Tag Archive for: Anmaat

Cracking end to the year leaves Burrows with much to look forward to

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Owen Burrows is looking forward to 2025 with relish after a stellar end to the season.

Despite Deira Mile finishing fourth in the both the Derby and St Leger, Burrows was a little down on winners and especially prize-money heading into the final weeks of the season.

Then he saw Nakheel win the Park Hill Stakes at Doncaster, Anmaat take the Champion Stakes in spectacular fashion and Raqiya score at the Breeders’ Cup meeting.

“The last few weeks have been incredible. I’d been happy enough with how the season had gone up to then, but without Hukum we were down on winners and prize-money,” said Burrows.

Deira Mile going down to the start for the Derby
Deira Mile going down to the start for the Derby (Bradley Collyer/PA)

“I felt we’d still been punching above our weight a little, Deira Mile was fourth in the Derby and the St Leger, but our two-year-olds were backwards, we’ve still got half a dozen or so to run.

“Grabbing a winner at Del Mar was great and obviously Nakheel won the Park Hill and she stays in training next year.

“We’ll be looking to get some Group One black type for her now. Cut in the ground is important to her so she probably won’t run much in the summer, and the step up in trip has helped so she won’t be running over less than a mile and a half.

“If everything goes well you could see her ending up in the Fillies & Mares on Champions Day.”

There is no debate about his star performer, though.

Anmaat swoops late under Jim Crowley to win the Champion Stakes
Anmaat swoops late under Jim Crowley to win the Champion Stakes (Nigel French/PA)

“Anmaat was the undoubted highlight, he’ll be seven next year but he stays in training and he’s never been over-raced,” he said.

“We had a clear run this season with him and he showed what he could do. Obviously he disappointed in France when Jim (Crowley) admitted he probably made his ground up too soon on the wrong part of the track, but they can all have an off-day.

“We had him checked over when he got back, all the signs were good and I’m just grateful Sheikha Hissa (owner) let us run him again just two weeks later.

“Turning into the straight I could see he was still travelling but had nowhere to go – I might have let a few swear words go at my wife! But he did well to pick up again after being almost flattened. He’s a very honest horse.

“All those top 10-furlong races are there for him next year. He’s won nine of his 15 races, which is some record.”

Anmaat team dreaming of more glory in 2025

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Anmaat is likely to carry for the flag for his owners Shadwell next season and with that in mind, he appears unlikely to race again this year.

While international options could be on the table in early 2025, the fact he has proved himself still capable of mixing it at the highest level, despite his advancing years, has connections dreaming of all the major 10-furlong events next season.

Racing manager Angus Gold paid tribute to the teams at Shadwell Stud and trainer Owen Burrows’ Lambourn yard for nursing him back to full health, but he still needed a brave ride from Jim Crowley to win the Champion Stakes at Ascot on Saturday.

“Until his last run he’d never been out of the first three in five years of racing and had he not run in Paris (finished fifth in Prix Dollar) and gone straight to Ascot from Haydock, then he probably would have been a 12-1 chance and not 40-1,” said Gold.

“He fluffed his lines in France, but at the same time he did run the fastest furlong of any of them between the two and the one. It was just unlike him not to finish off his race as he’s such a tough horse.

“I don’t think people realised what such a serious issue this horse had. He was in his box at Shadwell with his foot injury for months, he had almost a year out of training, so just to get him back at all was an achievement.

“To get him back to win was fantastic, but to win at the highest level is huge credit to an awful lot of people at Shadwell and Owen’s yard – and massive credit to the horse himself. An awful lot wouldn’t have come back from that.”

Crowley had to wait for a run at Ascot, finally getting a gap inside the final furlong, with Anmaat responding in style to win by half a length from Calandagan.

“The plan was to not be far from the leaders and not many had been coming from the rear on that ground,” said Gold.

“But as the race progressed, he just got shuffled further and further back. When I got home I watched the coverage from behind, which showed what Jim could see in front of him and at that stage I was thinking it wasn’t to be.

“But the way he quickened, in those last two furlongs – and in that ground – was very impressive. Like Jim said, the fact he couldn’t get out earlier meant he was just filling up and filling up.

“The more I watched it, to me it proves he’s a proper Group One horse, he was really impressive, it must have been some feeling for Jim.”

While the Breeders’ Cup in a fortnight comes quick enough, there are options in Hong Kong and Japan that Anmaat could have been in the mix for.

Gold said: “To me, the position we are now in with the majority of our older horses likely to be retired, he could be our only flag bearer.

“Now he’s proved he’s a Group One horse here – I know he’s about to turn seven but he hasn’t got a lot of mileage – he’s a very important horse for us next year. If Sheikha Hissa wants to keep him in training, I haven’t had that conversation yet, but I can’t see any reason why not as he’s a gelding.

“She may want him to go to Dubai or Saudi, who knows, but from my point of view we want to be trying to win some big races in Europe and he’s our number one. It’s not like we’ve five or six three-year-olds next year to take over the mantle, he’s the number one now and we’ve got to treat him accordingly.”

