Is Anamoe a champion? Form experts Ron Dufficy and Daniel O'Sullivan have say

racenet.com.au

23 February 2023

Is Anamoe a champion? Form experts Ron Dufficy and Daniel O'Sullivan have say

Is Anamoe a champion? Form experts Ron Dufficy and Daniel O'Sullivan have their say.

Anamoe has the opportunity to join of one of racing's most famous honour rolls in the Group 1 $600,000 Chipping Norton Stakes (1600m) at Royal Randwick on Saturday.

The first Group 1 weight-for-age race in Sydney each year has been won by some of the greats of Australian racing from Phar Lap to Winx.

Few races can boast so many champions as previous winners with Anamoe a dominant favourite to join them.

But there is still some debate about whether Anamoe is deserving of champion status despite his outstanding race record.

Everyone has their own definition of what makes a champion racehorse but Sydney's leading form expert Ron Dufficy doesn't need any convincing about Anamoe's ability.

Dufficy has been the No.1 ticketholder in the Anamoe fan club since the horse began racing three years ago. He was ahead of the curve, identifying the horse as an exceptional talent before just about everyone else.

"Look, I don't know what is was that gravitated me towards him,'' Dufficy said.

"I don't think I have ever fallen in love with a horse so quickly. I can't put my finger on why but there was just something about him that jumped out at me.

"He's obviously a good-looking horse, he has style and rhythm, and I could see the raw talent in him.

"Sometimes you have to trust your eye. It doesn't always work but that is part of the puzzle.''

Anamoe is a hot favourite to win the Group 1 Chipping Norton Stakes at Randwick on Saturday. Picture: Grant Guy

Anamoe's race career started with a luckless, unplaced run in the Debutant Stakes three years ago but Dufficy was already hooked on the colt.

"I remember when he was going to the Merson Cooper Stakes for his second start, he was good odds and I thought I will have a decent bet on this horse,'' Dufficy said.

"He won that day and I have stuck with him all the way through. He rarely lets me down.''

Anamoe has been a star ever since, winning at Group or Listed level every preparation.

In fact, Anamoe has become the most prolific big-race winner to represent Godolphin's worldwide racing and breeding operation, his record now superior to all of the Godolphin greats like celebrated champions Dubai Millennium, Fantastic Light, Daylami and Halling.

A statistical breakdown of Anamoe's race record includes:

■ Anamoe's seven Group 1 wins is the most by any Godolphin-owned runner.

■ His 11 Group race wins is also a Godolphin best.

■ With 12 Group and Listed wins, Anamoe has won more stakes races than any other Godolphin horse.

■ Anamoe's career earnings of $10.7m is second only to Godolphin's dual Dubai World Cup winner Thunder Snow on $20.8m.

With such an outstanding race record coupled with his ability to win at the highest level every season, Anamoe has a compelling case to be afforded racing's ultimate acknowledgment although Dufficy has his own perspective on this topic.

"Just because Anamoe is my champion doesn't mean he has to be someone else's champion,'' Dufficy said.

"Some people want to shout you down if you call a horse a champion but so be it, everyone is entitled to an opinion.''

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Anamoe winning the Merson Cooper Stakes as a two-year-old. Picture: Racing Photos via Getty Images

Dufficy can speak with authority on this subject. He is a renowned form expert for Sky Thoroughbred Central, Sky Sports Radio and The Daily Telegraph, and his opinions can shape Sydney betting markets.

But Dufficy's understanding of the thoroughbred and what defines a champion was developed during his days as a jockey when he rode trackwork at Randwick for two legends of Australian racing, Bart Cummings and Tommy Smith, during a golden era in Sydney racing.

Cummings and Smith were different personalities with their own training methods but their results have stood the test of time. Remarkably, they both trained 246 Group 1 winners.

The Hall of Famers trainers prepared many champions and Dufficy rode some of their very best at trackwork, giving him an understanding of what makes an elite racehorse.

Godolphin superstar Anamoe is building an outstanding race record with 12 wins from his 22 starts.

If he secures his eighth Group 1 win in the Chipping Norton Stakes on Saturday, he will become only the seventh horse after Winx, Nature Strip, Redzel, Very Elleegant, Makybe Diva and Sunline to pass the $11m prizemoney barrier.

