would love to be there, as long as we’ve got the horse humming along like we have this afternoon,” he said.
“There’s no reason from my perspective that he shouldn’t be lining up in a Queen Elizabeth.”