Monday Musings: UK Prizemoney has a mountain to climb

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Eighty-six horses, many of whose connections feared that heavy ground at Ascot would render their task hopeless, gathered on Saturday aiming to take a slice of the – for the UK anyway – lavish prizemoney on offer, writes Tony Stafford. It was British Champions Day, for four Group 1 races, a Group 2 and a one-mile handicap making up what from the stands seemed a motley six-race card and, in the end, the ground wasn’t too bad looking at the race times.

The UK administrators have clearly been beaten to the punch though by the Irish, and by their two-day feast at Leopardstown and the Curragh in September. Obviously, the French could never be budged from their also two-day sacrosanct Arc extravaganza over the first weekend of October.

So here we were again, switched from the outside flat track to the inner hurdles circuit. As I approached in the late morning, the sun finally having broken through, I passed the one-mile round start. The grass looked lush and verdant green, almost waiting for a herd of cows to come along and start munching.

Apart from Kyprios in the opener, there was no other established superstar on show although Roger Varian’s Charyn deserves to be elevated to the elite level after snaffling the day’s second biggest prize, the one-mile Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, with authority.

Saturday’s top pot, money-wise, the Champion Stakes, had been expected to be a match between the smart French-trained Calandagan and William Haggas’s improving Irish Champion Stakes winner, Economics. But in a rough race, Economics had a dreadful passage (and also reportedly bled), and it looked as though his fellow three-year-old Calandagan was home and dry, having squeezed through a gap at the rail.

But Jim Crowley on the lightly raced six-year-old Anmaat, at 40/1, also managed to thread a passage through in the dying strides to deny the younger horse and give trainer Owen Burrows a massive boost. Most of the crowd were scratching their heads, apart from my mate Steve Howard who fluked a tenner each-way and paid (with help of two of his friends) for a superb Chinese meal for nine of us on the proceeds.

To my mind, the Champion Stakes has never been the same, not benefiting at all from the switch in 2011 from Newmarket and its far less weather-susceptible surface, even conceding Frankel on his career finale the following year.

Saturday’s racing was eventful, Kyprios making it seven from seven on the season with one of his most commanding performances when collecting the G2 Long Distance Cup by an untroubled couple of lengths. What do the boys do now, we thought? Keep on collecting the same half dozen races as in 2022 and this year – 2023 was an injury-marred aberration – or retire him to stud? Not a bit of it, Aidan O’Brien said after the race, he’ll be having the winter off, coming back in the spring for the customary Navan then Leopardstown path to, hopefully, a third Gold Cup – and the rest.

The Stayers are given short shrift by the powers that be, the winner’s cheque £255,000 good enough for a non-elite race but below the other treasures on offer. £283k was the main prize for the sprinters and fillies and mares, while more than double that goes to the milers and ten-furlong stars. Takeaways for the two top prizes were respectively £737k for Anmaat and £655 grand for Charyn. Second home in the Champion Stakes was worth £279k for Calandagan while another French horse, Facteur Cheval, received £248k for his second to Charyn, both uncomfortably close to Kyprios’s take-home pay.

Calandagan had already earned eleven grand more than Saturday on his previous trip to the UK, following home City of Troy in the £703k to the winner Juddmonte International at York.  When Ambiente Friendly ran on into second behind City Of Troy in the Derby two and a half months previously, he collected £334k for the Gredley family and James Fanshawe against the winner’s prize of £882,000, best in the entire UK programme.

Thus, the top reward for a runner-up spot in UK racing in 2024 has been Ambiente Friendly’s £334,000. So what? you may ask. So what, indeed. On the other side of the world, at Randwick racecourse in Sydney, Australia earlier the same day, a horse called I Wish I Win collected £337,331 for finishing last of 11! That’s 43 thousand more than Ambiente Friendly’s best second prize of the entire UK race programme and, as near as damn it, £100k more than Calandagan picked up in the Champion Stakes later that day.

The six-year-old was competing in the Everest Stakes over six furlongs. If he had finished seventh, the money would have been just the same for this six-year-old who had previously won six of his 18 races. His total earnings to date have been a touch short of £7 million.

The year-older mare Bella Nipotina won the race, and her earnings leapfrogged Saturday’s tail-ender by dint of the £3.74 million to the winner – up to £8.78 million. She has won seven of 52 career starts and is trained by Ciaron Maher. Kyprios, with 15 wins from 19 starts and only a year younger than Bella Nicolina, has earnings of £2,635,000.

Until recently, Maher shared the training billing with Englishman David Eustace, son of James and brother to Harry, who has quickly built up a strong stable in their hometown of Newmarket. David has now moved to Hong Kong, another place where the prizemoney levels must burn into the hearts of those David has left behind in his native land.

Not content with knocking off the big one, Maher also collected more than a million for third and, for good measure, added another £1.5 million for the victory of Duke De Sessa in the Caulfield Cup. Caulfield, near Geelong in Victoria, is a mere 886 kilometres south, and a nine-hour drive, from Randwick. The race is usually a stepping stone to the Melbourne Cup, run at Flemington on Tuesday, November 5.

