Shoals lives up to superb pedigree in Surround Stakes
I was reminded of this tried and true recipe when the superbly bred filly Shoals (Fastnet Rock) became the first winner of the ATC Surround Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) since its elevation to Group One status as a set weights event for three-year-old fillies.
Settling second, Shoals reached the lead at the 100 metre mark, winning cleverly by a half-length from the strong finishing Torvill (Not A Single Doubt) with Shumookh (Dream Ahead) and Rimraam (Commands) dead-heating for third with the unplaced brigade including Alizee (Sepoy), Melody Belle (Commands) and Frolic (Husson). Race time was 1:23.46 on a soft track.
The win served to confirm the quality of Shoals, winner last spring of the Myer Classic (registered as Empire Rose Stakes) (Gr 1, 1600m) after finishing second to Aloisia (Azamour) in the Thousand Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m). Earlier feature wins for Shoals as a two-year-old last autumn were in the VRC Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) and in the Percy Sykes Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m).
Bred by Arrowfield Pastoral Pty Ltd and Jonathan Munz’s GSA Bloodstock, Shoals did not see a sale ring but is raced by her breeders in partnership, the Munz interests under the name of Pinecliff Racing. The owners are now considering taking the filly to Royal Ascot in June where she would not be overshadowed on pedigree.
Given that the partners outlaid $1,900,000 to buy Shoals’s dam The Broken Shore (Hussonet) carrying the multiple Group One winner when Muzaffar Yaseen’s Teeley Assets dispersed its blue riband collection of bloodstock at the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale at the Gold Coast in 2014, it is pleasing to see the buyers quickly rewarded with a filly of such quality.
While it seemed a lot of money at the time for a relatively moderately performed mare, The Broken Shore possessed a pedigree that is priceless and she is proving very fertile, since foaling the as-yet-unraced sister to Shoals, named Tides (Fastnet Rock), in 2015, a Fastnet Rock (Danehill) colt in 2016 and last year a colt by Medaglia d’Oro (El Prado) before being bred back to Fastnet Rock.
Her yearling brother to Shoals is expected to be a late highlight when he sells as Lot 400 at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale on 11 April.
What made The Broken Shore, a minor winner in Sydney, such a sought after broodmare?
Very simply, the mare has a pedigree par excellence coming from what is arguably Australia’s finest contemporary family as a daughter of Shantha’s Choice (Canny Lad) and thus a half-sister to three-time champion Australian sire Redoute’s Choice (Danehill), Platinum Scissors (Danehill), Manhattan Rain (Encosta De Lago), Sliding Cube (Rock Of Gibraltar), dam of young sire Rubick (Encosta De Lago), and several more of note.
This is a female line of exceptional international depth, going back through American import Dancing Show (Nijinsky) and her dam Show Lady (Sir Ivor) to Best in Show (Traffic Judge), the fifth dam of Shoals and a renowned foundation mare in the United States.
Hussonet (Mr Prospector), maternal grandsire of Shoals, is a multiple champion sire and maternal grandsire in Chile and since coming to Australia has made a significant contribution here in both spheres.
Being by Danehill’s (Danzig) son Fastnet Rock, Shoals is bred on similar lines to Redoute’s Choice and Platinum Scissors with her pedigree featuring a 4m x 4f double of champion Nijinsky (Northern Dancer) plus duplications of such key names as Biscay (Star Kingdom) and Sir Ivor (Sir Gaylord), the sire of Sir Tristram.
Fastnet Rock, the sire of Shoals, has twice been champion sire in Australia and has also achieved considerable success from his seasons shuttling to Ireland. Of his 131 stakes winners worldwide, many of the best have been females, among them the Oaks (Gr 1, 1m4f) winner Qualify, Diamondsandrubies and Intricately in Europe and in Australia Atlantic Jewel, Mosheen, Sea Siren, First Seal, Lone Rock, Driefontein, Amicus, Planet Rock, Irish Lights, Nechita and Catchy, all of them Group One winners.