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By Ray Hickson

Anamoe is widely expected to kick off 2022 with a win in Saturday’s Group 2 $200,000 XXXX Expressway Stakes (1200m) at Rosehill and trainer James Cummings is hoping that’s the case but he’s also grounded about the task ahead of the star colt.

Godolphin trainer James Cummings (Pic: Bradley Photos).

High class three-year-olds often run well in the weight-for-age sprint and two of the last four editions have fallen to colts - Standout in 2020 and Trapeze Artist in 2018.

Cummings said Anamoe has an immediate goal of the Group 1 Randwick Guineas (1600m) on March 5 so he’s naturally going to have significant improvement given he’s only had one trial leading in.

On the plus side Cummings points out the colt has excellent short course form – he won the Merson Cooper and was placed in the Blue Diamond and Golden Slipper at two and won the Run To The Rose first-up in the spring.

“I don’t think six furlongs is where Anamoe is at his best but he certainly got excellent form around the shorter sprints,’’ Cummings said on SEN.

“I’d say that he’s still capable of running very well fresh over six (furlongs). But being realistic he beat a three-year-old by a head first-up last preparation and now he’s running at weight-for-age at Rosehill with the rail out and perhaps a bit to do.

“He’s got a lot of challenges against him and could be very vulnerable first-up. But I think he is going to run very well and he’s going to get his preparation underway in good style.”

The spring preparation began coming off a win in the Group 1 Inglis Sires' over the 1400m whereas this time around Anamoe's last campaign saw him stretch out to a mile to win the Caulfield Guineas and then 2040m in his Cox Plate second.

Even with that in mind, as the $1.70 favourite with TAB on Thursday, Anamoe looms large over the Expressway.

He’ll then step into the traditional three-year-old path of the Group 2 Hobartville Stakes (1400m) on February 19 before the Randwick Guineas. He’s the $2.50 favourite for that race, the fork in the road for the autumn.

“We have a lot of options for a horse that is as versatile as he is that provides us with the opportunity to pick and choose,’’ Cummings said.

“(After the Randwick Guineas) we can decide where we need to go with him.

“Importantly we’re quite pleased with the way he’s returned, he’s matured again, and he looks like the sort of horse we need him to be progressing into the autumn especially if he’s going to have a busy campaign.”

With just seven weeks until the $5m Longines Golden Slipper the two-year-old action is reaching fever pitch and Cummings has Ojai and Rakomelo returning at Rosehill.

Ojai won the Kirkham Plate on debut then finished third behind Sejardan in the $1m Golden Gift so her Slipper place is all but secured and Cummings expects her to figure in the finish of the Group 3 $160,000 Widden Stakes (1100m).

“She’s come back well, she’s strengthened up since her preparation last year,’’ he said.

“She will be forward enough to be winning, she’ll carry equal to the penalty of a Listed winner and it looks like she has a challenging map (from barrier nine).

Anamoe runs fourth in a trial at Rosehill on January 17

“But she can run a good race and she demonstrated she’s capable of running well at Rosehill with an excellent effort in the Golden Gift.”

The filly ran second in a Rosehill trial just over a week ago behind stablemate Troach, at the same session Rakomelo also ran second, in a time over one second faster, to the Chris Waller-trained Robusto.

The Lonhro colt is a half-brother to Group 1 winner Savatiano and he finished seventh behind Ojai at his only race start and Cummings said he’s a talent but a work in progress.

“He does need to mature mentally and behave himself a little bit more to get things right,’’ he said.

“With the rail out a long way if the horses are capable of running on well from back in the field, given that he seems to us to have less gate speed than some of his opposition, then he’s capable of running a nice race.”

All the fields, form and replays for Saturday's Rosehill meeting