Anamoe blitzes rivals in scintillating Rosehill Guineas display
A year ago on this prestigious raceday, star Godolphin colt Anamoe (Street Boss) careered down the outside in the famed royal blue only to be narrowly denied Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) glory, but returning to the scene yesterday the three-year-old stamped himself as Australia’s most exciting stallion prospect when he produced a glittering performance in yesterday’s Rosehill Guineas (Gr 1, 2000m) to pulverise his opposition by six and a half lengths.
The son of Street Boss (Street Cry) turned the tables on his Randwick Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) conqueror Converge (Frankel) to run out a six-and-a-half-length winner, while the keen-running Profondo (Deep Impact), who engaged front-running tactics under new jockey Hugh Bowman, again toiled on the Heavy 9 surface to finish fourth, behind the Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young-trained Forgot You (Savabeel).
The victory was Anamoe’s third at the elite level, having followed his Slipper second with a win in the Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) as a two-year-old, before returning at three to secure the Caulfield Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) last spring.
“He’s one of the classiest horses racing here today,” said trainer James Cummings of Anamoe, who was making his fourth start this preparation having won the Hobartville Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m) second-up before his last-time-out second in the Randwick Guineas when unable to run down Converge.
“We prepared him deliberately to be spot on for the big two or three races he has at the end of this preparation and I think it’s wonderful for everyone to see what I’ve been able to see with the potential of this horse for so long, and he’s put it on display in a really a good race, a Classic.
“Those good horses were off the bit around him and it was a man racing boys today and that’s the sign of a quality horse.
“If that’s not the performance of the Champion three-year-old this season then I don’t know what is. The horse was here 12 months ago finishing second in the Golden Slipper after drawing barrier 15 of 15. He’s just a pure racehorse, an absolute athlete, and just a pleasure to do anything with.”
Spring Champion Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) winner Profondo, bidding to bounce back after dropping out to near last in the Australian Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m), pulled furiously behind the pedestrian tempo set in the field of seven, and was moved to the front of proceedings by Bowman with the $1.8 million colt failing to settle.
Anamoe spotted his rival six lengths adrift with Converge tucked in behind, but at the top of the straight as Anamoe joined Profondo 400 metres out, the race was all over by the 200-metre mark, as the James McDonald-ridden colt soared away into the distance.
Such was the ease of victory for Anamoe, Cummings suggested he might rethink his approach to the colt’s next target, the Queen Elizabeth Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) on April 9, for which he is the $3.50 favourite ahead of reigning champion Verry Elleegant (Zed) ($4) and yesterday’s All-Star Mile (1600m) winner Zaaki (Leroidesanimaux) ($6).
“I suppose for us, one worry might be that it was a little too easy three weeks out until the Queen Elizabeth, so we might need a discussion as to whether he needs one more before then to be bang on, but that’s a pretty exciting performance there,” Cummings said.
The Golden Slipper – run later on the Rosehill card and won by the filly, Fireburn (Rebel Dane) – may be the most preeminent stallion-making race in Australia, but over the last decade the Rosehill Guineas is nurturing a catalogue of high-profile stallion prospects to make their presence felt at stud.
Anamoe’s margin of victory yesterday was the widest since Dundeel (High Chaparral), who dazzled to smash New Zealand Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) winner and subsequent successful, but ill-fated stallion Sacred Falls (O’Reilly) to win the 2013 running of the Rosehill Guineas by six and three-quarter lengths. Arrowfield resident Dundeel is now the sire of five Group 1 winners and was followed over the next seven years by five victors of the Rosehill Guineas to find a place on prominent stallion rosters.
The sub-fertile Criterion (Sebring) took Rosehill Guineas honours a in 2014, while Tarzino (Tavistock), D’Argento (So You Think), The Autumn Sun (Redoute’s Choice) and Dundeel’s son Castelvecchio have all added their names to the list, earning on the track or sales ring success. Last year’s winner Mo’unga (Savabeel) is also destined for a stud berth when he finishes his career.
“We’re very lucky for his Highness Sheikh Mohammed, that we can get a horse of this calibre that will one day be good enough to join the roster,” Cummings said.
“He’s going to go to stud soon with lots of appeal all over him.”
