Following a luckless second in the Golden Slipper, Godolphin’s Street Boss (USA) colt Anamoe gave the selectors of Champion two-Year-Old plenty to think about following a breathtaking performance in Saturday’s $1,000,000 Group 1 Inglis sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m) at Randwick.
With just three of the nine runners behind him on the turn, Anamoe displayed a blistering turn of foot to reel in the leaders in the space of 50 metres.
`With the race safely in the bag, Anamoe was eased down to a walk by James McDonals in the final 50 metres. He defeated the Fastnet Rock colt Hilal by length with the Capitalist colt Captivant back in third.
Winner of the Listed Merson Cooper Stakes at Caulfield last November and the Group III Todman Stakes at Randwick, Anamoe advances his record to three wins, two seconds and a third from seven starts with earnings of $1,737,075.
He is now likely to starts in the Group 1 Champagne Stakes (1600m) at Randwick in a fortnight.
“He’s just come through the best of the two-year-old races that are around,” James Cummings enthused.
“He’s graduated through all three of our stables; they have their fingerprints all over this horse. I’m just incredibly proud that he’s able to absorb the pressure of those Group 1’s, the Blue Diamond, the Todman, the Slipper. He turns up here and is just in absolute perfect condition.”
“We were a bit tougher on him getting up to 1400m. In fact I’ve been tough on him his whole racing career and there’s nothing that I’ve thrown at him that has been too hard for him. He continues to just reach new heights everytime I raise the bar.
“I can’t see anything that would be around in the next two weeks that’s going to threaten Animoe in the Champagne. There’s no certainties in it, I think it’s just whether or not we’re comfortable to run the horse again. But I would say this, it’s a long time to the Caulfield Guineas in October, and if that’s going to be our target race with him, then just to have that strengthening run over a mile before we put him away for a short break.”
It was the 50th Group 1 for James McDonald and few have come any easier.
’I’ve been very lucky with the support I’ve had through the 12 years I’ve been here,” McDonald said.
“Obviously, I have so many people to thank, but it’s this horse’s day in the sun.
“He is a marvelous horse. What he did in the (Golden) Slipper was just incredible. To come and do that to good quality horses in a Group 1 is just incredible. He is the Rolls Royce of two-year-olds racing.
“It is the first time I’ve ever sat on him and ever seen him in the flesh. I actually haven’t really taken much notice. He oozes a lot of class. When I cantered around to the gates and pulled him up to a trot, every hoof was clicking. I was thinking, ‘jeez he has got some stride on him this horse,’ because he just strides out. He is a very enthusiastic colt, very push button.”
A homebred for Godolphin, Anamoe is a half-brother to Irish stakes-winner Anamba and is the fourth winner from six to race out of the Group I SAJC Australasian Oaks winner Anamato.
A half-sister by champion sire Redoute’s Choice to Group I winner Drum, Anamato has a huge black type pedigree that also features Group I winners Grand Armee, Yourdeel and Dealer Principal.
Anamato started her stud career in the Northern Hemisphere before returning to Australia in 2014.
The daughter of Redoute’s Choice has a yearling colt by Shooting to Win and was covered by Darley’s young gun sire Blue Point (IRE) last spring.
Anamoe becomes the 8th Gr.1 winner for Darley Stud’s Street Boss (USA) and his third in Australia after The Quarterback and Elite Street.
