Godolphin’s homebred son of Street boss won nine Group 1 trophies during his time with James Cummings, scoring in elite company at 2, 3 and 4. After withdrawals, he has 31 lots to go under the hammer over the next four sessions.
None were more effusive in their praise than Peter O’Brien, managing director of Segenhoe Stud, who bullishly claimed: “I’ll literally run naked from here to Sydney and back if he’s not a good stallion!”
Hunter Valley-based Segenhoe is offering five lots of Anamoe, two colts and three fillies, including a half-sister to three-time Group 1 heroine Joliestershipped as lot 407.
Building on the qualities shown by Anamoe’s young horses, O’Brien said: “Their minds are next level, they’re bombproof. The biggest problem we’ve had with our five here at Magics, we couldn’t practice them enough – their constitutions are so good. The comparison for me, having had Danehills in the first year, they remind me of his stock. They’re great doers, great movers and just have a great constitution. I just can’t imagine imagine that he is not a champion stallion.”
Anamoe retired to Darley’s Kelvinside company in the wake of being crowned 2023 Horse of the Year. His maiden crop was duly conceived for a fee of AU$121,000 (incl. VAT).
O’Brien identified Lot 323, the filly out of the well-bred mare Goddess (Fastnet Rock), as a particularly popular member of the stallion’s Magic Millions offering.
“The mother had Group 1 potential but she broke down in her one race where she started to push the odds,” he said. “She is a very well-bred, beautiful mare and it is not without reason that we kept the name Goddess for her. She is a very strong, close-coupled Fastnet Rock mare, very Danehill-esque, and we sent her to Anamoe to get some more power and quality, which we got. This filly is a queen and many people think she is one of the best fillies on the market.”
With inspections on the Gold Coast reaching their target, celebrity judge Sheamus Mills was among the officers giving Anamoe’s offspring a big thumbs up.
“You tend to have these kinds of conversations at the bar or over dinner, and I think most people find Anamoe horses they like,” he said. “Most people, whether they are foal or filly buyers, as far as I know, have one or two Anamoes on their list. It will be interesting to see where people rate them. Does he continue with the big boys or is there some caution?
“It’s difficult for those first-season sires to compete against the proven horses. I think it’s been a while since we’ve had a first-season sire that can really compete at that level, probably up to Sepoy. Have we seen a better racehorse go to stud since then? He’s probably the best qualified stallion we’ve seen at the auction since then.”
Mills had been busy perusing the Magic Millions catalog and echoed O’Brien’s observations about the qualities displayed by Anamoe’s offspring.
“He has a good spread between colts and fillies and they are pretty much all peas in a pod,” he said. “They are well-grown horses, so he clearly puts enough size and strength into the mare. In terms of brains, they are quite nice customers. They parade well and show themselves, they are doing themselves a favor as far as sales horses are concerned. Most of them also move very well.
“It will be interesting to see what kind of horses he gets on the track. I didn’t necessarily think he would get precocious horses, but they seem so collected that he might be surprised in that regard. From a racehorse point of view, he could do it himself. The question now is, do his descendants all do it too? At this stage of the game, all he can do is put a few good ones on the ground, and I think he has certainly done that. I think he really will.” well received.”
The five-day Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale kicks off at 11am local time on January 13, with 1,221 lots cataloged across the five sessions.