Sheidel Burns Off Rivals In Oakleigh Plate
Her owners, Rob and Sylvie Crabtree’s Dorrington Farm, had only an hour or so earlier won the Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) with their filly Catchy (Fastnet Rock), profiled on this page in our 15 February issue.
Sheidel’s win, too, was a landmark achievement for the Western Australian breeding industry as the second leg of a Group One double at Caulfield following Black Heart Bart’s (Blackfriars) fifth win at the highest level in the Futurity Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m).
Five-year-old Sheidel under Joao Moreira went straight to the front in the Oakleigh Plate and fought off the challenge of stablemate Faatinah (Nicconi) to score by a length with the fast finishing Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt) just a nose away in third place. Time was 1:02.11.
This smallish mare has been a model of consistency since beginning her racing career as a two-year-old in Perth. From 27 starts Sheidel has won 15 races including six other stakes races while among her six placings are close seconds in the Robert Sangster Classic (Gr 1, 1200m) in Adelaide and in the Winterbottom Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) in Perth.
Dorrington Farm acquired Sheidel privately through bloodstock agent Damon Gabbedy from owner/breeder Des De Largie after Mr De Largie decided to sell, believing the mare had been weighted out of Perth racing. Damon Gabbedy was also instrumental in advising the breeder to send Sheidel’s unraced dam Laventour (Metal Storm) to NSW to be mated with the then Coolmore Stud-based Holy Roman Emperor (Danehill) who now stands at Aquis Farm in Queensland.
Laventour is now dead with her last foal, unraced three-year-old Enzo’s Best (Testa Rossa), currently in training in Western Australia. Sheidel is her fourth foal, her first, Latoria (Oratorio (AUS)), is a Listed winner in Perth while her third foal, Tre Amici (Oratorio (IRE)), has won four times in Perth.
As a half-sister to Asian Beau Stakes (Gr 3, 1400m) winner Track Jester (Tenby), Laventour is a true product of Western Australian breeding as a daughter of the very successful stallion Metal Storm (Kenmare), sire of 23 stakes winners headed by Railway Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) winners Covertly and Old Fashion.
Metal Storm is out of the well related mare Porphyrine (Habitat) and significantly has become an influential broodmare sire of some 18 stakes winners to date, others among them Group One winner Moment of Change (Barely A Moment), Respondent (Haradasun), Guest Wing (Right Wing), Pop Culture (Blackfriars), Cosmic Storm (Street Sense), Kencella (Exceed And Excel) and the promising Detective (Snitzel) out of the previously mentioned Covertly.
Sheidel’s second dam Fer Forge (Chest Mark), a winner in Perth, is by a little known son of Twig Moss (Luthier) who left a stakes winner in Academus but nothing else of note.
Jonlin Girl (Captain’s Wings), Sheidel’s third dam, is by a sire who left two stakes winners, one, Rare Flyer (Captain’s Wings), a real star whose nine stakes race successes included the Western Australian Derby (Gr 1, 2400m).
Go back another generation to Sheidel’s fourth dam, the placegetter Sanavik (Zvornik), whose sire, a son of the brilliant Todman (Star Kingdom), was the best stallion of his time in Western Australia with a long list of stakes winners, best remembered of which is the near champion Ngawyni (Zvornik) who ventured east to capture such now Group One tests as the 1977 Australian Cup (Gr 1, 2000m) and the 1977 AJC Queen Elizabeth Stakes (Gr 1, 2400m) but later disappointed as a sire.
Holy Roman Emperor, inbred 3 x 3 to Northern Dancer (Nearctic), as the sire of Sheidel must clearly be given much credit for her speed and class.
Superbly bred, he was a dual Group One winner in Ireland and France as a two-year-old up to 1400 metres but was prematurely retired to stud at three years to fill a late vacancy on the Coolmore Stud stallion roster.
Holy Roman Emperor’s international influence has been remarkable as has the distance versatility of his progeny which made him leading sire of two-year-olds in Great Britain and Ireland in 2011, leading sire of juveniles in France in 2012, champion sire in Hong Kong and responsible so far for ten individual Group / Grade One winners in Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain, France, the United States, South America and Hong Kong, Mongolian Khan, Rollout The Carpet, Sheidel Homecoming Queen, Morandi, Rich Tapestry, Designs On Rome, Maraton and Salto Olimpico.