A nice touch on the last race of the Randwick card was the £1.58 million-to-the-winner King Charles III Stakes as the King and Queen embark on their tour of Australia. Maher was second here, threequarters of a length behind winner Ceolwulf, with the favourite Pride Of Jenni.

Reverting to the Everest, and its 20 million Australian dollar (just over £10 million) total prize fund, it threw up some other amazing facts. The 11 competitors after the race had each won more than £1 million in their careers to date, several of them from only a handful of runs, especially a trio of three-year-olds. Among these was a Justify colt owned by Coolmore called Storm Boy, who finished eighth behind the winner yet beaten only two lengths.

The total career earnings for the eleven, stands at a notch over £40 million from a total of 180 runs, which I make more than £22,000 per run. When Duke De Sessa was trained in Ireland by Dermot Weld, he won around €100k for two Group 3 wins and one Listed victory.

The clue? The title name Everest is preceded by the letters TAB, the off-course near monopoly system which fuels the astonishing power of the prize money in that country. No wonder owners here beseech their horses to win nice races as three-year-olds and await the calls of the top trainers, of which Maher is no exception.

We’ve been saying it for half a century. Maybe the Prime Minister’s wife, who likes racing, might get her hubby and his party to rush through a bill to effect an off-course pool monopoly here. Actually, no rush, you have five years to do it!  We’d still have one or two bookmakers on the course for colour, although when it happens, don’t try to get a hefty bet on when you go racing, having paid all the excessive costs – for everything!

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Last week at Newmarket, Book 2 of Tattersalls sales in Newmarket was also operating at more than 100,000 guineas per horse over the first two days – of course nothing like the drama of Book 1. Maybe if the buyers had been sending their precious acquisitions of the previous week straight to Australia you could start to understand how it could happen.  It won’t be the case; the Aussies are mostly too canny for that and wait to see what they can do on the track before biting.

At the other end of the scale, Book 4, starting late on Friday when most people had gone home, originally catalogued 81 yearlings. Of those, 20, probably wisely, didn’t show and of the remainder that did, 28 didn’t make their reserve prices.

In the event, 33 were sold through the ring, although others, probably out of desperation by their vendors will have found new owners later. The total official aggregate of the 33 that did change hands was £111k, for an average of just over three grand and a median of two thousand, both figures around one per cent of the Book 1 figures.

Ten found new buyers at the minimum bid of 1,000 guineas including a strong-looking Rumble Inthejungle colt bought by Henry Candy. Henry, one of the most-admired veterans of his profession, has been saying that he has no wish to retire, and that he has worked hard all his life and intends to continue to do so. I’d love that colt to win a race or two for him.

As for the hapless vendors who have nurtured their young stock with the same care as the posh studs who made all the big money, you must be totally sympathetic. To be in Book 4 is like a leper’s curse. Surely Tattersalls can either include them in a slightly enlarged Book 3 where they could have a chance as buyers are still around, or be more stringent on which horses they accept for the sale.

- TS

 

Anmaat offers Champion redemption for Crowley

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Two years on from what Jim Crowley described as “probably the hardest defeat” of his career on Baaeed in the Qipco Champion Stakes, he gained some form of redemption when delivering Anmaat with a blistering turn of foot.

The William Haggas-trained Baaeed was supposed to simply turn up and win, such was his superiority.

Unbeaten through the first 10 races of his career, Baaeed was sent off the 1-4 favourite but on testing ground could finish only fourth.

While Crowley was sporting the same blue and white Shadwell colours, Anmaat hails from the Owen Burrows yard – a trainer who might not have the strength in numbers of some of his contemporaries but has proven time and again that given the ammunition, he is as good as anyone.

Anmaat is now six but injury has restricted him to just 15 races, and his most recent in France was the first time he had finished outside the first three.

Because of that he was sent off an unconsidered 40-1 shot and when Crowley had nowhere to go with just over a furlong to run, his chance looked all but gone.

However, he found a gap and Anmaat quickened up incredibly well given the testing ground to beat the 6-4 favourite Calandagan by half a length.

Jim Crowley punches the air as Anmaat crosses the line
Jim Crowley punches the air as Anmaat crosses the line (Nigel French/PA)

“I don’t think any horse in the race could have done what he has done,” enthused Crowley.

“I’m not being biased, but the only horse I have had do that with me before is Mohaather in the Sussex Stakes. It was the same sort of feeling and to pick up on that ground was unreal.

“It’s a small bit of redemption for Baaeed and that is probably the hardest defeat I have ever had in my life, it really hit me. To come back and win the Champion Stakes on this horse is fantastic.

“We had a great position throughout and through no one’s fault, the horses in front of me just stopped and I was just stuck. He would have been a very unlucky loser and it was an extraordinary performance.

“I don’t think it was anyone’s fault where we were, he had taken me well into the race. It was extraordinary to get that gap at that late stage of the race and it was great.”

