Anamoe pair shines at first official two-year-old trials at Randwick
Darley’s first-season stallion Anamoe made an immediate mark on the juvenile scene in the first official trials at Randwick, siring two heat winners, while Bjorn Baker, Michael Freedman and the partnership of Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott shared training honours with two winners apiece.
Anamoe’s first-crop progeny Nonu and Runaway Diva put on impressive first public showings at the two-year-old trials at Randwick, with the colt and the filly winning their heats.
The Bjorn Baker-trained colt Nonu, who is a $600,000 NZB Karaka graduate, recorded the greatest winning margin of the nine heats held on Monday, dashing clear from on the pace to win by three-and-a-half lengths.
His time of 49.02 seconds was the third quickest of the morning, while his final 600 metres sectional of 32.69s was the second fastest, with jockey Jason Collett keeping him busy through the line without a lot of pressure.
“He’s got a lot of quality about him, and of course he’s a son of Anamoe,” Baker said.
“We probably went beyond our budget in New Zealand to buy him. But Anamoe is a superstar racehorse, I think he’s going to be a superstar stallion.”
“I know Jason was very much looking forward to him, so he’s an exciting horse.”
Nonu, who carries a 3×3 cross to Street Cry, is the first foal from stakes-winning Pride of Dubai mare Easifar.
The Waterhouse and Bott-trained Anamoe filly Runaway Diva wasn’t quite as dominant in her win in the next heat, Trial 8, but fought back well under Rachel King to defeat Everlasting Grace by 0.3 of a length in 49.22 seconds.
“I think the Anamoes in general have been very impressive. Great constitutions, the way they’ve handled themselves, and physically she’s a great example of them. She’s a lovely, strong type,” Bott said.
“I think there’s a lot of improvement to come off the back of today with her, but just great to see the way she responded under pressure and just kept finding.”
Bred by Basil Nolan, the Anamoe filly was a $380,000 Magic Millions purchase from Raheen Stud for Monarch Racing/Catheryne Bruggeman/Paul Moroney Bloodstock. She is out of Fleet Dove, who is a Not A Single Doubt mare.
Waterhouse and Bott took out the final two heats of the session, with Flying Houdini showing plenty of speed and holding on for a narrow victory over Capitano in the final heat, stopping the clock at 49.05s and recording the fastest last 600m of the day.
A son of Trapeze Artist, Flying Houdini was a $60,000 Inglis Classic purchase from Widden Stud for Red Fox Racing and is a full brother to Inglis Nursery Stakes winner Where’s the Circus.
“He’s been up longer than expected, and he’s just kept improving throughout the campaign, so I just wanted to give him that opportunity to be here and he’s come a long way,” Bott said.
The two fastest heat times were set by the Baker-trained Stay Inside colt Out of Bounds, and the Marc Conners-trained Exceedance filly She’s Supreme. Both recorded times of 48.90 seconds.
Out of Bounds was a $475,000 yearling buy for Baker and MyRacehorse at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale and was bred by Corumbene Stud.
“He’s a really nice horse and he was an expensive yearling. Of course, he’s a Magic Millions horse and it’s wonderful to see them run well,” Baker said.
“He’s still got a fair bit to learn. He was pretty green up the straight. So, that gives us a bit of encouragement going forward.”
Conversely, She’s Supreme cost just $40,000 at the Inglis Classic Sale and Conners has his eye on the Gimcrack in 12 days’ time.
“She doesn’t know what she costs, and that’s the thing. That’s the sort of horse we need to buy. We’ve got to search around hard and hopefully we’ll find a good one here,” he said.
Michael Freedman also had two winners, the Written Tycoon colt Proverb and the Ole Kirk filly Shraddha.
Other heat winners included the Peter Snowden-trained Shezablaze, a daughter of his Golden Slipper winner Capitalist, and the Chris Waller colt Fiji, a son of I Am Invincible, raced by the Newgate colts syndicate.
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