The $300,000 Group II MRC Angus Armanasco Stakes (1400m) at Sandown on Saturday produced a new stakes-winner for champion sire I Am Invincible when Shuffle Dancer arrived in the last stride to score a head victory over Royal Merchant.
Trained by Peter Moody, Shuffle Dancer has been allowed to develop her talent in easier races and was having her first crack at Black Type following on from a Benchmark 70 win at Moonee Valley last month.
Shuffle Dancer let down with a big run up the middle of the track for Ben Melham and lengthened stride all the way to the line taking her overall record to three wins and two placings from six starts with prizemoney topping $322,000.
“She’s a good filly, but doesn’t have a lot of early tactical speed and today with a tricky draw that was my concern,” said Melham.
“It was a good training performance as he (Peter Moody) had to put her on ice for a bit and gave her a trial to keep her up to the mark. She got warm behind the gates as well so I’d imagine she will improve again on that.”
Shuffle Dancer was withdrawn from Inglis Easter and retained to race by her breeder Arthur Mitchell in partnership and is the third winner and first stakes-winner for Street Cry (IRE) mare Palace Talk.
She is a half-sister to Group II placed Never Talk and full sister to Group placed Forbidden City, who gained further Black Type at Sandown when finishing third in the Group III MRC Mannerism Stakes.
A half-sister to the dams of Group II winner Contessa Vanessa and stakes-winners Astor and Niki Piki Milo, Palace Talk is back in foal to I Am Invincible after producing a colt by him last spring.
Shuffle Dancer is the 91st stakes-winner for reigning champion sire I Am invincible and is his second from a daughter of Street Cry (IRE).