Outsider Anmaat stuns Champion Stakes field

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Anmaat stunned the field to sweep to a surprise victory in the Qipco Champion Stakes at Ascot.

A 40-1 chance for Owen Burrows and Jim Crowley, the bay was overlooked in the build-up to the contest as it was presumed to be a clash between Economics and Calandagan.

The latter horse was making progress on the inside up the straight, but picking his way through the field behind him was Anmaat.

Crowley was forced to wait for a gap to launch his challenge, but when the space came, Anmaat showed a fine turn of pace to seize the opportunity.

He then swept past 6-4 favourite Calandagan in the dying strides to win by half a length, with 25-1 shot Royal Rhyme back in third.

Anmaat (right) challenged wide at Ascot
Anmaat (right) challenged wide at Ascot (Nigel French/PA)

Anmaat previously tasted Group One glory in last year’s Prix d’Ispahan at ParisLongchamp but subsequently suffered an injury that kept him on the sidelines for 439 days.

The six-year-old was restored to full health by the Shadwell team and Burrows, prevailing in a Haydock Group Three on his return before disappointing in the Prix Dollar back in Paris earlier this month.

Burrows said: “We’ve always thought a lot of this horse and I know it’s easy for me to say it now, but I quite fancied him for the Eclipse last year after he won in France.

“Of course, he picked up that complex foot injury which kept him off for the rest of last season and the first part of this.

“He disappointed in France two weeks ago but I felt it was a muddling race, Jim said he could have ridden him a bit better so as long as he was OK, which he was, Sheikha Hissa (of Shadwell) very kindly said we could roll the dice again and she’s been vindicated.”

Ascot has been a happy hunting ground for Burrows, with the Shadwell-owned Hukum winning last year’s King George, and the trainer felt the market had underestimated his contender.

He said: “That was a massive performance, I felt. It’s up there with Hukum winning the King George as my best ever day – Ascot’s quite a lucky place for me!

“There were a few people who rang me this morning who couldn’t believe what sort of price he was – it was the first time he’d ever been out of the first three and I felt he had excuses.

“I’m not a betting man, but I thought 33-1 was a solid each-way price.

“He was locked away and I’ll be honest halfway up the straight I put my binoculars down, I thought he had no chance.

Winning connections at Ascot
Winning connections at Ascot (Nigel French/PA)

“Then it looked like he’d got a bit of room and he’d be placed but to pick up like he did in the ground. Like Jim said, all the time he was locked away he was actually filling him up because he couldn’t do anything so it sometimes works in your favour.

“Of course you still need the luck then to get the gap and it worked out well.”

Burrows is unsure what the plan will be with Anmaat now, given he only started his season in August.

He added: “He’s taken some big scalps today, it’s that time of year I suppose and we are a fresh horse, it’s only his third run.

“It’s massive to have winners on a day like today. Whether he goes abroad or not, we’ll have to see.”

Anmaat in rude health as he bids for Prix Dollar repeat

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Anmaat will attempt to continue his ParisLongchamp love affair when he tries to regain the Qatar Prix Dollar crown on Saturday.

Owen Burrows’ six-year-old is unbeaten in two starts in the French capital and having won this prize two years ago, he also scooped Group One honours in the the Prix d’Ispahan in 2023.

However, he was unable to build on that first top-level success as injury kept him on the sidelines for 439 days afterwards.

The son of Awtaad showed the fire still burns when making a winning return in Haydock’s Rose of Lancaster Stakes and having skipped the red-hot Irish Champion Stakes last month, now heads to his favourite place on the continent in search of further riches.

“I think they are really, really happy with him, touch wood, I don’t want to jinx him. Everyone has been thrilled with him,” said Angus Gold, racing manager for owners Shadwell.

“He’s done incredibly well, the horse, because he had a pretty nasty injury in one of his feet and a lot of horses wouldn’t have come back from it at all. He was out at the stud for best part of a year.

“He came back and won, so we gave him a bit of time after that just because he had a hard enough run there, but his weight is good, he really loves his work and is a fantastic character.”

Gold went on: “He absolutely loves what he does and hopefully again he is going into it fresher than most, obviously it is a strong contest, as it should be, with some good three-year-olds in there.

“I’m not going to say he’s going to win, but if he can reproduce his form he won’t be far away.”

William Haggas saddled Dubai Honour to win this in 2021 and attempts to repeat the feat with My Prospero, with his victory over Jack Channon’s Certain Lad in Windsor’s Winter Hill Stakes given a boost on French soil recently.

It was Haggas’ Economics who prevented Jayarebe building on his Royal Ascot triumph in the Prix Guillaume d’Ornano, but Brian Meehan takes plenty of comfort from seeing what his colt’s conqueror did at Leopardstown in the Irish Champion Stakes ahead of another cross-Channel assignment.

Sean Levey aboard Jayarebe after winning at Royal Ascot
Sean Levey aboard Jayarebe after winning at Royal Ascot (John Walton/PA)

“He’s in great form and the form is working out well, I couldn’t be happier with him really,” said Meehan.

