It is never over until the fat lady sings … so the saying goes.
Well, the ninety race veteran Lady Shenanigans proved a point about the value of perseverance when she stepped out for her ninety-first race assignment at Hawksbury and duly saluted for the tenth time in her career, with the Mitchell and Desiree Kearney trained eight-year-old coming home at the juicy odds of $31 with betting sites in a BM64 Handicap over 1100m.
The daughter of Zoustar’s previous win had also been at Hawksbury, where the Kearney training partnership is based. That win was nine months ago … and you had to go back a further nine-and-a-half months for the win before that.
Lady Shenanigans posted a warning before both of those wins, finishing second in the runs prior to claiming those victories, but this time she struck out of left field, with most punters passing on her after a run of unplaced finishes.
The 2kg claiming apprentice Olivia Chambers did the honours in the saddle and the beauty of the win was it was it was no ‘gimme’ … it had to be earned in a hard fought, tight chase to the line, a scenario in which Lady Shenanigans seemed to thrive with Chambers taking her to the inside with a sustained run down the home straight, withstanding all pressure to win by the narrowest of margins … the run clearly showing that Lady Shenanigans still has an appetite for the contest.
Lady Shenanigans now boasts a record of ten wins and twenty-one minor placings with $386 030 earned in prize-money … not bad for a horse that the Kearney’s purchased for $1 750 at the 2021 Inglis on-line sale.
Lady Shenanigans had originally been purchased for $300 000 by Waller Racing/Mulcaster Bloodstock at the 2029 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
She did not race for Chris Waller. She, in fact, only had one trail for the Waller stable before being moved on with the Kearney’s snapping up the then unraced Lady Shenanigans for that bargain price when the opportunity presented itself.
After just two runs, even though finishing unplaced in both outings, Lady Shenanigans had repaid her purchase price in full.
Eighty-nine runs and four-and-a-half years later the story continues.
And as for the fat lady … she is nowhere in sight.
