Windsor Park Stud's hopes for their Group One-winning stallion Shamexpress are being fulfilled with a stakes quinella on Saturday at Wanganui.
"We didn't expect that he would get really early two-year-olds, we thought they would come at the back end of the season and he's doing that," the Cambridge farm's principal Rodney Schick said.
Shamexpress duly delivered a stunning
result when his juveniles London Express and Qiji
Express dominated the finish of the Listed John Turkington Forestry Castletown
Stakes (1200m).
"For him to have now had five winners and a stakes quinella is fantastic," Schick said.
The Allan Sharrock-trained London Express came with a determined finish from the back of the field to account for Qiji Express, who is prepared by Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman.
"I bumped into Allan at the sale on the Gold Coast and he was fairly confident and Andrew was as well," Schick said. "They both look good prospects for the spring."
By O'Reilly out of Volksrose, a daughter of former champion Windsor Park resident Volksraad, Shamexpress was a top-quality galloper with victory in the Gr.1 Newmarket Handicap (1200m) as a three-year-old his career highlight.
"He was a very fast horse with a middle distance pedigree, like Thorn Park," Schick said.
"He's a bull of a horse, very powerful and good-looking and he puts that into his progeny. He's been very well-supported so the future is looking good."
Windsor Park may well be celebrating further black type success at Te Rapa tomorrow where Shamxpress' son Cyber Attack, a last-start winner, runs in the Listed Ssanyong Auckland Futurity Stakes (1400m).
At Wanganui, his daughter London Express settled at the tail of the field before she picked up ground nearing the turn and e finished off in style.
"There looked a lot of speed on paper and it ran accordingly, they went hard early," rider Johnathan Parkes said.
"Once I got out to the better part of the track she let down with a mighty run."
Qiji Express fought on gallantly, despite racing greenly under pressure, and the Lisa Latta-prepared Secret Allure was third to the post ahead of her stablemate Sentimental Miss.
London Express is the first winner for London Dream, a Handsome Ransom winner from the family of Group II winners Megapins and Pay My Bail, the dam of Australian stakes-winners White Moss and White Sage. – NZ Racing Desk.
