The saying goes that ‘it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish’, but sometimes it’s how you handle the bits in between.
As trainer James Cummings puts the finishing touches to Anamoe ahead of the superstar’s clash with European raider Dubai Honour in Saturday’s Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) at Randwick, he is taking heart from one particular aspect of Anamoe’s last start performance.
Not the end result – the George Ryder Stakes victory wasn’t the four-year-old’s prettiest – but from the resilience the horse showed to absorb the pressures of a torrid run and still find a way to win.
“Go and watch the George Ryder and you can appreciate the amount of bottom that Anamoe has got to him, the depth that he’s got to be able to find when things don’t go perfectly for the horse,” Cummings said.
“I have not trained many winners at Rosehill that have sat three and four-wide for the trip, let alone in Group One, weight-for-age races.
“You might ask yourself the question, which other horse in the Queen Elizabeth would be able to sit three and four-wide in that George Ryder and still win? Anamoe was able to do it.”
That gutsy performance continued Anamoe’s unbeaten run this preparation and set up a mouth-watering showdown with the William Haggas -trained Dubai Honour.
On the same afternoon Anamoe overcame adversity to scramble home in the George Ryder (1500m), Dubai Honour made a statement of his own with a brilliant 4-1/2 length demolition of the Ranvet Stakes (2000m).
Bookmakers and punters alike have been divided in their opinions since, and after drawing adjacent barriers, the pair continue to share Queen Elizabeth Stakes favouritism at $2.50 apiece.
But Cummings is as comfortable as he can be that he has Anamoe at the peak of his powers and his faith in the horse is unwavering.
“It’s a target race for him this campaign. Weight-for-age over a mile-and-a-quarter in the Queen Elizabeth will just be the absolute ideal race for the horse to be running the best race of his campaign,” Cummings said.
“We look forward to potentially see him putting up the grand final performance we’ve come to expect of him.”
The Queen Elizabeth will be Anamoe’s final Australian start before he heads to Europe and, beyond that, a career at stud.
And while the race does have a history of souring farewells – Octagonal was denied by Intergaze in 1997 and the champion’s son Lonhro had his swansong spoiled by Grand Armee in 2004 – there have been happy endings, Winx ending her incomparable career with a 33rd straight win in 2019.