Anamoe is one of eight elite-level winners, three of which have come in Australia, for Darley’s US shuttler Street Boss, who covered 117 mares in his first season at the racing and breeding operation’s New South Wales base at Kelvinside, at a career-high fee of $55,000 (inc GST).
The colt’s dam, the Australasian Oaks (Gr 1, 2000m) winner Anamato (Redoute’s Choice), foaled a filly by Blue Point (Shamardal) last year, who is a three-quarter sister to her other stakes-winning produce, the Irish Listed winner Anamba (Shamardal). Anamato missed to Street Boss when covered last year, while she has an unraced two-year-old colt by Shooting To Win (Northern Meteor) named Dartboard.
Shelby completes astonishing rise with Group 1 success in Galaxy
At the start of this season, trainer Danny Williams had pinpointed the Country Championships series as a realistic target for his undoubtedly talented but frustrating five-year-old Shelby Sixtysix (Toronado). Indeed, he could have found himself at Scone today in the event’s wildcard contest.
Instead, Goulburn-based horseman Williams is celebrating a sensational Group 1 victory in the Galaxy (Gr 1, 1100m) with the horse who has unquestionably become the unheralded star of the Sydney autumn and revitalised the trainer once more.
At the turn of the year, Shelby Sixtysix finished 11th in a Highway Handicap (1100m) at Randwick, followed by a defeat at the Sapphire Coast – a far cry from the glistening lights of Golden Slipper day at Rosehill.
However, Shelby Sixtysix stunned not least his trainer a fortnight ago in the Challenge Stakes (Gr 2, 1000m), when in chasing a lucrative payday in the small four-runner field he found himself sandwiched between dual Group 1 winner Eduardo (Host) and Everest (1200m) hero and champion sprinter Nature Strip (Nicconi) at the line.
He followed that with a win in the Maurice McCarten Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) and then here, at his eighth run in nine weeks, he has scaled the dizzying heights of Group 1 success.
Williams, who in an interview with ANZ Bloodstock News on Monday spoke of his disillusionment with racing after the death of his talented three-year-old Hot ‘N’ Hazy (Snitzel), admitting he nearly gave up his licence, was overwhelmed at Shelby Sixtysix’s success.
“What about that? That was incredible, how good of a story is that, I can’t believe it,” an emotional Williams said. “Is he in The Everest?”
“The horse has just come from Highway, getting beat here a few runs ago, and to be winning a Group 1 race. Look how he hit the line.”
His performances this autumn have certainly put Shelby Sixtysix right in the conversation as an Everest contender in the spring, however before then, Williams continues to redraw a spring preparation that has continued to throw up surprises, with the TJ Smith Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) on April 2 and All Aged Stakes a fortnight later now touted as possible targets.
“The All Aged Stakes is not out of the question or do we pay a late entry fee for the TJ? Is it going to be wet? More than likely,” Williams said.
“I’ve been on such a high since the Challenge Stakes and the horse has just gone right to the sky, I just can’t believe it.”
Shelby Sixtysix, the first emergency for today’s Galaxy at Rosehill, raced comfortably in midfield before jockey Robbie Dolan moved off heels to challenge Big Parade (Deep Field) and leader In The Congo (Snitzel) up front, proving too strong at the finish to prevail by a neck over the Mark Newnham-trained Big Parade, with In The Congo a half-length from the winner in third.
The gelding becomes the third elite-level winner for Swettenham Stud stallion Toronado (High Chaparral), after William Reid Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Masked Crusader and the European-bred US Grade 1 winner Tribhuvan.
Purchased by Williams for $150,000 from the Riverina Downs draft at the Inglis Classic Sale in 2018, Shelby Sixtysix is the first winner out of city-winning Honours List (Danehill) mare Storm Kite, a half-sister to Sydney Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) runner-up Prophet’s Kiss (Nediym) whose final foal is the unplaced two-year-old filly Incorporation (Territories), who is in training with Shane Fliedner at Bendigo.
Mares to the fore in Rosehill features but Elleegant beaten
The mares dominated proceedings in yesterday’s Ranvet Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) and George Ryder Stakes (Gr 1, 1500m) at Rosehill, however in the case of the former, it maybe was not the horse that was expected to do so.
