IT is ‘cup time’ in Australia, and last weekend Anamoe (Street Boss) won the Group 1 WS Cox Plate, his seventh win at the highest level in racing.
He is the most successful stakes runner of any horse raced by Godolphin, and was avenging his narrow defeat in the same race as a three-year-old last season.
The homebred Anamoe was winning his 11th race, all at stakes level, from 20 starts, and his prizemoney earnings now stand at A$9,441,025, or more than £5 million. Foaled in November 2018, Anamoe is bred in the purple.
He is one of two stakes winners out of Anamato (Redoute’s Choice), herself a winner of the Group 1 Australasian Oaks. Anamato spent some time in this part of the world and her other stakes winner, Anamba (Shamardal), won a listed race at Naas when trained by Michael Halford and was a half-length runner-up to Coolmore in a Group 3 at the Curragh as a two-year-old.
Anamato is one of four Group 1 performers out of six-time winner and stakes-placed Voltage (Whiskey Road). The others are Drum (Marauding), winner of the Group 1 Oakleigh Plate, the stakes winner and Group 1 Caulfield Guineas runner-up Port Watch (Star Watch), and the Group 1 Castlemaine Classic second Tambour (Marauding). The latter mare bred the champion and seven-time Group 1 winner Grand Armee (Hennessy).
Down under, Street Boss has also sired the Group 1 Winterbottom Stakes winner Elite Street, and the Group 1 Newmarket Handicap winner The Quarterback, and he stands at Darley’s Kelvinside in the Hunter Valley for a fee of A$77,000.
He covered this year in Kentucky for just $15,000, where he is a multiple Grade 1 sire.
Durston
A week earlier Durston gave Lanwades Stud’s Sea The Moon (Sea The Stars) his second Group 1 winner when the six-year-old captured the Caulfield Cup in the colours of Highclere Thoroughbreds.
The gelding only got into the field on the morning of the race, and after this great win in the A$5 million feature, Durston, for a short time, became a leading challenger for the upcoming Melbourne Cup. What a dream that would have been for his breeder, Kirsten Rausing.
Formerly trained by David Simcock for whom he won twice and was placed in the Group 3 Geoffrey Freer Stakes, Durston is now trained by Chris Waller, who said afterwards: “Wow, what an amazing win there. A Caulfield Cup, it’s a big deal, and Durston, he’s a really decent horse. It is exciting heading towards the Melbourne Cup.”
Sadly, Durston will not now attempt to become the 12th horse to attempt to complete the Caulfield/Melbourne Cups double, but connections can look forward to more big days with him.
Best buy
Two men who will be watching Dunston’s future career with more than usual interest will be Stephen Lanigan-O’Keeffe and bloodstock agent JD Moore. In July the duo paid 10,000gns for Casuarina (Sea The Moon), the four-year-old full-sister to Durston, at the Tattersalls July Sale.
At the time Durston had won once in Australia, but since then he has also added the Group 3 Newcastle Gold Cup and the Listed Wyong Gold Cup to his tally of victories. Well done to the eagle-eyed agent who picked Casuarina out at the sale.
Trained for Kirsten Rausing by Ralph Beckett, the filly was placed on her only ever start at two, and she was sold in July carrying to Study Of Man (Deep Impact). Given that the stallion stands at Lanwades for £12,500, you could say that Lanigan-O’Keeffe and Moore got the mare for free!!
Durston and the dual Group 3 winner and Group 1 runner-up Cubanita (Selkirk) are the best of the five winners to date from Caribana, a winning daughter of Hernando (Niniski). Her grandam was Key Change (Darshaan), winner of the Group 1 Yorkshire Oaks and placed in both the Group 1 Irish St Leger, second to Oscar Schindler, and the Irish Oaks, third to Dance Design and Shamadara.