Godolphin trainer James Cummings is not going to get too far ahead of himself with Cox Plate favourite Anamoe who is over his soundness scare.
Anamoe was graded three-out-of-five lame following his victory in the Group 1 George Main Stakes (1600m) at Randwick on Saturday but has been given the all-clear to press-on with his campaign following an inspection by Racing NSW vet Dr Peter Curl.
Cummings said the next race along the path towards the Group 1 Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley on October 22 was the Group 1 Might And Power Stakes (2000m) at Caulfield two weeks earlier.
But Cummings wants to see how Anamoe performs in that race before committing Anamoe to a start in the Cox Plate for which he is the $3.50 favourite with TAB.
Cummings said he had taken the opportunity to take Godolphin Australia Chief Executive Vin Cox to the Osborne Park stables on Monday to have a look at Anamoe.
“He doesn’t always get the chance to see the horse and I showed him about 14 horses at the trot-ups and the soundest horse of the lot of them was Anamoe,” Cummings told RSN927.
“We’ll continue to monitor that horse. He’s a valuable horse and we’ll keep an eye on him in the next few weeks, pick out a race and target it.
“It looks like the Caulfield Stakes (Might And Power Stakes) will be a really nice option for him.
“We’ll get through the Caulfield Stakes first and make sure we play it one race at a time.”
While graded three-out-of-five lame following Saturday’s race, Cummings said Anamoe was a grade one by the time he got back to Osborne Park on Saturday and had fully recovered by Monday.
“It wasn’t for me to just say the horse was sound,” Cummings said.
“So we invited Dr Peter Curl who assessed the horse as being lame on Saturday afternoon.
“I had a conversation with Mark Van Gestel (RNSW chief steward on Saturday) and said by the time he gets back to Osborne Park he would be a grade lame.
“He had a pulse in one foot. He might have struck his hoof on the ground and by Sunday he was sound.
“Dr Peter Curl arrived yesterday afternoon and he agreed with our assessment. If there had of been a problem, we would have been straight on to it, but it looks like everything is alright.”
