A brilliant first up win by Anaheed has seen her vying for favouritism for the Group 1 $500,000 Neds Oakleigh Plate (1100m) at Caulfield on Saturday.
Anaheed surprised co-trainers Peter and Paul Snowden with the ease of her first up win in the Group 2 $200,000 Schweppes Rubiton Stakes (1100m) at Caulfield on February 8 and the stable is expecting further improvement from the three year old filly.
“As I said the other day I was surprised she won as well as she did because there’s definitely improvement in her,” Peter Snowden told AAP.
“She certainly wasn’t wound up.
“She had done enough work to run well but with this race coming up I’d like to think there’s a bit more to come from her.
“Well, she raced past our expectations first-up with the time she ran so we can go into this race now with a bit of confidence that she’s going to be competitive.”
“That race will be run perfectly for her too. It will be a good fast-run race, it always is, and she’ll have no weight on her back.”
Anaheed is the winner of five of her twelve race starts with almost $1.5 million in the bank but will only have to carry 51kg in the Oakleigh Plate on Saturday and is the second pick in the betting at $4.60.
The James Cummings trained Bivouac heads the market order at $2.50 and the Exceed And Excel colt will be having his first run back since running second to Exceedance in the Group 1 $1.5m Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m) at Flemington on the first day of the 2019 Melbourne Cup Carnival.
Cummings has also nominated Savatiano for the Oakleigh Plate and the five year old mare is on the third line of betting at $8.
– horseracing.com.au
