It’s the Lady’s day as Shenandoah shines in Coolmore Classic
Lady Shenandoah (Snitzel) cemented her status as Australia’s best filly when she secured her third Group 1 triumph with a victory in Saturday’s Coolmore Classic (Gr 1, 1500m) at Rosehill.
Chris Waller, who saddled up the quinella with stablemate Firestorm (Satono Aladdin) pushing Lady Shenandoah all the way home, admitted he was ‘blown away’ by the filly after she overcame a wide draw to deliver him Group 1 win number 175.
Despite sweating up in the pre-parade ring on a hot and humid day in Sydney, Lady Shenandoah conserved just enough energy to carry her race record to five wins and two minor placings from seven starts – a remarkable run which has yielded more than $1.8 million in prize-money earnings.
After registering his 112th victory at racing’s elite–level, James McDonald labelled Lady Shenandoah ‘a champion’ and marvelled at the ability of his compatriot Waller to have his stable stars in peak condition time and time again.
“She wasn’t entitled to win, she was all out at the 100-metre mark, but like all champions she found a way,” said McDonald.
“She got worked up prior to the start, which was a bit of a concern. But we were able to get a couple of minutes where she took a breather before the start.
“She began well and showed her fighting qualities at the end. She is a very fast filly and as she gets older and starts filling out into her frame, I think that she will come back in trip and be even faster.”
In the more immediate future, Lady Shenandoah is likely to head to the paddock with Waller keen to have the daughter of Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) in prime condition for her spring assignments.
“I do tend to change my mind a little bit as I’m getting older, but I would say it is highly unlikely she’ll have another run in the autumn,” said Waller.
“But I will speak to the owners [Hermitage], with due respect to them, and work out what she needs to do to be right in the spring.
“She’s a very good filly, so we need to do what’s right by her. The good fillies that we have had just kept getting better and better, and she’s already there so I’m blown away by her. Our job now is to try and get her to that next level again, and to repeat her success at Group 1 level.
“It’s not going to be easy for her and some of those great horses that we’ve had previously have been later maturers. So I don’t like to compare, but Winx wasn’t doing this at this age.”
A $525,000 purchase Eugene Chuang’s Hermitage Thoroughbreds at the 2023 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale from draft of her co-breeders Arrowfield, Lady Shenandoah became the first three-year-old to win the Coolmore Classic since Typhoon Tracy (Red Ransom) triumphed back in 2009.
Arrowfield’s John Messara was in awe of Lady Shenandoah’s tenacity following today’s victory.
“She’s good, she’s very good, you can’t do more than what she’s done so far,’’ Messara said.
“You just don’t see it. You don’t see horses winning three Group 1s in their first seven starts. She’s unbelievable. She’s had a tough little campaign and really been tested but she’s delivered at every point.
“It’s also another big result for Snitzel, he’s having a bumper season yet again. There’s not a week goes by without another Stakes horse for him and it didn’t surprise me to see this filly come out and do what she did today.’’
Arrowfield will offer her Her Maurice (Screen Hero) half-brother at next month’s Inglis Easter Australian Yearling Sale, with a bidding frenzy all but assured on Lot 187.
“He’s going to be popular, isn’t he,’’ Messara said. “We’ve got some lovely horses coming to Easter, gee it’s a nice draft and I’m really very excited to get back to Riverside in a couple of weeks to offer them to the buying bench.’’
Out of winning mare Star Pupil (Starcraft), Lady Shenandoah is a three-quarter sister to Hong Kong Group 1 winner Stronger (Not A Single Doubt), who stands at Aquis Farm.
Of the Coolmore Classic beaten brigade, Firestorm’s pilot Tyler Schiller was full of praise for the four-year-old mare who flashed home but was ultimately unable to bridge the gap to her more illustrious stable companion.
“She was quite phenomenal late,” said Schiller. “I thought at the top of the straight she was getting on her right leg, but I just had to balance her up. I didn’t feel like she was getting through her gears quickly enough for the 1500 metres, so I was surprised how close she got to the winner and she’s a really nice mare going forward.”
Lady Of Camelot (Written Tycoon) is still without a win since her Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) heroics, but the ultra-consistent filly now has five successive stakes placings after she rounded out the top three.
“She was very game in defeat,” said her jockey Tim Clark. “Just the barrier (14) didn’t help her today, but she was extremely brave.”