Trainer John Moore and jockey Michael Cahill shrugged off the jet lag and disappointment of Melbourne as Anabatik emerged as a coming force in the sprint ranks at Sha Tin yesterday and gave Cahill his first winner of the season. Moore and Cahill had teamed with Able Choice at Flemington just 24 hours earlier as last season's star griffin disappointed and his Australian campaign was aborted, but their return to Hong Kong ended more happily.
In scoring by a head over another rising star, Hidden Dragon, Anabatik gave Cahill just reward for the extra effort he had made for the three-year-old. 'It's nice to win on him. I've had bad runs before and I'm sure I'll have them again - it is part of the game and seconds don't really count for much,' he said. 'But I wasted a bit to ride Anabatik at 115 pounds today, which is the lightest I've ridden this season. I can ride 115 but it just takes it out of me and I've kept to 117 this time around, until today.'
Like Cahill, Moore said he had been concerned at Anabatik's fitness level yesterday in taking on Hidden Dragon, a winner already this term. 'He was underdone and I really thought he would need this one, but Anabatik is such a good professional racehorse. He won on sheer ability today and has a lot of physical improvement yet to come. Knowing he might just need the run, I was happy to find a race where he had a nice light weight and here - I didn't want to run him at Happy Valley. Everything fell into place and when Hidden Dragon wanted to veer left in the final stages, that probably made the difference for my horse. I think they are both very good up-and-coming horses and you see how easily they beat the others.'
Moore said Anabatik would be stepped up in trip when the time was right. 'Later on, he will get a mile and probably we'll be taking off the blinkers at that stage, but we'll take it step by step,' he said. Anabatik was overshadowed slightly by Able Choice last season despite never finishing worse than second, and despite yesterday's victory Cahill said he still felt Able Choice was at least a match for Anabatik. 'I think this horse is tougher than Able Choice, but I do think it is encouraging to have so many good young horses here - I think Hidden Dragon and Anabatik would be competitive against the good three-year-olds in Australia,' Cahill said.
Moore said Able Choice's Australian campaign may have ended in disappointment but not because he wasn't good enough. 'I think what we've learned is that Able Choice's constitution at this stage can't handle a lot of hard, competitive racing and he went over the top. But if you look at the Ascot Vale Stakes run, he overraced and had no luck but still ran fourth in what is a very good race every year, so there's proof he was good enough to take there.'