All eyes will be on the Royal Blue silks in Saturday’s 2022 Expressway Stakes field at Rosehill Gardens with the highly-anticipated return of the Ladbrokes Cox Plate runner-up Anamoe.
Caulfield Guineas champion Anamoe returns to racing in Saturday’s 2022 Expressway Stakes at Rosehill. Photo: Ultimate Racing Photos.
The star James Cummings-trained son of Street Boss is one of just seven remaining chances in what looks a rather week edition of the Group 2 $200,000 Expressway Stakes (1200m) following the early scratching of Wisdom Of Water (8).
James McDonald reunites with the gun three-year-old for the first time since his second aboard Anamoe in the Group 1 Golden Rose Stakes (1400m) last September behind In The Congo.
The colt went south for the remainder of the spring winning the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas (1600m) over the mile with Damien Oliver aboard before his photo-finish second to Irish raider State Of Rest in a controversial Group 1 Ladbrokes Cox Plate (2040m) result at The Valley.
First-up last prep Anamoe was good defeating his subsequent Golden Rose conqueror in the Group 2 Run To The Rose over this distance at Randwick and he looks a huge hope to repeat the feat at Rosehill Gardens fresh on Saturday.
He has had two previous runs at the track for two seconds and is out to hand Cummings his third Expressway Stakes win in four years following recent victories with the mares Alizee (2019) and Savatiano (2021).
Anamoe represents no value in Expressway Stakes betting this season, but despite the short $1.70 quote at Ladbrokes.com.au looks impossible to bet against.
There are three other single-figure fancies in the Expressway Stakes odds including the rails-drawn Standout ($6.50) for Gerald Ryan and Sterling Alexiou.
It has been two years since this now five-year-old Exceed And Excel entire last won when defeating Alizee in this race back in 2020.
Standout has placed in plenty since including his good third to Eduardo in the $1 million Classique Legend Stakes here last October, but will need to be good to break that 24-month winning drought.
Rounding out the hopes under $10 for the win are Richard & Michael Freedman’s early market mover Tiger Of Malay ($9 into $7) and his stablemate Forbidden Love looking to continue the good record of female gallopers in the event.
Drawn a treat in gate two, Tiger Of Malay will be ridden by three-time Expressway Stakes winning jockey Tommy Berry first-up.
The Extreme Choice colt has had three Rosehill runs for just the one third and has form around Anamoe having run fifth in the Golden Rose and eighth in the Caulfield Guineas last prep.
Hugh Bowman meanwhile jumps aboard All Too Hard mare Forbidden Love, the four-year-old boasting a strong first-up record (3:2-0-0) ahead of her campaign kick-off with a last start 10th a big odds in the $7.5 million The Golden Eagle (1500m) here last October to atone for.
The Expressway Stakes 2022 is set to run as Rosehill Race 7 at 4:00pm (AEDT) on Saturday’s card with the latest markets courtesy of Ladbrokes.com.au available in full here.
2022 Expressway Stakes Field & Barrier Draw
| No | Last 10 | Horse | Trainer | Jockey | Barrier | Weight | Probable Weight | Penalty | H Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | x00x62230x | STANDOUT | Gerald Ryan & Sterling Alexiou | Kerrin McEvoy | 1 | 58.5kg | 103 | ||
| 2 | 49x32331x5 | SUPERIUM | Michael, Wayne & John Hawkes | Chad Schofield | 4 | 58.5kg | 92 | ||
| 3 | 53×5693511 | WISDOM OF WATER | Annabel Neasham | Ms Rachel King | 8 | 58.5kg | 91 | ||
| 4 | 107x47830x | FORBIDDEN LOVE | Richard & Michael Freedman | Hugh Bowman | 6 | 56.5kg | 104 | ||
| 5 | 1333x138x2 | BELLUCI BABE (NZ) | Bjorn Baker | Joshua Parr | 5 | 56.5kg | 89 | ||
| 6 | 3121x1212x | ANAMOE | James Cummings | James McDonald | 3 | 55kg | 114 | ||
| 7 | 7513x1258x | TIGER OF MALAY | Richard & Michael Freedman | Tommy Berry | 2 | 55kg | 90 | ||
| 8 | 11140x846x | OVER | Bjorn Baker | Tim Clark | 7 | 55kg | 80 |
Table Credit: Racing Australia.
