Anamoe, with James McDonald aboard, wins the Group 1 Chipping Norton Stakes at Randwick. (Image: Bradley Photos)
Australia’s weight-for-age champion Anamoe collected his eighth Group 1 victory as another Cummings name joined the Chipping Norton Stakes honour roll.

Anamoe ($1.60 favourite) settled midfield and enjoyed a trouble-free run, latching onto the back of Arapaho ($91) from halfway before powering down the centre of the straight to score by 1.25 lengths.

The Chris Waller-trained Fangirl ($8) was briefly held up on straightening before Kerrin McEvoy switched back to the inside rail and the four-year-old mare rallied for second.

The Annabel Neasham-trained pair of Mo’unga ($11) and Laws of Indices ($16) finished third and fourth respectively.

James Cummings became the fourth generation of Cummings to win the Chipping Norton Stakes. His great-grandfather Jim won with Comic Court (1951), his grandfather Bart won with The Dip (1963), while father Anthony won with Casino Prince (2008).

“He’s a genuine weight-for-age star,” Cummings told SKY Thoroughbred Central.

“He hasn’t always been able to do that since he’s turned four and in some of his three-year-old races.

“You can’t put margins on horses necessarily in slowly run races at weight for age, and today he was able to do that and I daresay he did have a bit of a wow-factor there.”

ANAMOE’S GROUP 1 WINS

2021 Inglis Sires’ Produce (1400m)

2021 Caulfield Guineas (1600m)

2022 Rosehill Guineas (2000m)

2022 Winx Stakes (1400m)

2022 George Main Stakes (1600m)

2022 Might And Power Stakes (2000m)

2022 Cox Plate (2040m)

2023 Chipping Norton Stakes (1600m)

Winning rider James McDonald described Anamoe’s winning performance as “explosive”.

“He was just a real lad in the gates, I had Hinged next to me, It was just sparking up on him a little bit being in there for a little while, not too long, but just enough to get him a little bit agitated being a stallion,” McDonald told SKY Thoroughbred Central.

“But he was curled up and exploded today, so he was wicked. Following a not-so-fancied runner (Arapaho), especially a stayer, was either going to creep in a bit earlier or take me nowhere.

“Thankfully, he got me to the 400 metres. I’ve been saying it a lot of my life, three, four pairs back –explosive.”

Cummings said Anamoe would have his next start in either the G1 George Ryder Stakes (1500m) or G1 Ranvet Stakes (2000m) at Rosehill on March 18, ahead of the $5m G1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) at Randwick on April 8.

The Street Boss entire has won 13 of his 23 starts, including six of his seven outings this season, and collected $11.1 million in prizemoney.

Racing.com