Anabaa failed to win until the age of four, but in 1996 he won his first six starts including two Group One races; the July Cup in England and the Prix Maurice de Gheest in France.
[1] Anabaa's dam Balbonella was a high class racehorse who won the Prix Robert Papin in France and the Dahlia Handicap in California.
[2] Anabaa was owned as a four-year-old by Ghislaine Head, trained throughout his career by her daughter Criquette and ridden in all but one of his races by her son Freddie.
He was then moved up to the highest level to finish sixth of the ten runners in the Group One Prix de la Forêt in October.
Freddie Head tracked the English-trained filly Millyant in the early stages before allowing Anabaa to move into the lead 400m from the finish.
Apart from the reigning Champion Sprinter Hever Golf Rose, the field included the highly regarded English colts Pivotal and Mind Games, who had finished first and second in the King's Stand Stakes.
On this occasion, the colt was held up by Freddie Head before taking the lead 200m out and winning "comfortably" by a length and a half from Miesque's Son.
He then responded to pass the English-trained filly Eveningperformance and take the lead inside the last 200m, only to be caught in the closing strides and beaten a neck by his stable companion Kistena.