Progressive gelding Shanwah extended his winning streak to four with a dominant display in Saturday’s $500,000 Group 2 Alister Clark Stakes (2040m) at Moonee Valley, further stamping himself as a serious Australian Derby contender.
Trained by Ciaron Maher and ridden to perfection by Ethan Brown, the son of Too Darn Hot overcame a sluggish start to land in the coveted one-one position before launching a powerful move approaching the turn.
Brown allowed Shanwah to cruise into the race three-wide at the 400m and the talented three-year-old did the rest as the $2.25 bookmaker favourite, surging clear and holding off a late dive from Imperialist to score by two lengths, with Statuario a narrow third.
“He missed the kick and I was a bit worried then,” said Brown post-race.
“But he’s very quick on his feet and recovered well. He relaxed beautifully once they slowed it up and then really put them away when it mattered.”
The win followed up his strong victory in the Group 2 Autumn Classic (1800m) and took Shanwah’s record to four wins from eight starts and over $550,000 in prizemoney.
“He’s a horse on the up,” said assistant trainer Jack Turnbull.
“We’ll chat with the team and the owners, but if he comes through this well, Sydney and the Derby are on the radar.”
The race was run at a dawdling early tempo, with Shanwah clocking a winning time of 2:10.65 on a Soft 5 surface, well outside standard.
But it was his finishing burst that caught the eye, especially with the 2400m of the Group 1 Australian Derby looming in two weeks’ time.
reacted accordingly, trimming Shanwah into $6.00 in all-in betting for the April 5 feature at Randwick, behind Willydoit ($3.60) and Goldrush Guru ($4.50).
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