The skies may have been grey in Melbourne for the Caulfield Cup day card but the racing was red hot and no hotter was the win of Shamoline Warrior in the Group 3 AAMI Norman Robinson Stakes (2000m) at Caulfield.
Trained at Flemington by Mark Kavanagh, the promising three-year-old settled well for his rider Michael Rodd as Gathering (Tale of the Cat - Celebria by Peintre Celebre) set a very strong gallop.  Gathering’s stablemate Onemorenomore (Red Ransom - Palia by Last Tycoon) was up to his old tricks throwing his head up and pulling under Glen Boss.  Boss showed his class and allowed Onemorenomore to roll along on the speed as Rodd settled Shamoline Warrior back in the pack with the ‘snooze’ button on.

As the field gathered momentum at the 800m, Rodd woke Shamoline Warrior up and the brown son of Shamardal pricked his ears as they moved around the pack.  Rounding the home turn, Rodd looked over his left shoulder a couple of times and duly clicked the colt into full stride.
Shamoline Warrior put paid to his opposition in a couple of strides to score a very arrogant victory.
His trainer lost two top class gallopers during the week, and showed great poise during the week when interviewed by a huge number of media outlets and again he showed his class when he spoke with TVN’s Bruce Clark after the event.
Clark asked Kavanagh, “Last year you had a Guineas winner that went on to the Derby, this year it looks like you have a Derby horse for that event?”
With a big smile on his face Kavanagh’s response came as no surprise “Bruce, this horse has been set specifically for the Derby.  Last year it was the Guineas and yeah let’s see if he can stretch the Derby trip.”
“That was a great win, the tempo was strong, he finished off the race well, the VRC Derby is his goal. Let’s hope that we get to the Derby like he was here today.“
Clark was obviously impressed with the victory as was his rider and Michael Rodd told TVN ,   “The tempo was strong.”
“He settled well for me Bruce during the first half.  I put him to sleep.  Then I said come on mate let’s get into gear – that was about 800m out”
“Once I got him into stride I clicked him up a gear, and, he went to the line super.”
“I ride this horse work every morning – I know what he’s capable of and I wanted him to have a nice run and win – we’ve done that. Now it’s on to the big one,“  Rodd said.
Shamoline Warrior was bred by Toorak Park Stud and he is another yearling out of the Inglis Melbourne Premier sale.  Selected by his trainer for the Delbridge Racing syndicate, managed by Mark Leo, the brown colt is out of Picholine (Dehere).   That makes him a half-brother to Rebel Raider (by Reset), the dominant winner of the Group I VRC Derby in 2008. They both descend from a family that’s produced the Listed winners Brief Kiss (by Brief Truce), A Little Kiss (by Sackford), and Hong Kong Group I Champions Mile winner, Able One (by Cape Cross).
Shamoline Warrior is by Darley’s hot second season stallion, Shamardal (Giant’s Causeway - Helsinki by Machiavellian) who isn’t able to complete his covering duties this season due to an injured wither. Breeders who had mares booked to him will be going crazy looking for a suitable replacement because it’s hard to find a stallion that was crowned a Champion as a juvenile that went on to win a Derby and just loves the beauties that reside down under!

Tags: Darley, VRC Derby
Permalink| Oct 17, 2009

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