Kermadec (Teofilo) mare Montefilia claimed the Ranvet Stakes, her fourth Group 1 success, as she showed her brilliant best in handing defeat to 11-time elite-level winner Verry Elleegant (Zed).
A field of six was formed as five rivals dared to take on Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) winner Verry Elleegant, who showed ominous signs this would be nothing but a routine victory after her comfortable victory in the Chipping Norton Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) last time out, a race in which Montefilia trailed in seventh.
However, the David Payne-trained mare had other ideas, showing the form that saw her win the Flight Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) and Spring Champion Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) as a three-year-old and the Metropolitan Handicap (Gr 1, 2400m) in the spring.
Montefilia circled the field at the top of the straight, with Verry Elleegant on her heels, but when Jason Collett asked the four-year-old responded, with Montefilia going away from her illustrious rival at the finish to win by two lengths.
“If you look at her now, she’s a different filly. She’s a mare now, much stronger,” Payne said, who upon reflecting on her career, admitted the filly did not show him the class of a possible multiple Group 1 winner in the early stages of her career.
“I didn’t think much of her at first. We ran at Newcastle and she won and then we ran in the TL Baillieu and she ran fourth,” Payne said.
“When I realised she was good was when she beat the older horses here over 1600 (metres) as a two-year-old. She’s still getting stronger.”
A rematch between the pair will be soon in the offing, with Payne nominating the Queen Elizabeth Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) on April 9 as the mare’s next target.
“I think we’ll go for the Queen Elizabeth now, why not,” he said. “This is only her second run back, so I think she’ll improve a bit as well.”
Montefilia is one two stakes winners for her Darley sire Kermadec, the other being this season’s VRC Oaks (Gr 1, 2500m) winner Willowy.
The sire covered 90 mares in the last breeding season at an $11,000 fee, up from 67 the year before.
Out of Shirocco (Monsun) mare Wana Bu, Montefilia is a half-sister to the Group 3-placed two-year-old Nice For What (Shalaa). She has a two-year-old colt by Ribchester (Iffraaj) in training with Ciaron Maher and David Eustace and returned to Kermadec in the spring.
From the same crop of 2017, Forbidden Love (All Too Hard) just over an hour later narrowed the gap to one between her and Montefilia in the Group 1 stakes, securing her third when producing a dominant display to defeat another star Group 1-winning mare, Colette (Hallowed Crown).
Since securing her first Group 1 success in the Surround Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) at three, Forbidden Love endured a streak of nine races without a win, but has returned emphatically to form this preparation, winning the Guy Walter Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) last month before backing up with victory in the Canterbury Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) last time out.
“She’s an absolute gem,” said co-trainer Michael Freedman, who trains in partnership with his brother Richard. “Obviously she’s relishing these wet tracks, but she’s not just a wet tracker.
“When you get these mares in form and they can string these runs together, it’s satisfying as much as anything.”
Forbidden Love will now target more Group 1 success this spring and beyond, and Freedman suggested a tilt at The Everest was not beyond his versatile mare.
“It adds another string to her bow that she can be ridden just off the speed. With a view of looking at the Doncaster with 50 kilos on her back, it was nice to see her be able to take a sit and still have that nice turn of foot.
“She’s only had two goes so far (at the mile), when she ran third in the Empire Rose in Melbourne and she ran in the Doncaster last year and I thought she ran terrific and she’s probably in better form now, so we’ll see how she pulls up.
“Maybe an Everest in the spring. If she got the right sort of conditions, which you can do at that time of year, I wouldn’t say it’s out of the question.”
Forbidden Love is one of four Group 1 winners for Vinery Stud stallion All Too Hard (Casino Prince), with the mare adding to wins for Behemoth and Hong Kong galloper Wellington this season alone.
Out of US-bred mare Juliet’s Princess, the four-year-old was a $150,000 for Richard Freedman from Bhima Thoroughbreds draft at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in 2019.
In eight seasons at stud Juliet’s Princess has produced just four foals, with her yearling colt by Epaulette (Commands) fetching $100,000 to the bid of Avesta Bloodstock.