Lady Shenandoah claims Group 1 Surround Stakes
Lady Shenandoah ($1.30) has fought off the late surge by Lady Of Camelot ($9.00) to claim victory in the Group 1 Surround Stakes (1400m) at Randwick on Saturday afternoon, giving the Chris Waller-trained filly her second Group 1 win at start six.
The daughter of Snitzel was all the rage with horse racing bookmakers pre-race, with the three-year-old backed from $1.80 into $1.30 prior to the jump.
It wasn’t the easiest watch if you took the short price despite James McDonald finding the one-one throughout the journey, with Lilac ($23.00) and Lady Of Camelot sent forward to tick over some modest sectionals in the middle stages.
Lazzura ($26.00) got the perfect trail to the inside of the stable companion Lady Shenandoah, with the pair stalking the leaders every step of the way.
The first four around the turn were the only runners in contention with 400m left to travel, with Lady Shenandoah idling up to the lead under a stranglehold for McDonald.
Lady Of Camelot started to kick back gamely under the urgings of Tim Clark and forced McDonald to get busy aboard the star filly, with Lady Shenandoah narrowly getting the verdict as the pair past the post in unison, while Lazzura and Lilac were left to fight out the minor money.
It was all honours to the winner in the end, however, as Lady Shenandoah continues to put her hand up as one of the best three-year-olds in the country.
Chris Waller was on course to break down the performance.
“I could see that she accelerated but wasn’t quite clear, and then I realised it was Lady Of Camelot,” said Waller.
“She’s a Golden Slipper winner – so I knew that the Waterhouse/Bott horse was going to be hard to go past. She was – and lifted.
“It was good to see Lady Shenandoah fight and be dominant. It just shows you how hard it is to win races, any race let alone a Group 1 race. It was a good fight over the last 100-metres. I don’t know how the punters were feeling.
“We look after her, as we do with all our horses to try and get the best out of them and we encourage them to develop over time as we’ve done with her.”
“We asked her a question in the spring with three races in-a-row and she won all of them. We knew then it was time to give up and give her a bit of time.”
“We’re being repaid for that. How far we go, I don’t know, because it is about looking after them.
“It wouldn’t be normal for our stable to put them in a Doncaster at this early age. I’d say it is unlikely but I’ll talk to the owners. It is easier said than done.”
James McDonald chalked up his 110th Group 1 victory and credited the toughness of his mount post-race.
“I thought it was going to be Forever Young coming back,” joked McDonald.
“I’m rapt with her. She really had to fight it out. Credit to Gai and Adrian’s filly. That was as tough as it comes.”
“I thought we were done and my filly pulled out all stops. Top class filly. Obviously we were expected to blaze away but you’ve got to have the tough victories to get the good ones as well. That was a good effort.
“You’ve got to remember she is only a young filly and I know we’ve got all these big hypes on them but it is still early days. She will fill out even more as a four-year-old. What she is doing is a really good effort.”
Lady Shenandoah is now $5.00 favourite with Dabble for the Group 1 Doncaster Mile (1600m) on April 5.
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