“It was a really good performance at Deauville and he’s in great form. It would be wonderful if he could run well again, he’s been a great horse for us to have this year and it looks a great next step for him on Saturday.”

Ed Walker’s Almaqam was a place behind Jayarebe at Deauville on his first try at 10 furlongs and will have the assistance of Ryan Moore as he returns to his preferred soft ground.

Carlos and Yann Lerner will warm-up for Look De Vega’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe bid by saddling the hat-trick seeking Grosser Dallmayr-Preis winner Calif, while Andre Fabre’s pair of First Look and Bir Castle complete the field.

Andre Fabre will saddle two in the Prix Dollar
Andre Fabre will saddle two in the Prix Dollar (John Walton/PA

First Look split Arc candidates Look De Vega and Sosie when second in the Prix du Jockey Club earlier in the year, but has failed to reach the same heights in two outings since, now sporting the colours of Wathnan Racing.

The owner’s racing adviser Richard Brown said: “Without a shadow of a doubt he is a good horse and we gave him a good break after Ascot. We probably ran him back too quickly after the Prix du Jockey Club at Ascot and we gave him a break.

“I thought it was a good race he ran back in at the course last month and Andre said he would come on for it. This is a hard task but hopefully he has got a chance of placing. It fits well and is the right trip and Andre is confident he will come forward plenty.”

Anmaat chasing Dollar signs again in Paris

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Owen Burrows’ Anmaat has a Prix Dollar return on his agenda after sidestepping the Irish Champion Stakes.

The six-year-old returned from a 439-day absence to land the Rose of Lancaster Stakes at Haydock in early August, in what was an impressive comeback considering the length of his layoff.

He is a horse with clear ability, and to his name he has a prior Rose of Lancaster victory, the Group One Prix d’Ispahan and the Prix Dollar title from 2022.

The latter race will now be his next port of call at Longchamp in October as connections chose to forgo the Irish Champion Stakes at the weekend in favour of another trip to Paris.

Should that run go to plan Burrows’ attention will then turn to Qipco British Champions Day, where the Shadwell-owned Anmaat holds an entry for the Champion Stakes.

“Anmaat’s going to go to the Prix Dollar on Arc weekend,” he said.

“That’s the plan for him, and then if all went well he could go for the Champion Stakes a few weeks later.

“We’ll get France out of the way first and keep our fingers crossed.

“We felt the Irish Champion would have been throwing him to the wolves a little bit, he’s a Group One winner already but we liked the idea of giving him the Group Two race and then, all being well, he could back it up two weeks later.

“We’re really pleased with how he is, he’s in a really good place so fingers crossed he can stay there for the next two weeks and go in the form he’s in at the minute.”

Burrows expects Anmaat to come on for winning return

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Connections will plot a path with Anmaat after his comeback success in the Rose of Lancaster at Haydock.

The Shadwell-owned gelding has shown plenty of talent in the past, progressing through an array of valuable handicaps before taking his first Group Three race in the 2022 renewal of the aforementioned Haydock contest.

He stepped immediately up to Group Two level to end that season on a high when landing the Prix Dollar at ParisLongchamp, proving his ability to cope with testing ground.

In 2023, Anmaat was beaten only by Derby hero Adayar when returning to action in the Gordon Richards Stakes, after which he broke new ground to land the Group One Prix d’Ispahan in May.

The latter run was his last of 2023 and a long, 439-day absence from the racecourse followed as injury kept him out of action until his comeback at the weekend.

Contesting the Rose of Lancaster again, he started as the 8-11 favourite under Jim Crowley and blew away the cobwebs to prevail by a neck from Jack Channon’s Certain Lad.

“He seems fine after Saturday and that was the most important thing to us, that he’s come out of it well,” said Burrows.

“It was very pleasing to get him back on the track – and for him to be able to win was great.

“I had half earmarked the race Alflaila won at York (the York Stakes) for him but that was just going to come a few weeks too soon.

“He’d won the Rose of Lancaster before and with Alflaila winning the York race, it’s actually worked out perfectly.”

Burrows expects Anmaat to come on from his Haydock effort and will see how he fares in the coming weeks before shoring up plans for his next start.

“He took a run last year, he was second to Adayar in the rearranged Gordon Richards and he took a big step forward,” he said.

“I’d like to think he would be similar this time, we were fortunate that there was no Adayar to contend with and we were good enough to get away with it.

“It was a hard enough race first time. He’s got an Irish Champion Stakes entry, not to say that will come too soon, but we might not want to put him straight into something like that.

“He’s also got his British Champion entry as well, he’s proven that he goes on soft ground, so we’ll just let the dust settle, I’ll speak to (owner) Sheikha Hissa, Angus (Gold) and Richard (Hills) and we’ll make a bit of a plan.”

Anmaat back in business with Rose of Lancaster victory

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Anmaat won the Betfred Rose of Lancaster for a second time at Haydock, on his first appearance for over 400 days.