Anamoe, trained by Bart's grandson James, has won Group 1 races at as a two, three and four-year-old – the first entire to achieve this feat in 20 years – and has won feature races in each of his preparations, recording at least one Group 1 win every season.

"I just feel it is very hard in the modern era to do what Anamoe has done,'' Dufficy said.

"In the old days, trainers could use steroids on colts and geldings which helped a horse's recovery and kept them racing more often.''

Former jockey now racing tipster Ron Dufficy during race meeting at Royal Randwick Racecourse in Sydney.

Respected form analyst Ron Dufficy identified Anamoe as a potential star very early in his career.

In the drug-free environment of Australian racing in the modern era, it makes Winx's race record even more incredible.

Winx won 37 of her 43 races including her famous winning streak of 33 races to close out her race career. During her four-year unbeaten run, she won a world record 25 Group 1 races including her four-peat in the Chipping Norton Stakes (2016-17-18-19).

"We will never see a horse like Winx again,'' Dufficy declared.

"You can't use her as a measuring stick for a champion because what she did on the racetrack is never going to happen again.''

So, what is it about Anamoe that makes Dufficy comfortable with affording the Godolphin superstar the "champion" label?

Dufficy said there was a combination of factors which he feels proves Anamoe is worthy of champion status.

"I think it is his weight-for-age ability, he's a durable horse, his consistency – he's done it three seasons in a row now,'' Dufficy said.

"When you look at a horse like (American champion) Flightline, he only had six starts so did we see enough of him or did he just have one freakish period?

"But with Anamoe, if he had gone to stud last spring there would be more debate about him being a champion than there is now.

"It was a brave and sporting decision by Godolphin to race him on and it's paid off because Anamoe has been so good this season. He's a champion in my eyes.''

Anamoe on verge of champion tag: O'Sullivan

Anamoe needs to continue his dominance of weight-for age racing through the Sydney autumn carnival to be called a champion racehorse.

At least, this is the opinion of respected form analyst, Daniel O'Sullivan from The Rating Bureau, who took emotion out of the debate when asked: "What makes a champion racehorse?"

"After thinking it through, I would class a champion as a horse that has consistently shown superiority/defeated the best that the sport has to offer at that time,'' O'Sullivan said.

"I think as a minimum that should be displayed across one entire racing (season) or 12 month period.''

When it comes to Anamoe, O'Sullivan said the Godolphin superstar is on the verge of earning the champion tag.

O'Sullivan said by using his definition of a champion, Anamoe needs to back up his outstanding spring campaign where he won four Group 1 races from five starts and keep winning this autumn campaign.

"I don't think he is at the stage of champion yet, but he could be by the end of autumn,'' O'Sullivan said.

"While an excellent two and three-year-old, he didn't consistently beat/show superiority over the best on offer at the time.

"He had some big race wins but was also narrowly beaten in a number of other key races. That's not a knock at all, but by the measure of my definition, he didn't do enough.''

Caulfield Guineas day

Damien Oliver with Anamoe after winning the Caulfield Guineas in 2021. Picture: Michael Klein

O'Sullivan conceded Anamoe's four-year-old spring season was a different story.

"He consistently beat the best on offer at the time in Sydney and Melbourne, including (winning) a Cox Plate,'' he said.

"He was beaten in the Champions Stakes but ‘consistently beating the best on offer' doesn't need to mean ‘every time'.

"I think if he can go through this autumn with a similar record, beating the best weight-for-age horses from Sydney and Melbourne we have right now, then he will have put together an entire season and done enough to earn the tag of champion.''

O'Sullivan said there are often comments that "the term champion is used too frequently in racing and maybe it is, but I don't think we should be too precious about it.''

"To get past that, I think we need to distinguish between champions and all-time greats,'' O'Sullivan said.

"They (all-time greats) are, in my opinion, horses that have either proven themselves to be markedly dominant over the best opposition of their era and/or built such a resume of big race wins or rare feats on the racetrack over an extended period of time and their records in the context of history.

"Some horses are clear-cut – Winx, Black Caviar, Might And Power, Northerly and Sunline are all-time greats. Many will be debatable.

"I think distinguishing between those two categories of champions and all-time greats makes much more sense than being over-protective about the use of the tag champion because when wanting to apply that term we are thinking of and comparing current horses to all-time greats.''

O'Sullivan pointed out that technically ratings also play a role but was quick to add a horse that meets his champion's definition would have the ratings to match.