Lady Shenandoah cements star standing with thrilling Surround Stakes victory
Hugely exciting filly Lady Shenandoah edged out Golden Slipper winner Lady Of Camelot to win a thrilling edition of the Group 1 Surround Stakes.
Boom talent Lady Shenandoah needed every ounce of her brilliance and toughness to overhaul the brave Lady Of Camelot in an epic fillies Group 1 showdown at Royal Randwick on Saturday.
Expected by the vast majority to be a one-act affair, the Group 1 $750,000 Surround Stakes (1400m) was anything but, as leading trainer Chris Waller’s emerging superstar was pushed to the limit.
Lady Shenandoah passed the test with flying colours.
The gun daughter of Snitzel, sent out as a red hot $1.30 favourite, lifted when it mattered to edge out Lady Of Camelot ($9.50) in a thrilling conclusion to the three-year-old main event.
“I could see that she accelerated but wasn’t quite clear, and then I realised it was Lady Of Camelot - she’s a Golden Slipper winner - so I knew that the Waterhouse-Bott horse was going to be hard to go past,” Waller said.
“She was - and lifted.
“It was good to see Lady Shenandoah fight and be dominant.
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“It just shows you how hard it is to win races, any race let alone a Group 1 race. It was a good fight over the last 100-metres. I don’t know how the punters were feeling.”
Champion jockey James McDonald landed in the perfect spot in behind the lead and loomed ominously on Lady Shenandoah at the top of the straight.
She levelled up to Lady Of Camelot at the 300m mark and went nose and nose with the Golden Slipper winner to the line, scoring by a short neck with Lazzura ($26) well back in third.
In the process, Lady Shenandoah smashed Ghisoni’s race record pf 1:21.35 seconds, running a sizzling 1:20.56.
It’s a time just outside of Trapeze Artist’s track record of 1:20.33 seconds.
“I’m rapt with her. She really had to fight it out,” McDonald said.
“Credit to Gai and Adrian’s filly. That was as tough as it comes.
“I thought we were done and my filly pulled out all stops. Top class filly.
“Obviously we were expected to blaze away but you’ve got to have the tough victories to get the good ones as well. That was a good effort.”
Lady Shenandoah has now put together four consecutive features wins over two preparations.
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She won the Group 3 Ming Dynasty Quality and Group 1 Flight Stakes in the spring while completing the Group 2 Light Fingers Stakes-Group 1 Surround Stakes double to start the autumn.
“She’s a dream,” Waller said.
“We look after her, as we do with all our horses to try and get the best out of them and we encourage them to develop over time as we’ve done with her.”
It was Waller’s second win in the past four years in the Surround Stakes after winning the race for the first time with Hinged in 2022.
What’s next for Lady Shenandoah remains up in the air.
Lady Shenandoah is the $4.50 favourite for the Group 1 $4 million Doncaster Mile in April but Waller revealed it’s “unlikely” she will head to the race.
It’s more likely she will continue to race against her own age or sex with the Group 1 Coolmore Classic (1500m) a possible next target.
“That’s (Coolmore) against the older horses but only the mares, not the boys as well and the Phar Lap that we’ve had so much success nurturing horses through for the future,” Waller said.
“Then there are races like the Arrowfield later on so we will have a good look at it and see where we end up.”
Lady Of Camelot’s co-trainer Adrian Bott confirmed his filly has likely earned a shot at the Coolmore Classic following her tough second.
He was rapt with the filly’s performance in her first attempt over 1400m.
“She is very honest and tough,” he said.
“I thought she was very brave.”
Jockey Tim Clark thought Lady Of Camelot “went down fighting”.
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