A Group One winner in France back in May last year, injury had kept him off the track since that Prix d’Ispahan success, but Owen Burrows and his Shadwell connections have been rewarded for their patience.

With two non-runners only five went to post for the Group Three contest, and while Jim Crowley was working relatively early on Anmaat (8-11 favourite) as Certain Lad went for home, it was to his credit he battled on to run right to the line and win by a neck, looking nicely on top in the final reckoning.

When Anmaat struck in this race two years ago his star was in the ascendency having already won the John Smith’s Cup at York and ending that season winning the Group Two Prix Dollar on Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe weekend.

It was when being prepared for a crack at the Coral-Eclipse he picked up a foot problem, one that had sidelined him ever since. But Burrows has shown with other older horses – notably Hukum – he can bring them back from lengthy lay offs and he advertised his skills once again.

“It’s been a huge team effort by everybody. I’ve been pleased with him at home, but whatever he did today he will take a huge step forward from,” Burrows told Racing TV.

“He did that last year, he was second to Adayar at Newmarket and then won his Group One so to see him get his head in front is nice.

“He had to be tough there and Jim said he got a bit tired, which he was entitled to.

“We’ll look to step him back up to Group Ones now, he’s got one and he’s got a few nice entries so if he’s fine we’ll have a chat and make a plan.”

He went on: “He’s laid-back at home and hard to gauge. He goes through the motions a bit so we took him to Kempton the other week and Jim was very happy as he showed a bit more there. You gauge him through his demeanour, his weight was good which gave me confidence, but there’s a nice bit of improvement in him.”

Anmaat making eagerly-awaited Rose of Lancaster return

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Anmaat makes his return to action from over 400 days off in the Betfred Rose of Lancaster Stakes at Haydock on Saturday.

Winner of the Group Three contest contest two years ago for Owen Burrows, which came shortly after a major handicap success in the John Smith’s Cup, he ended that campaign with a gutsy victory in the Prix Dollar at ParisLongchamp.

Last season he returned with a satisfactory effort behind Derby winner Adayar at Newmarket and took his form to new heights with Group One honours in the Prix d’Ispahan. However, in being prepared for the Coral-Eclipse he picked up an injury and has not been seen since.

“We still don’t know if we’ve seen the best of him yet, he’s lightly raced – just 12 races as a six-year-old, which is not many,” said Burrows.

Anmaat progressed from winning the John Smith's Cup to a Group One horse
Anmaat progressed from winning the John Smith’s Cup to a Group One horse (Nigel French/PA)

“It will be great to see him back and all being well he’ll run a nice race and we can start planning then for the rest of the year.

“He needed his first run last year in the Gordon Richards behind Adayar when he had a penalty and I’m sure it will be similar this time, but as long as he runs a nice race and shows his old enthusiasm we can look forward then.”

The William Haggas-trained Al Mubhir arrives on the back of a good Listed win at Sandown, a career-best effort on a step up to 10 furlongs.

Philip Robinson, assistant racing manager to his owner, Sheikh Juma Dalmook Al Maktoum, said: “Any rain will be a help, but I think we saw a massive improvement in the way he travelled at Sandown up at a mile and a quarter and this is hopefully what is going to help him find more improvement, which he will need because it is a strong event.

“I was very impressed with him at Sandown and he will be better with a little bit of cut in the ground – as long as it’s good he will be fine, but any rain would be appreciated.

“I do think the mile and a quarter will bring about further improvement and I like to think he will be at least 7/8lb better over that trip than he was a mile.

“Obviously Anmaat will take a lot of beating and he won a Group One last time. He’s got the class about him and chased home a Derby winner at Newmarket before that and as well as being a consistent horse, his level form is very high.”

Haggas also runs Mujtaba, but Richard Hughes’ Bracken’s Laugh and John and Thady Gosden’s Lord North were taken out on Saturday morning.

Jack Channon’s Certain Lad is no spring chicken at eight but appears as good as ever having won a Listed race in France by seven lengths last time out.

“Certain Lad has been a brilliant horse for us the last few years and he’s been in great form since France, we’ve just been waiting for some decent ground that overlaps with the right race for him,” said Channon.

“Haydock is a course that suits him down to the ground, he has a great record there and if the ground is good then it will be perfect for him and I think he goes there with a great chance.”

Anmaat on course for Haydock comeback after long lay-off

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Anmaat is all lined up to make an anticipated return to action in Saturday’s Betfred Rose of Lancaster Stakes at Haydock, a race he won impressively two years ago.

Trained by Owen Burrows, the six-year-old was last seen winning the Group One Prix d’Ispahan in May 2023.

He was being lined up to run in last year’s Eclipse but picked up a complicated foot problem which has kept him off the track ever since.

“All being well, he’s going to run, we’ve had this in mind for him for a bit now, so fingers crossed we don’t have any last-minute hiccups. It will be nice to get him back,” said Burrows.

“His form has really worked out. He worked the Saturday before last year’s Eclipse and worked the best I’ve seen him work.

