Almanzor Mare Chasing More Black Type

Media Release - Wednesday October 1

Group Two performer Mary Shan will be in search of an elusive stakes victory when she heads south to Hawera on Saturday where she will contest the Gr.3 Grangewilliam Stud Breeders’ Stakes (1400m).

The five-year-old daughter of Almanzor has placed at stakes level on five occasions, including the Gr.2 Soliloquy Stakes (1400m), Gr.2 Eight Carat Classic (1600m), Listed Matamata Cup (1600m) and $1 million Elsdon Park Aotearoa Classic (1600m).

Mary Shan will contest the Gr.3 Grangewilliam Stud Breeders’ Stakes (1400m) at Hawera on Saturday.  Photo: Kenton Wright (Race Images)

This year’s edition of the Matamata Cup is on this weekend, and while Mary Shan has a good record in that race, The Breeders’ Stakes has been in Forsman’s crosshairs for some time, and the Cambridge trainer is looking forward to targeting the race with his mare this weekend.

Mary Shan takes good form into the race, having won first-up over 1200m at Wanganui in August, and she has been freshened ahead of Saturday’s assignment.

“Mary Shan is training very well. She had a good gallop yesterday (Tuesday) morning and she is spot on heading into it,” Forsman said.

“She has drawn well (4) and I think it is a suitable sort of race. Hopefully she can utilise that draw and put herself in the first half of the field, and she should run really well.

“It would be nice to make her a stakes winner.”

Closer to home, Forsman will head to Matamata on Saturday with a pair of runners, including Privy Garden in the Russell & Yvonne Green Memorial (2000m).

“They were just a little sharp for her, those horses at a mile in that company the other day at Trentham,” Forsman said. “Hopefully the step up to 2000m is what she is looking for now.”

Stablemate Hard Roca will also line-up in the COMAG LTD 1400.

Advertisement

“He has been really good, he just hasn’t had much luck from wide draws,” Forsman said. “I think his run at Ellerslie the other day was great, so I think he will be very competitive again.

“He has drawn well (3), I just hope the track isn’t too heavy. He doesn’t mind a bit of a wet track, but we are stepping up to 1400m. If it was to be very testing, that would be my only query.”

Meanwhile, Forsman has been pleased with the way Quondo has come through his runner-up performance in last Saturday’s Gr.2 Hawke’s Bay Guineas (1400m) at Te Rapa.

“It was a big effort,” he said. “He got caught three-wide on-speed and I think the on-pace horses did dominate, which helped, I think they controlled that race. I thought he was very brave and he can only improve off a run like that.”

The Gr.2 James and Annie Sarten Memorial (1400m) at Te Rapa later this month looms as his next obvious target, with a tilt at the Gr.1 Al Basti Equiworld Dubai New Zealand 2000 Guineas (1600m) hanging in the balance.

“We will give him a bit of time, he has had a few quiet days since that run,” Forsman said. “At this stage, we will probably go straight to the Sarten back at Te Rapa.

“He is still physically getting there. He has got a lot of improvement and we may see the best of him early next year and into autumn.

“He has clearly got good ability, and we are hoping to get him through to the Sarten and that will be the line in the sand as to whether we push south or we just give him a little bit of time off.” – LOVERACING.NZ News Desk

Advertisment
More Reading...
Stakes Goals Ahead for Quality Almanzor Mare
Quality mare Mary Shan launched her spring campaign in stunning fashion when she stormed home to capture the Cloudsoft Accounting Systems Open (1200m) at Wanganui.
Sires With Winners - Monday October 27
Here is the full list of 27 stallions which had winners throughout Australasia today with winners and result details.
Almanzor Filly Chasing First Stakes Win
Mary Shan is due to go one better and claim a black-type title and the gifted filly is heavily favoured to rise to the challenge in Saturday’s Gr.1 Levin Classic (1600m) at Trentham.
Day 1 Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale 375,000 Guineas for August George
Smart two-year-old AUGUST GEORGE topped the opening day of the Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale at Park Paddocks when selling for 375,000 guineas to Qatari trainer Gassim Ghazali, one of five lots to realise 200,000 guineas or more.
Pedigree Potential –NZB Ready to Run – Nicks that Click
A quality packed catalogue for the 2025 NZB Ready to Run Sale (November 12 and 13) is online with breeze up video now in place and in the lead up to the sale we’ll go looking each week for some horses of interest that jump out on pedigree for various reasons.
Almanzor Filly Mary Shan Ready for Australian Debut
After highly creditable performances in seven Group races during the New Zealand season, Mary Shan has an opportunity to prove herself across the Tasman in Saturday’s Gr.3 Gunsynd Classic (1600m) at Eagle Farm.
First Winner for King of Comedy
Novara Park Stud stallion King Of Comedy (IRE) is on the board as a sire, with his son Sir Ruby becoming his first winner when victorious over 1300m at Selangor Turf Club in Malaysia on Sunday.
Famous Foal with Coolmore Stud Stakes Connections
The Group I VRC Coolmore Stud Stakes this weekend is a race that has developed a deserved reputation as a sire making race and a foal image that arrived to the Breednet Foal Gallery on Monday is a colt with an undeniable connection to this pivotal race for the breeding industry.
Tara Talks Racing Podcast Online
We’re talking Cox Plate and whether Bucky can win the Cup, plus Godolphin colts, how can you not, they have had a fabulous spring and it’s not over yet!
Same Race - New Name- $1 million THE MOVE TO STRIKE THOROUGHBRED CLUB STAKES
First run in 1968 and previously featured on Caulfield Cup Day, the Group 3 Thoroughbred Club Stakes enters an exciting new era in 2025.