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Shalaa 3YO Impressive at Randwick

Tara Madgwick - Saturday December 7

Shalaa (IRE) will have a runner at Sha Tin on Sunday when his class sprinter Recommendation flies the flag for Australia in the Group I HK International Sprint (1200m) and closer to home he had a brilliant winner at Randwick on Friday in Raikkonen.

Raikkonen wins by daylight at Randwick - image Bradley Photography

Trained by Bjorn Baker and ridden by Chad Schofield, Raikkonen blitzed his rivals to win the Benchmark 64 event over 1250m by four lengths and has now two of three starts earning just over $106,000 in prizemoney.

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A half-brother to stakes-placed Crockett, Raikkonen was a $180,000 purchase for Darby Racing when consigned by Blake Ryan Racing to the 2023 Inglis Ready2Race Sale after being passed in when offered by Arrowfield Stud at the 2023 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale.

Bred by Arrowfield Pastoral, Planette Thoroughbred, and Belford Productions, Raikkonen is the fourth winner from as many to race for the unraced Street Cry (IRE) mare Tuusula, a sister to Group I MRC One Thousand Guineas winner Stay With Me out of the 5-time Group I winner Miss Finland.

Tuusula has a yearling colt by St Mark's Basilica (FR) and missed last spring.

The Miss Finland family has many offshoots and has several entries in upcoming sales.

Click to see the pedigree links.

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Race Result - James Squire (Bm64) 1250m

Randwick-Kensington Track: Good(4) Time: 1:12.48
1
Raikkonen
- 3g Shalaa (IRE) x Tuusula (AUS) (Street Cry (IRE))
Tnr: Bjorn Baker Rdr: C Schofield 60
2
4.1
Harry's Bar
- 4m Harry Angel (IRE) x Audacious Choice (AUS) (Redoute's Choice (AUS))
Tnr: Paul Murray Rdr: Zac Wadick 58
3
5.5
Siovy Dane
- 4m Sioux Nation (USA) x Dane Blazer (AUS) (Danehill (USA))
Tnr: Robert Quinn Rdr: Molly Bourke 53.5
4
6.9
One Last Shot
- 4g All Too Hard (AUS) x Able (AUS) (Northern Meteor (AUS))
Tnr: G Ryan & S Alexiou Rdr: Tom Sherry 61
5
8.2
Chevron
- 4g Spieth (NZ) x Great Gal (AUS) (All American (AUS))
Tnr: Ms K Buchanan Rdr: Anna Roper 59.5
6
9.3
Manwe
- 4g Kementari (AUS) x With Care (AUS) (Bernardini (USA))
Tnr: A J Cummings Rdr: Zac Lloyd 61
7
12.3
Dylan's Lad
- 4g Shalaa (IRE) x Dylan's Deeva (AUS) (Dylan Thomas (IRE))
Tnr: Mike Cattell Rdr: K S Latham 56.5
8
12.5
Red Hot Lizzie
- 4m Hellbent (AUS) x Anna Lizzie (AUS) (Mearas (AUS))
Tnr: C Maher Rdr: Tim Clark 59
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