“Obviously, he was up against Paddington and Emily Upjohn, so it wasn’t as if I was thinking we were going there and definitely winning, but I thought he’d run a big race.

“He just picked up a very complex foot issue and obviously he’s had plenty of time, so it will be so good to get him back.

“He wouldn’t want the ground very quick. Not because he can’t handle it, in France they called it good to soft but it was more like good to firm, it’s more the fact with him being off so long.

“Looking at the forecast, there is a drop of rain due on Thursday, so good ground will be perfect, we’d have no qualms then.”

Alflaila unlikely for Eclipse after encouraging Royal Ascot run

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Alflaila is likely to skip the Coral-Eclipse with connections of the belief it comes too soon after his fine comeback at Royal Ascot.

Trained by Owen Burrows, the five-year-old was having his first run of the season in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes and lost little in defeat, beaten less than four lengths in fourth behind Auguste Rodin.

“He ran really well, but he’s had a long time off and cleverer people than me will say that sometimes they run a really good race first time and if you run them back quick they bounce, to use the expression,” said Angus Gold, racing manager for the Shadwell operation.

“There are lots of races to be won with this horse, he’s very much on our side in terms of his attitude and determination which is a huge bonus as a five-year-old, so I think it will be more fun for Sheikha Hissa and her family for us to find races we think he could win rather than knock your head against the very best.

“We’ll probably have a scout through the book and see what we can come up with, the York race (Sky Bet York Stakes) he won last year will be in the mix. It was a really good run and it was nice to se him show his old enthusiasm and that he is still competitive at that level.”

The Shadwell colours were carried to success at the big meeting by John and Thady Gosden’s Israr in the Wolferton Stakes, and he will now step back up in class.

Israr fairly bolted up in the Wolferton
Israr fairly bolted up in the Wolferton (John Walton/PA)

“When everything goes his way, like it did at Ascot, he’s a pretty smart horse. With a fast pace and a mile and a quarter he looks good, but I think we’ve been guilty of stretching him out in trip,” said Gold.

“I know he won over a mile and a half last year, but things fell in his lap.

“Although he’s a scratchy mover he seems to love top of the ground so with a fast pace over 10 furlongs – they went like scalded cats – the only possible danger was getting to the front too soon, which if anything he did.

“Jim (Crowley) had no option when the gap opened, but to be fair to the horse he kept going. I know everyone defends their own horses, but I don’t think for one minute he is ungenuine and think he just does what he has to do so it was nice to see him run all the way to the line.

“He’s in the Juddmonte International with Alflaila, he’s a high-class horse on his day so well try to find a race for them both.”

Anmaat progressed from winning the John Smith's Cup to a Group One in France
Anmaat progressed from winning the John Smith’s Cup to a Group One in France (Nigel French/PA)

Another top-class performer for the team is Anmaat, but he has not been seen since he won the Prix d’Ispahan in May last year.

“We’re trying to get Anmaat back. He had a nasty injury afterwards and it’s taken an awful long time to get him back,” said Gold.

“He’s in half-speed work at the moment, so we’ll see where we are with him, but he’s a Group One winner so we mustn’t forget him.”

Alyanaabi once again ran respectably at Ascot when fifth in the St James’s Palace Stakes, having filled the same spot in the Guineas, and he will now move up in trip.

Gold said: “Alyanaabi ran very well at Ascot and proved to us that if he’s going to be competitive at that level he needs to go up to a mile and a quarter, he just doesn’t have the speed of those top milers.

“His pedigree would suggest he has every chance of staying 10 furlongs and we’ll see if we are right in due course.”

Burrows eyeing Summer Stakes target for Raqiya

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Raqiya is set to head to York next month following her Listed victory at Salisbury.

The Blue Point filly returned from 245 days off the track to beat Funny Story by a neck at the Wiltshire circuit.

That made it two wins from two visits to Salisbury following a comfortable success in her second race as a juvenile, before she backed that up by coasting home by four and a quarter lengths at Haydock.

Raqiya stepped up to Group Three level at Ayr at the back end of last season but could only manage fifth place, two and three-quarter lengths behind Prime Art.

However, trainer Owen Burrows is keen to try again in that grade and will send her to the William Hill Summer Stakes on the Knavesmire after being unable to find a suitable race during Royal Ascot.

Burrows said: “She goes to York on July 12 for a Group Three. She’ll go there.

“It’s a shame there was nothing suitable for her at Ascot really, so we’ve had to sit on her a little bit since Salisbury, but that’s the plan with her.”

John Smith’s Cup Day – Saturday July 9th
Anmaat ridden by Kevin Stott wins the John Smith’s Cup at York (Nigel French/PA).

Stablemate Anmaat could also make a reappearance on the Knavesmire.

The six-year-old gelding won the Prix d’Ispahan at ParisLongchamp on his last outing 13 months ago and could return to action in the Sky Bet York Stakes on July 27.

Burrows added: “Anmaat has obviously been off for a good while now. He’s back in fast work. I’m trying to look at the Sky Bet race at York on King George day.

