Trainer Allan Kehoe now has Golden Slipper in his sights with new cult hero Shaggy
The Wellington Boot was the aim for Shaggy but trainer Allan Kehoe will now target the Golden Slipper after the gelding maintained his perfect record in the Pierro Plate at Randwick.
Shaggy, the two-year-old who was once too amorous to be a racehorse, is going to attract a cult-like following as his emergence as the most unlikely Golden Slipper story of the season.
Wyong trainer Allan Kehoe had initially planned to set speedy Shaggy for the Wellington Boot but that all changed after the youngster maintained his unbeaten record when led throughout and dented some high profile reputations in the Pierro Plate (1100m) at Royal Randwick on Saturday.
“I’m going to the Golden Slipper,” said Kehoe who is also a part-owner of Shaggy.
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“I raced his sister, Moonlight Grace so I got hold of Angus (Lamont of Kooringal Stud) and chased him about this one.
“It ended up they pulled him out of the sale and Angus rang me and said, ‘do you want to give him a go?’ It went from there.
“I’ve been working with horses since I was 13, I’m 41 now, and this horse is by far the best I’ve had – and I have said it for a long time.”
Shaggy ($7.50) led throughout under Adam Hyeronimus to make it three wins from as many starts, scoring by 2¼ lengths from the fast finishing Comedy ($16) with Skyhook ($6) a half-length away third.
Favourite Pallaton ($2.05) had the run race behind Shaggy but conceded ground in the sprint home to finish fourth.
Heavyweight jockey Aaron Bullock tried to get down to Shaggy’s 56kg but unselfishly stepped aside earlier in the day when he couldn’t make the weight and Hyeronimus got the call-up to ride the youngster.
“He’s a beauty,” Hyeronimus said.
“They have been very bullish about the horse all the way through.
“It was good to be able to get on him today. Aaron wanted to get down to this weight today and it’s not easy for him but he tried for a reason.
Zoinks! Shaggy leads all the way to win the Pierro Plate and races into TAB Golden Slipper contention for Allan Kehoe!@aus_turf_clubpic.twitter.com/a233Smg15g
— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) February 15, 2025
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“The best thing about this horse is he is bombproof. He jumps quickly, relaxes well, had pressure in the run which wasn’t ideal but he didn’t want to run through the bridle and take off.
“Then they took him on at the top of the straight and it was a big tick the way he responded and drew clear.”
Shaggy is from the first crop and the only horse to race so far of Kooringal Stud stallion Sandbar, himself a dual stakes-winner who ran in the 2018 Golden Slipper and ran eighth behind Estijaab.
Kooringal Stud share the ownership of Shaggy with which brings us back to the two-year-old’s unusual name.
“As a colt, he wanted to ‘shag’ everything,” Kehoe said.
“But he’s settled down since we had him gelded. He’s a very laid-back customer now.
“I don’t know if he could have been as good if he stayed a colt, I think he probably would have been too distracted the way he was carrying on.
“His stable name is ‘Shaggy’ so the owners were happy to go with that as his racing name.”
Angus Lamont of Kooringal Stud said: “As soon as they win, any name is a good name!”
“Allan said they were calling the horse ‘Shaggy’ in the stable because he is a bit of a lad, so we said why not go with it.”
"We all dream of winning the Golden Slipper, so we'll head that way!"
— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) February 15, 2025
Allan Kehoe said Shaggy is the best horse he's trained... and after the gelding's dominant win today, he's now TAB Golden Slipper bound! We'll see him again in the Todman in a few weeks! 🙌@aus_turf_clubpic.twitter.com/SonwDp3pdA
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Shaggy is not nominated for the $5m Golden Slipper (1200m) at Rosehill Gardens on March 22 but connections will consider paying the $150,000 late entry if the two-year-old wins his next start, most likely the Todman Stakes in three weeks.
“We all dream we can win the Golden Slipper so we’ll head that way at the moment,” Kehoe said.
“We’ll go to the Todman (Stakes) and then go from there. He’ll tell us.”
Kehoe revealed Shaggy has shown brilliant natural speed from the moment he first put the horse into training.
“I thought I could have won the Breeders’ (Plate) with him but I just wasn’t happy with him so I gave him a month,” Kehoe said.
“Aaron Bullock, he’s no fool, I love Aaron and Aaron said to me last week, ‘he’s the best two-year-old I’ve ridden. You’ll win a Group 1 with him’. I think he might be right.”
The final word to Kehoe who was asked what he was thinking when Pallaton made a brief challenge over the rise before Shaggy drew clear to win easily.
“When I saw him (Pallaton) coming I thought, we’re going to run a good second here and then he just finds,” Kehoe said
“A chill wet up the spine. I could have done a nude run, I was that excited.”
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