'It's been a massive few days' - Owen Burrows continues dream spell as Anmaat battles to Group 1 glory

If you had asked Owen Burrows and the Shadwell team a week ago what their immediate hopes were, it's unlikely they would have dared voice victory for Anmaat in the Group 1 Prix d'Ispahan as the cherry on top of Hukum returning from a near 12-month absence to beat Desert Crown in the Brigadier Gerard. 

That is exactly the double that was completed here at Longchamp, though deep inside the final furlong any one of five horses might have claimed the prize. 

Jim Crowley looked to be cruising on the outside of runners as the tightly packed field swung for home, but it took steel to go with undoubted class to overhaul Light Infantry and Facteur Cheval, just as it had when Anmaat struck here in the Group 2 Prix Dollar over Arc weekend. 

That was on very different ground and Burrows felt the gelded son of Awtaad had overcome very different circumstances to claim his first Group 1 success

Owen Burrows and Jim Crowley with AnmaatCredit: Scott Burton

"It was a good performance and it's been a massive few days," said Burrows. "We were a little bit slow to get going but we're there now and massive credit to the team back home. To get Hukum back and for this lad to improve and get his Group 1 is a huge effort. 

"Anmaat is pretty laid back about life so he'll never win by a couple of lengths. He doesn't show a huge amount at home but he's bloody tough. The ground was as quick as we'd want to go in today but he doesn't half travel, even on this ground."

Anmaat was shortened into 7-1 (from 11) by Paddy Power for the Prince of Wales's Stakes, while Coral have him as 8-1 for the Ascot Group 1 and 10-1 for their own sponsorship, the Coral-Eclipse on July 8. 

Asked about the Prince of Wales's, Burrows said: "He’s entered and as I’ve touched on with Hukum, if it happened to be a wet week leading up to Ascot, that would suit him as well. But I don’t think they'd run against each other. I think we can find enough races to keep them apart, at this time of the year anyway." 

Jamie Spencer may have surprised a few of his rivals by choosing to make the running aboard Light Infantry, who was backing up just nine days after the Lockinge.

David Simcock said: "There was a massive risk involved and we didn’t know if we were doing the right thing; you just don’t. We changed tactics today. On that ground he just lacks that little bit of acceleration. If we’d got a length on the field I think we would have won. But credit to the horse, he’s run all the way to the line and I’m delighted, actually."

Light Infantry was finishing second for a third time in a French Group 1 and, while the Cox Plate is the long-term aim for his Australian part-owners, there could be a trip to Ascot first.

"We’ll look at Ascot but at the same time we’ve given him an aggressive campaign because there is going to be a big void during high summer before he goes to Australia," said Simcock.

"He’s in the Queen Anne, the Prince of Wales’s and he’ll have an entry in the Wolferton, just to have a look."

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