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, above, will have a light weight in the Oakleigh Plate at Caulfield. Photo by Ultimate Racing Photos.

Anaheed, above, will have a light weight in the Oakleigh Plate at Caulfield. Photo by Ultimate Racing Photos.

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 Ladbrokes.com.au 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.

Early betting for the 2020 Oakleigh Plate at Ladbrokes.com.au: $2.50 Bivouac, $4.60 Anaheed, $8 Savatiano, $12 Bold Star, Pippie, Trope, $14 Free Of Debt, Zoutori, $15 Humma Humma, $17 Halvorsen, $19 I Am Immortal, All Too Royal, $26 Ball Of Muscle, Bons Away, Fattinah, $34 Anjana, News Girl, $41 Crystal Dreamer, $51 Causeway Girl, Mystyko, $101 Fine Dane, $201 Vainstream.

About The Author

Mark Mazzaglia

Mark is a passionate journalist with a life-time involvement in the racing industry. He spent many years as an analyst and form expert at the Courier Mail and also has hands-on experience working with some of Queensland’s top trainers.