DANE SHADOW, a young Danehill sire, brought immediate post 2008 Christmas joy for connections when two of his first  crop juveniles stamped themselves as budding quality performers with fine efforts in Sydney, is a new bright light reflecting the shadows of Australian bloodstock history.

Represented at Randwick on Boxing Day by Shadow Assassin, a winner of the inaugural $200,000 Strawberry Hill Magic Millions 2YO Prelude in class record time, and on Saturday at Rosehill Gardens by Shadow Miss, a closing three-quarter length second to the very smart Danehill Dancer filly Indian Ocean, Dane Shadow in the first place is a product of one of Australia’s most historic studs, that of Hobartville, one overlooking the Hawkesbury river at Richmond.

Hobartville has had four significant horse breeding owners since 1828, the first being William Cox Jnr, a son of the engineer who constructed the Blue Mountains roadway. He was followed in the second half of the1800s by Andrew Town, one of the biggest breeders in Australia in his time, the Reynolds family in the first half of last century and currently Sydney businessman Graeme Mapp.

Mapp bred Dane Shadow, and also Shadow Miss, a filly prepared for him at Hawkesbury by his longtime Hobartville trainer Gary White, and earlier 1988 Bletchingly Golden Slipper winner Star Watch. Star Watch died after only two seasons of use as a sire at the Woodlands stud in the Hunter Valley, but left 81 winners, including among ten stakes winners, three successful in Group1 events.

Dane Shadow also has early colonial horse history in his maternal breeding. Himself a winner in 12 starts of the Group 3 Ming Dynasty Quality at Randwick, second to Fastnet Rock in Group 2 Up and Coming Stakes at the same track and runner up also at Rosehill Gardens in two Group 2s at two, the Silver Slipper and Todman Slipper Trial, he is from the magnificent racemare Slight Chance. A daughter of the good Century sprinter Centaine, she included in12 wins six Group1s, the VRC Oaks, STC Ansett Stakes, AJC Flight Stakes, QTC Oaks, Sires’ Produce Stakes and Castlemaine Stakes.

New Zealand bred Slight Chance traces way back on the bottom line to Lady Fanny, a mare closely inbred, having the same grandfather, Sir Hercules, one of the great foundation sires, on both sides. His historic son The Barb was a brother to Lady Fanny’s sire Barbarian.   

Although the GaI Waterhouse trained Shadow Assassin, a $100,000 buy at the Magic Millions sales at the Gold Coast, was racing for the first time, and providing Dane Shadow with his first winner when successful in the juvenile feature event at Randwick, others had earlier suggested at the races and in trials that he has big potential.

So far he has had six money earners from seven runners, the performers besides Shadow Assassin and Shadow Miss, including Shellscrape, second in Sydney in each of his three outings; Hewentwhoosh, a neck second at Scone first up and then fourth in Sydney at each of his other two appearances; Gunner Knox, fourth at Randwick at his only outing; and Shadowland, fourth at Seymour at his one start.

When Shellscrape was runner up at Randwick on December 20, he was beaten only a head by front running Foreign News, a Danehill Dancer gelding bred and raced by Hobartville and trained by Gary White.

The only sire standing at the Brown family’s picturesque Kitchwin Hills stud along the Pages River east of Scone, Dane Shadow has seven yearlings catalogued for the Magic Millions sale commencing at the Gold Coast on January 7. Four of them are among 16 lots catalogued in the Select section for Kitchwin Hills.

Two highly respected horsemen who learnt their trade on Hobartville in the early years after World War 11 are Ted McCabe, the manager of the Darley owned Belmont Park pre-training complex on the opposite side of the Hawkesbury river to Hobartville and president of the Hawkesbury Race Club, and Ray Kirkup, now retired longtime manager of the Woodlands Stud near Cootamundra.

Story courtesy of Brian Russell Bloodstock Media