Un-named (Shamus Award – Lot Three Four One)

Kris Lees to train.
5% shares $9000 – 10% shares $18,000

This filly comes from a family I know very well. Maha Chaki which won the Tasmanian Oaks for us comes from it. She was also a Melbourne Metropolitan winner and was placed twice in listed company. Maha Chakri’s is a ½ sister to the good sprinter and successful sire Whittington. I’m certain Maha Chakri could have won The Inglis Classic but missed out by a couple of hundred dollars in getting a run after being taken out of a race at Kembla Grange where she still finished second. Maha Chakri’s daughter Munjai which I syndicated is doing a great job at stud with three winners including the unbeaten 2yo this season in Divine Force.

Munjai’s three foals sold for combined $880,000 as yearlings with Divine Force costing $100,000. I’ve had great success following good families we raced and hopefully this trend will continue here. This filly is a lovely filly displaying a very good attitude at the sale. She is an early August foal and while I expect her to be at her best from three on she will be broken in in February and given her chance to run as a 2yo.There are lot of very good 2yo’s in this family including the Blue Diamond Preview (f) winner Bardego and of course The Black Opal winner Delago Bolt. I’m thrilled to have secured her and I am certain Kris Lees will do a great job with her.

Shamus Award

The filly is by Shamus Award who was a terrific racehorse winning the MVRC Group 1 WS Cox Plate as a 3yo at 2040m. He then went on to win the VRC Group 1 Australian Guineas at 1600m. Shamus Award was bred by Bob and Sue Hannon at their wonderful nursery Ascot Farm at Pitt Town near Richmond in NSW. Bob is one of the very best breeders in Australia and we spelled our horses at his wonderful property before the terrible floods that wreaked havoc at the farm over the past couple of years. Shamus Award has as good a colonial pedigree as you are likely to find. He is by Champion sire Snitzel who out of the great Snippets mare Snippet’s Lass who Bill Mitchell trained. He is out of Sunset Express a daughter of the great broodmare sire Success Express and out of a Luskin Star mare. He has done a remarkable job at stud. At the time of writing, he has sired 224 winners with 24 of these being stakes winners and nine stakes placed. This is a superior conversion race of stakes winners from winners. Only the very best sires have a better than 10% conversion rate. Our two top sires at present, I Am Invincible runs at 11.6% and So You Think at 9.6%. Shamus award runs at 10.7%. A high-profile sire like Written Tycoon runs at just 6.8%. This gives some idea of Shamus Award’s potency as a sire that can produce a superior staying horse. Importantly, he has sired six Group 1 winners including the absolute super star Incentivise who won nine of his 13 starts with his final four starts being 2 nd to Verry Elegant in the VRC Melbourne Cup, won the MRC Caulfield Cup, won the VRC Turnbull Stakes, won the VRC Makybe Diva Stakes. These are four of our biggest Group 1 races. His other Group 1 winners are the Duais which won the VRC Group 1 Australian Cup, ATC Group 1 Tancred Stakes and QTC Group 1 Queensland Oaks, again some of our very biggest Group 1 races. El Patroness won the ATC Group 1 Australian Oaks and is sadly deceased.

Mr Quickie won the QTC Group 1 Queensland Derby and MRC Group 1 Toorak Handicap with Media Award winning the SAJC Group 1 Australasian Oaks. And now Quintessa has won the ARC Group 1 Leven Classic for 3yo’s Each of these horses with the exception of Quintessa won one or more Group I races at 2400m. I don’t need to write much more. Shamus Award is a super sire who gets the very best stayers bred in this country as well as very good sprinter/milers.

Lot Three Four One

Lot Three Four One is by the Champion Broodmare Sire Encosta De Lago. What an amazing influence he has had on our industry. He has been the leading or in second place on the broodmare list for the best part of the last decade and his battles with Redoute’s Choice are legendary. Lot 341 won five races including one in Sydney and has had three to race for two winners including Dismissal which was placed third in the Group 2 ATC Sweet Embrace Stakes. The 2 nd dam is the stakes placed Devil’s Gold which threw eight winners including the Group 1 winner Volpe Veloce which also won seven on the trot. She also threw the Canberra RC black Opal winner Delago Brom. I need to point out Alligator Blood is out of an Encosta De Lago mare but so are another 19 Group 1 winners with 287 Stakes horses in total out of his daughters. He works well with Shamus Award with nine individual winners from just 12 to race. These include the terrific mare Another Award which was placed second this year in the SAJC Group 1 Sangster Stakes and AJC Group 1 Goodwood Handicap. She was a wonderful mare winning seven races and $619,475 in prize money. She was recently sold for $1,200,000 as a breeding
proposition. Another mare with this cross is Etana which won the BRC Listed The Roses and also the Magic Millions Stayer’s Cup on Magic Millions day in 2020. She was sold at the Magic Millions National Sale that year for $430,000. I believe Shamus Award fillies will be highly sought after as breeding propositions once they complete their racing careers. From just five horses to race out of his daughters we have seen two win including the highly promising Sydney Bowler which is unbeaten in three starts and was 2 nd favourite for the 2024 $3,000,000 Magic Millions Guineas before being scratched at the barrier.

Kris Lees will train the filly from his Newcastle base but has a Gold Coast base and has regularly conducted successful raids up north including winning the Mode Stakes and Magic Millions Stayers Cup for Prime Thoroughbreds. This gives him a lot of options.