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Godolphin superstar Anamoe’s final racing campaign is all about putting the icing on his legacy and trainer James Cummings is wary that the Group 2 $250,000 TAB Apollo Stakes (1400m) is as important as any Group 1.
That's not to say the four-year-old is at his peak for his star turn at Royal Randwick on Saturday but James Cummings intimated on SEN on Thursday there should be no excuses first-up.
Anamoe won the Winx Stakes, run over the same course as the Apollo, when he returned in the spring and Cummings is confident he has the horse in good shape, with two trials, to repeat that performance.
"We've got him just where we want him first-up with a suitable amount of improvement after the run,'' he said.
"I'm very pleased with him, he's going to be feeling very well when gets to the track and gets off that float for the Apollo Stakes. He's going to be in dangerously good order."
Anamoe was $1.85 with TAB on Thursday so is expected to kick off his autumn as he did his spring.
He will take on three consecutive Group 1 assignments beyond the Apollo, with a potential Royal Ascot finale, this autumn.
Two of them are locked in – the Group 1 $600,000 Chipping Norton Stakes (1600m) on February 25 and the Group 1 $5 million Longines Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) on April 8.
Either the Group 1 $1m George Ryder Stakes (1500m) or Group 1 $1m Ranvet Stakes (2000m), both run on Golden Slipper Day, is shaping as his lead up to The Star Championships.
With 11 wins from 21 starts and over $10 million in prizemoney already, when Anamoe does retire later this year he'll do so with a reputation as a racehorse of enormous quality. And that's important to Godolphin.
"The right decision was made to persevere and test the horse at the highest level,'' Cummings said.
"This preparation is all about what he might be able to do to build on his record.
"He's already had an amazing run with the prizemoney he has amassed and the trophies he's collected."
Annabel Neasham unleashes Mo'Unga and Laws Of Indices in the Apollo and the Warwick Farm trainer said aside from a couple of awkward draws she can't fault the five-year-old duo.
Mo'unga, the Winx Stakes winner of 2021, chased home stablemate Zaaki in the Group 1 Champions Stakes (2000m) in November and Neasham warned not to read anything into his trials and pointed to his public gallop last weekend.
"He is coming up particularly well. He never shows that in his trials, he never has,'' she said.
"His exhibition gallop on Saturday was as good a piece of work as he's done because he's not the flashest worker at home but the last couple of weeks he's been bubbling along nicely and we know how well he can go fresh."
Laws Of Indices, with Tom Marquand to ride, has returned after chasing home Hong Kong stars California Spangle and Golden Sixty in the Hong Kong Mile back on December 11.
The import is yet to win in 12 starts in Australia but Neasham is confident he's in for a solid campaign.
"He came through Hong Kong so well and looked unbelievable when he came out of quarantine,'' Neasham said.
"We got him straight into the stable and he seems to be thriving. He may well need the run, he needed that gallop last Saturday and improved into his piece of work this week."
