The win of Shiraz (by resident sire Zariz, out of Moville Slipper who is due to foal to Zariz again in coming weeks, bred by long-time Kooringal client Colleen Dwyer) in Saturday’s Group 3 Aurie’s Star Handicap (1200m) went down against the name of trainer Tony McEvoy – but he was keen to share the credit. Shiraz joined McEvoy’s stable 12 months ago and has since won five races, including the Aurie’s Star, but as he assessed the horse and its future, McEvoy acknowledged the work of the gelding’s previous trainer Peter Nestor who shaped Shiraz’s early racing life, guiding him to his first four wins. "It’s not every day a horse like this walks into your stable,” McEvoy said. “We received a ready-made horse from Peter. He did all the early work, developing him.” Nestor trains at Dubbo in central-western NSW and quickly realised Shiraz was a horse whose future was in town.
He suggested the gelding’s owners transfer him to McEvoy to allow him to fulfil his potential. “Peter knew what he had, but found it too difficult to train him from where he was located and to travel a lot to Sydney,” McEvoy said. Shiraz won at his second start for McEvoy in November last year and had one more run before being turned out. He won first-up at Rosehill in January and was spelled again after his next start.
With a fuller understanding of the horse, McEvoy began Shiraz’s current preparation last month with a win at Rosehill followed by another at the same track, before Saturday’s stakes success. One of the first things the McEvoy team learned about Shiraz was that he had a single-minded, competitive attitude and a hair trigger. “You can’t stand in his way,” the trainer said. “Everything he does is with purpose, he wants to be in charge and you can’t breathe on him out of the gates. If you give him one message, he’s off and gone.”
For some of those reasons McEvoy will be more inclined to look for a suitable races on round courses for Shiraz’s next run, although he admits the Group 3 Bobbie Lewis Quality down the Flemington straight 1200m in three weeks looks suitable.
“He’s probably better around a bend where they go a bit quicker and he can relax,” he said. “He’s got an incredible turn of foot if the first half of a race goes right for him.” Jockey Damien Oliver followed instructions to the letter on Shiraz, positioning him off the speed and then getting the most out of him to score by a nose from Play Master with Le Bonsir in third place.
Story by Aushorse Marketing. Photo by Slickpix.
