Lady Shenandoah (AUS)
Lady Shenandoah (AUS)
3 f Snitzel – Star Pupil by Starcraft
O: Hermitage (Mgr: Ms S M Clarke)
B: Arrowfield Pastoral Pty Ltd & Planette Thoroughbred
T: Chris Waller
S: 2023 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale V: Arrowfield Stud P: Hermitage Thoroughbreds, $525,000
W: Ming Dynasty Quality (Gr 3, 1400m), September 14, Rosehill
Hermitage Thoroughbreds and Chris Waller look to have unearthed another talented filly in the shape of Lady Shenandoah (Snitzel), who shed her maiden status with a victory against the boys in Saturday’s Ming Dynasty Quality (Gr 3, 1400m) at Rosehill.
Despite being unsuccessful in two starts as a juvenile, the filly did show her talent when finishing second at Listed level in that first preparation and she illustrated that was no fluke performance when she defeated Mayfair (Fastnet Rock) by 0.3 lengths on Saturday. Snack Bar (Frosted) came home a further 0.2 lengths away in third.
Waller’s assistant Charlie Duckworth said the filly had underperformed in her two starts as a two-year-old and was happy to see her get her head in front.
“She is supremely talented,” said Duckworth. “She has probably marginally underperformed for what we expected in her two runs last preparation, purely down to racing on Soft 6 and Heavy 8 tracks.
“Back on top of the surface, she is a real talent. We just said to Jay [Ford, rider], forget about the first half of the race because 1400 metres first-up was obviously going to be a bit of a question mark.
“But she began so well, Jay had to land in the position he landed in. He was trying to be as soft as he could within the rules of racing, I think, but she had to dig deep in terms of her fitness levels late and there is plenty more to come.”
Duckworth said Lady Shenandoah could now join her stablemate Autumn Glow in the Flight Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) at Randwick on October 5.
“Initially, Chris thought, do we try to split them with Hermitage involved in both horses, send one for the Thousand Guineas at Caulfield,” he said. “But now that’s at the back-end of the season, and you’ve just won first-up, the Flight Stakes is only a matter of weeks away.”
Lady Shenandoah was purchased by Hermitage Thoroughbreds for $525,000 from the Arrowfield Stud draft at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale in 2023. She is out of the winning mare Star Pupil (Starcraft) making her a half-sister to Hong Kong Group 1 winner Stronger (Not A Single Doubt), who is standing at Aquis Farm for a fee of $9,900 (inc GST).