Shillelagh Set for Australian Debut

The Informant reports:

Talented mare Shillelagh will make her Australian debut at Sandown this afternoon.

The Savabeel mare, trained by Stephen Autridge and Jamie Richards for owner-breeders Christopher and Susanna Grace, will line up in the A$40,000 Hyland Race Colours Handicap over 1200 metres.

Shillelagh will be ridden by Damien Oliver and jumps from gate three in a field of seven. The race is scheduled for 5pm New Zealand time.

“She should be a nice chance there today,” Richards told www.theinformant.co.nz this morning. “The 1200 metres at Sandown should suit her, it's a nice roomy track for her to get home strongly down the straight.

“It's very much a stepping stone towards what we're hoping will be a black-type campaign later in the spring. She's a mare we've always had a lot of time for and held in high regard. It will be good to see how she goes.”

Shillelagh has had six starts for four wins and a second. Her most recent appearance was at Ruakaka in June, where she scored a convincing win by three and a half lengths.

The five-year-old mare will be the first of three exciting Autridge/Richards gallopers to kick off spring campaigns this week. Group One-winning colt Heroic Valour will resume in the Listed Tavistock Northland Breeders' Stakes at Ruakaka on Saturday, while last season's champion three-year-old Xtravagant begins his spring campaign in the Gr. 2 Bobbie Lewis Quality at Flemington.

“It's exciting to have Shillelagh back at the races, and the others too,” Richards said. “It's been a bit of a quiet winter for us, so it's nice to have the good ones hitting the track again in the spring.”