Chris Waller’s decision to take on the older mares in the Coolmore Classic with young gun Lady Shenandoah has been vindicated, the filly becoming the first three-year-old to win the Group One feature in 16 years.
Waller opted to roll the dice by running in the 1500m race rather than take his more customary route with fillies through the Group 2 Phar Lap Stakes (1500m), which he also claimed with Lazzura.
He said he owed it to Lady Shenandoah to give her another big race opportunity given she had already claimed a brace of majors against her own age and sex.
“It’s a little bit scary, but its unchartered territory for me to run a filly against the older girls,” Waller said.
“I wasn’t that confident pre-race. She sweated up badly and I thought, what have you done? But we got away with it.
“When the barrier draw came out I thought, is a Group Two really going to do much to her? She doesn’t owe us anything so if she doesn’t win this race she is still going to be a good filly in the future if we look after her.”
James Mcdonald produced a masterful ride, positioning Lady Shenandoah ($2.60 bookies fav) one-out and midfield from a wide gate.
When he asked for an effort in the straight, the last start Surround Stakes winner responded, surging to the front and holding out the late charge of stablemate Firestorm ($14) by a head with fellow filly Lady Of Camelot ($5) a brave third, another half-length away.
While Waller will keep the door ajar on another autumn run, he says Lady Shenandoah will most likely to go to the paddock.
“What else has she got to prove? And she did have a good sweat before the race so the signs are there,” he said.
“We look after her and she will be in all the great races (next campaign).”
Waller has now won the past three Coolmore Classic’s in succession with Espiona (2023), Zougotcha (2024) and now Lady Shenandoah.
Winx captured the Phar Lap Stakes (1500m) on the corresponding program a decade ago and when asked to compare Lady Shenandoah to his better fillies, Waller made mention of his former champion.
“The good fillies we’ve had just keep getting better and better and better,” Waller said.
“She’s already there. Our job was to try to get her to that next level again.
“It’s not going to be easy and some of those great horses were late maturers. I don’t like to compare, but Winx wasn’t doing this at the same time.”
McDonald described Lady Shenandoah as “pretty good” but added that like Waller, he was concerned when she sweated up prior to the race.
“She wasn’t entitled to win. She was all out at the 100 metres, and she was worked up prior to the start which was a bit of a concern,” McDonald said.
“Just whether that was her home track. But we were able to take a couple of minutes where she took a breath around at the start.”
