Cambridge trainer Paul Mirabelli is now eyeing the Gr.1 Trackside New Zealand Derby (2400m) with Shoma following his pleasing placing in last Saturday’s Gr.1 New Zealand 2000 Guineas (1600m) at Riccarton.
The son of Contributer wasn’t wanted by punters in the three-year-old feature, drifting out to a $104 outsider, but that didn’t quash Mirabelli’s hopes.
“We have had belief in him the whole way through,” he said. “He has always shown that he has got really good ability.
“I guess the punters were put off him from last time because he was a bit questionable (when seventh) in the War Decree Stakes (Gr.3, 1600m). But there was quite a big headwind, and he was outside the leader and he just did it tough the whole race because he was just going that little bit keen.”
Jockey Sam Collett adopted different tactics with the gelding on Saturday, riding him quietly off the pace, and it paid off, with Shoma running home strong late to finish third behind the Pam Gerard-trained pair of Romanoff and Affirmative Action.
“Once you get cover with him, he absolutely drops the bridle, and that is the key with him going forward,” Mirabelli said. “When he gets clear air in front of him, he thinks he has to go, but once he has got cover, it is a completely different story with him.”
Mirabelli was rapt with the win and said he got animated a long way out.
“I started yelling a long way out and it was exciting,” he said. “For a moment, halfway down I thought he was going to go past them, but Pam’s horses had also had good runs and they fought right to the line, but he was closing on them, so it was quite exciting.
“It was excellent. He has been pretty consistent all year, so it was really good.”
With the result, Mirabelli was also able to better his previous best placing in a Group One, which was recorded by Shoma’s dam Big Dreamer, who was fifth in the 2016 edition of the Gr.1 Captain Cook Stakes (1600m) at Trentham.
“We trained the mother and she was previously my most successful horse in a Group One race, she was fifth in a Captain Cook Stakes, and her son is now my best placing. It has been a good family for me,” Mirabelli said.
Following her retirement from racing, Big Dreamer joined Mapperley Stud’s broodmare band, where she has been a solid producer, having also left Group Three winner He’s Lucid.
When Shoma was offered through Mapperley’s 2024 New Zealand Bloodstock Book 2 Yearling Sale draft, he immediately caught Mirabelli’s attention and he was able to secure him with a final bid of $20,000.
“He appealed to me because he was out of the mare I raced, and she had really good ability, and you can’t go wrong with Contributer, you couldn’t even pay for his service fee for what I paid him for,” he said.
Shoma has gone on to more than recoup Mirabelli’s initial outlay, having earned more than $80,000 in his 10 starts to date.
Shoma will now head to the spelling paddock with some big autumn targets in-mind, including the New Zealand Derby on Champions Day at Ellerslie in March.
“He will go to the paddock for a freshen-up when he arrives back tomorrow (Tuesday),” Mirabelli said. “Sam Collett (jockey) said straight after the race that she will ride him in the Derby, so I will hold her to that, and that is the way he will head.
“It took a long time for her to pull him up on Saturday, he went right around to the far steeplechase fences, so running 2400m is going to be no problem for him.
“We won’t have too many races beforehand. He is pretty naturally fit, he doesn’t blow in his work, his heart rate is always incredibly low. Even after Saturday, we gave him a hose and his heart rate had come back to 18 beats per 15 seconds already.
“The mother had an incredibly low heart rate too and I think horses with low heart rates, once they get over longer distances, they have got an extreme advantage.”
While purchased out of Karaka, Shoma isn’t eligible for the Karaka Millions 3YO (1600m) in January, but Mirabelli is hopeful his stablemate Taylor Square can make the field.
“I never nominated him for the Karaka Millions,” Mirabelli said. “I nominated another one called Taylor Square, who is reasonably high up in the three-year-old. If he doesn’t head down for the Gore Guineas (Listed, 1335m) he will head towards the Karaka Millions.”
Meanwhile, Mirabelli is looking forward to heading to Pukekohe on Saturday where his in-form gelding Prometheus will contest the Gr.3 Myracehorse Counties Cup (2100m).
A $7,100 purchase off gavelhouse.com, Prometheus has been a standout for the stable in recent months, winning one and placing in five of his last six starts, and Mirabelli believes he is up to the challenge of stepping up to stakes company.
“He is fantastic,” Mirabelli said. “His work has been out of this world and he is galloping very confidently.
“We bought him off gavelhouse for not a lot of money and he has been a money-spinner so far.”
While he has been in a purple patch of form of late, it hasn’t been all plain sailing with the Ace High gelding, who previously battled soundness issues.
“We have had a few problems with him,” Mirabelli said. “He slipped over one day at the races and pulled a muscle behind and it just hindered us for such a long time.
“We were battling his muscles for at least eight months. All of a sudden he just came right and he has put it behind him and hasn’t had a problem.
“Touch wood, he is completely sound, and he is just working the house down.
“I know he is going to be a lowly rated horse in that particular race, but they will certainly know he is there.” – LOVERACING.NZ News Desk
