There are three certainties in life, death, taxes and the training partnership of Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott unveiling a promising two-year-old before Christmas.
Their I Am Invincible colt Anode ($5.50) kept that ball rolling for Tulloch Lodge with a dominant display leading from barrier to box in the James Squire Handicap over 1100m at Randwick.
Race favourite Amazing Eagle ($1.60 betting fav) did a lot of things wrong in the run and was no match for the winner going down by three and a half lengths on the line, but will take a lot out of the day at the races. The Team Hawkes-prepared outsider War Council ($31) was a further length back in third but never looked likely.
Anode displayed his early education leaving the gates cleanly to lead them up easily after travelling 100m. He then got into a nice rhythm in the run for hoop Rachel King, who was full of praise for her juvenile mount and the training performance.
“Nothing less than what we expect from the Gai and Adrian stable. He jumped well, he put himself there,” King said.
“He’s quite casual, I still had to keep reminding him but I loved the way he really knuckled down that last furlong.
“He’s got a great attitude, he wants to win. He’s still learning so once the penny drops he’ll be even nicer.”
Co-trainer Adrian Bott was rapt with his charge’s debut performance, and sees bigger targets later in the two-year-old season. The stable are no strangers to getting a horse up and going early, and it appears they have another forward colt on their hands.
“I am really pleased with that. He was very professional which is what we’ve seen from him all the way though,” Bott said.
“That’s the type of performance we were expecting to see. We knew if he could reproduce what he has shown at home that would give him every opportunity.
“We wanted to get through today and see what performance he could produce under a bit of pressure and see how far up we can scale him for the autumn.
“He went through the Magic Millions sale up there, but was passed in and we ended up retaining him.
“He is not eligible so we will go down to Melbourne for a Blue Diamond path or stay up here for the autumn.
True to form, Anode adds to another strong team of babies heading into the new year for Waterhouse and Bott.
“We have some nice colts,” Bott said.
“When you line up Storm Boy, Straight Charge, Anode, Espionage, Prost and Shangri La Express, there is a bit of depth there which is encouraging to see.”
