Myer Classic 2016: Emotions run high as trainer Shane Nichols snares first Group 1 with I Am A Star

TRAINER Shane Nichols was celebrating his first Group 1 triumph at Flemington on Saturday but only seven years ago he was a broken man.

Dean Yendall celebrates after I Am A Star wins the Myer Classic.

TRAINER Shane Nichols was celebrating his first Group 1 ­triumph yesterday but only seven years ago he was a broken man.

The country Victorian trainer lost several friends when the Black Saturday bushfires swept through Victoria’s Yarra Valley region.

The aftermath of the bushfire disaster, in which 173 people died around the state, forced him out of his Yarra Glen training facility and saw the closure of the local racetrack.

Nichols was a shattered man but picked up the pieces of his life, and his training business, and moved to Mornington.

On Saturday he savoured his greatest racing moment when three-year-old I Am A Star became the first filly to win the Group 1 Myer Classic.

“Seven years ago Black Saturday burned down the Yarra Valley and it was terrible, I had friends die in the fires,” Nichols said “A lot of my staff and my friends lost their homes.

“Afterwards there was no undergrowth, so when we got heavy rains it went straight into the racecourse and washed it away.

Dean Yendall celebrates as I Am A Star wins the Myer Classic.

“I had nowhere to train, so I had to relocate. I had to up roots and move to Mornington to try to get it all going again. It has been magnificent.

“There is a great beach and everything is a one-stop shop for the horses.”

Jockey Dean Yendall had waited 32 years for his first Group 1, which he enjoyed when Yankee Rose won the Spring Champion at Randwick this month.

He didn’t have to wait 32 years for another one, and told a national television audience he had a “raging horn” following his Myer Classic win.

It was understandable he was excited.

“I just had the perfect run,” Yendall said. “I would have liked some cover but it just wasn’t going to eventuate. So I just sat off the leader and she switched off beautifully.

“I gave her plenty of room and quickened at just the right time.”

Of the beaten brigade in the Myer, “Magic Man” Joao Moreira felt ninth-placed Danish Twist was stiff.

“She ran super. She was just unlucky not to get a proper run in the straight,” Moreira said.

Blake Shinn complained the Flemington track was too hard for First Seal, while Dwayne Dunn offered a similar excuse for the well-backed but well beaten Don’t Doubt Mamma.

Originally published as Myer Classic 2016: Emotions run high as trainer Shane Nichols snares first Group 1 with I Am A Star