“That’s what I’m aiming him at, but whether or not he’ll be fit enough for that is another matter. I’ll say he’s fit enough but I’m not going to force him to get there, as such.

“So, there is the Rose of Lancaster a few weeks later, but my aim is to try to go to York with him if he’s ready.”

Irish Derby to come under consideration for Deira Mile

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Deira Mile could be pointed towards the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby after his fourth-placed performance in the Epsom Classic.

The Owen Burrows-trained Camelot colt was fourth in the Futurity Trophy last season and began this year with a taking four-length victory in a Windsor novice.

At Epsom he stepped up to a mile and a half for the first time and started at 28-1 for the Betfred-sponsored Derby, where he was ridden by Jim Crowley and drawn in stall 14 of 16.

From that wide draw he found himself towards the rear of the field as the race got under way, and as they reached the highest point of the track he was ahead of only one rival.

On the turn for home he began to make up ground, however, and despite having to take to a wide line he picked off the majority of the field to cross the line in fourth place behind City Of Troy.

Deira Mile and Jim Crowley (left) heading to post for the Derby
Deira Mile and Jim Crowley (left) heading to post for the Derby (PA)

Though the running of the race did not favour the Ahmad Al Shaikh-owned three-year-old, Burrows was still pleased with the performance and connections are now considering taking him to the Curragh for the Irish Derby at the end of the month.

“I’m not saying we were unlucky in any way, but it wasn’t the plan to be that far back,” Burrows said.

“We had to sit in mid-div, he just stepped a bit slow and that was where Jim unfortunately found himself.

“It was a big run down the outside, we did have a nice clear run in doing that. But the winner had a nice trip down the inner, the second and third had a nice trip, I thought it was a big run.

“We’ll see how he is through this week but the Irish Derby could suit him, the nature of the track at the Curragh I think would suit him a lot better.

“We’ll play it by ear, he’s a Leger horse and that’s what Jim felt as well so that will be the ultimate aim.

“It’s about a month away, the Irish Derby, so he’ll have a bit of time. It’s not definite he’ll go, but we’ll have a look.”

Burrows’ stable is also home to another Group One performer in Anmaat, who took the Prix d’Ispahan when last seen around a year ago.

John Smith’s Cup Day – Saturday July 9th
Anmaat (right) winning the John Smith’s Cup at York (Nigel French/PA)

Injury interrupted his season in the run up to the Eclipse following that and has kept him off the track since, but he has returned to training and is expected to make a comeback later in the summer.

Burrows said: “He’s with me, he’s been back for a little while now. He won’t be going to Ascot as he won’t be ready until the end of July, probably. Fingers crossed, he’s busy but we’ve no plans as such.

“I’ve given him an Irish Champion Stakes entry and we hope he’ll come to hand at the end of July.

“He had quite a complex foot injury when we were prepping him for the Eclipse and that was a pain, but, touch wood, he’s had plenty of time to rehab back at Shadwell.

“He looks well, he’s moving well but like myself, he’s carrying that bit of extra condition that he could do with shifting! We’ll get busy over the next couple of month and all being well he should be ready by the end of July.”

Anmaat denied Eclipse outing due to foot abscess

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Anmaat has been ruled out of Saturday’s Coral-Eclipse at Sandown due to a foot abscess.

Winner of the John Smith’s Cup last summer, the Owen Burrows-trained five-year-old went on to land the Group Three Rose of Lancaster Stakes and the Group Two Prix Dollar before being given a winter break.

He chased home Adayar on his reappearance in the Gordon Richards Stakes at Newmarket before returning to France to break his Group One duck in last month’s Prix d’Ispahan.

Connections had been looking forward to seeing him test his powers at the highest level on home soil this weekend, but he will not line up at the Esher venue.

Angus Gold, racing manager for owners Shadwell, said: “It looks like a foot abscess and we sort of hoped it was going to burst overnight, but it hasn’t and he’s just not 100 per cent sound this morning.

“It’s just a matter of timing, he’ll be fine next week hopefully. Like all of these things you can’t fight them, that’s nature’s way and he just isn’t right to run on Saturday.

“It’s a big blow to Owen and the team there and obviously Sheikha Hissa and all at Shadwell. It was going to be interesting to see him against the best mile and a quarter horses in this country and Ireland, but there’s no point making a fuss about it – those are the cards we’ve been dealt.”

Anmaat holds an entry in next month’s Juddmonte International, but Shadwell are targeting that race with Prince of Wales’s Stakes hero Mostahdaf and it seems unlikely both will head for York.

Gold added: “That (Juddmonte International) is the obvious one, except for the fact that if we’re lucky and get there in one piece we have Mostahdaf lined up for that.

“Off the top of my head we could look at something like the Irish Champion Stakes (for Anmaat), but that is obviously a while away yet (September 9).

“The Eclipse was his prime summer target, but there we go. We’re just digesting it, so we haven’t sat down with the programme book yet, but the Irish Champion would certainly be an option.”