Anamato has a chance for rare Australian win

Three of the first five winners of the $750,000 American Oaks were bred outside the United States.

Megahertz, the inaugural winner -- via disqualification -- in 2002 and Ticker Tape (2004) were bred in England and Cesario, who was dominant in 2005, was bred in Japan.

Anamato will try to give Australia its first win in the Grade I when she takes on eight others Saturday in the 1 1/4 -mile turf race at Hollywood Park. In fact, if Anamato is victorious, she will be the first Australian raced and trained horse to win a major race in North America since the legendary Phar Lap won the Agua Caliente Handicap in Mexico in 1932.

Anamato, a daughter of Redoute’s Choice trained by David Hayes, will be the first Australian starter in the American Oaks, which is the main event on a program that includes two other Grade I races. Before the Oaks, four 4-year-old fillies will meet in the $300,000 Vanity Handicap and nine sprinters will get together in the $300,000 Triple Bend Handicap.

Besides being the first Australian starter in the Oaks, Anamato will be the first U.S. runner for Hayes.

The son of Colin Hayes -- who won more than 5,300 races, including the prestigious Melbourne Cup twice, before he died in 1999 -- David Hayes has trained 35 Group I winners and won a Melbourne Cup of his own in 1994, scoring with Jeune.

The first trainer in Australia to win 300 races in a season in 1991-92, Hayes has about 200 horses in training and another 250 at training centers in Victoria and South Australia.

“I’ve been to this country before, but this is the first time with a horse,” said Hayes, 44. “We had a filly who was invited last year who wasn’t good enough to come. Anamato is one of the top three fillies in Australia. Miss Finland is the best and Anamato’s not far behind. If she brings her A game on Saturday, she will be competitive.”

A winner only once in 10 starts in 2006, Anamato is three for seven this year. She will be ridden by Michael Rodd, who has been aboard for two of her last three victories.

Because she is a 4-year-old, Anamato will carry 125 pounds, four more than everybody else in the race. She is eligible to compete in the American Oaks because it is open to 3-year-old fillies in the Northern Hemisphere and 4-year-olds in the Southern Hemisphere.

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Trying to emulate Dance In The Mood, who won the inaugural CashCall Mile a year ago, three Japanese-bred fillies and mares are among the nine scheduled to run tonight in the Mile, which is now a Grade II and worth $1 million. The purse was $750,000 when Dance In The Mood defeated Sweet Talker and six others on July 1, 2006.

Between them, Koiuta, Kiss To Heaven and Dia De La Novia have combined for 12 wins and nearly $5 million in earnings. Victor Espinoza, who rode Dance In The Mood, will try for his second consecutive win in the race on Kiss To Heaven, who is winless in four starts in 2007.

The probable favorite is Price Tag, winner of last year’s Matriarch at the distance on this course and second to Citronnade, her streaking stablemate, in her most recent outing in the Gamely on May 28.

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bob.mieszerski@latimes.com