Shropshire Lad strikes the front from Neil (inside) close to home in Saturday's BM72. Benevac is out of the picture - courtesy Bradley Photographers.

Race days like last Saturday are the kind that put some balance into the fabulously wealthy Australian racing scene. At Eagle Farm we saw horses from both sides of the spectrum win the two Gr 1’s on the topline programme. Tron Bolt winner of the 1600m J.J. Atkins is a graduate of last year’s Inglis Ready To Race Sale and became the equal highest priced product of that sale when he realised $900,000. On the other end of the scale is Spicy Martini, an $8000 purchase from the March 2023 edition of the Inglis Online Sale. In winning the Stradbroke, the four year old mare took her earnings to almost $2.7 million.

Away from the glitz and glamour of Stradbroke day in Brisbane, we saw another bargain basement buy greet the judge at Rosehill Gardens. In winning the R.J. Partner Award BM72, Shropshire Lad took his record to 15 starts for 5 wins, 3 placings and almost $270,000. All five wins have been at 1100m, two on his hometrack at Scone the others at Rosehill Gardens. “He can handle 1200m but is suited by the faster speed assured over the shorter trip,” said trainer Rod Northam. “He’s a horse who hates a stop and start race. He needs an uninterrupted passage to work his way into the picture, and when he gets it that way he’ll finish off as he did on Saturday.”

Customarily Shropshire Lad was slow out of the gates at Rosehill and was in front of only three horses as the field linked up with the course proper. Neil was setting a brisk pace to lead Candlewick, Without Parallel, Royal Flare, Couple’s Retreat and Benevac who was trapped wide. Shropshire Lad settled behind that bunch with the well supported Gorgeous a long way back and trapped wide. Although a long way off them on straightening Reece Jones was able to start winding Shropshire Lad up, as gaps appeared in front of him. The gelding was in top flight when he burst between Candlewick and Without Parallel at the 150m but Benevac despite a tough run wouldn’t go away. Shropshire Lad was able to hold him out by around a long head. “Reece said he just wanted to have a think about it after hitting the front which allowed Benevac to get so close,” said Rod.

Shropshire Lad (Reece Jones) held off Benevac to win the R. J. Partner Award Hcp. This was the gelding's third win at Rosehill - courtesy Bradley Photographers.

$270,000 is a very tidy return on Shropshire Lad’s $15,000 purchase price at the 2023 Inglis HTBA Yearling Sale at Riverside. Rod Northam inspected the colt several times before he was due in the selling auditorium and remembers he was far from the perfect specimen. “He was a little upright and some would have rated him slightly club footed,” recalled the trainer. “You certainly couldn’t have called him a good walker. On the credit side he had a great back end. Colin Hayes told me years ago a perfect front end is no good if the hind end doesn’t have the build and the balance to propel it. When his X/rays checked out perfectly I decided to participate. Despite his imperfections I was still pretty surprised to get him for $15,000.”

Shropshire Lad’s sire Supido was retired eight years ago after just eighteen race starts which yielded a respectable record of seven wins, four placings and $563,650. All seven wins were on Melbourne metropolitan tracks culminating in the Gr 3 Monash Stakes at Caulfield with Luke Nolen up. Part of the reason for the lack of interest in Shropshire Lad at the 2023 HTBA Sale was almost certainly the fact that his first two dams had been “non events” as racehorses. His first dam Bella Sorpresa had raced seven times for Hayes, Hayes and Dabernig for a solitary placing in a maiden at the Woolamai Picnics in November 2017. She was however a daughter of brilliant racehorse and celebrated sire Bel Esprit, a triple Gr 1 winner himself who went on to sire winners of more than 800 races and $90 million dollars. His famous daughter Black Caviar, unbeaten in 25 starts, put his name up in lights on the world stage.

Rod Northam took the risk on a few conformation queries and secured Shropshire Lad for $15,000 at the 2023 HTBA Sale - courtesy Bradley Photographers.

After his acquisition of the Supido colt Rod Northam decided to retain a half share himself and was delighted when his London based father-in-law Alan Maiden opted to take the other half. Rod, himself a proficient horse breaker had nothing but sympathy for the breakers given the task of educating this new recruit. “He was an absolute nightmare,” Rod recalled. “He refused to cooperate at any stage and gave the boys a dreadful time. It’s not often you’re forced to geld a yearling during the breaking-in process, but that’s what we had to do with this guy. Left a colt, we’d still be trying to break him in.”

One of several reprints of A.E. Housman's famous collection of 63 poems based on the adventures of "a Shropshire Lad" - courtesy Google Images.

Rod’s English father-in-law was given the job of finding a name for the Supido-Bella Sorpresa youngster. His choice of Shropshire Lad has intrigued many racing followers, and I’m delighted to throw some light on the matter. Alan Maiden is obviously an admirer of the works of renowned English poet Alfred Edward Housman (1859-1936) who’s best remembered for his collection “A Shropshire Lad” published in 1896. Housman originally paid to publish this cycle of 63 poems himself and was devastated when interest was low. The concept soon took off, and within a couple of years the “Shropshire Lad” series had joined the book collections in thousands of English homes. The adventures of Housman’s imaginary Shropshire Lad resonated with younger people for generations to come. There was a major reprint in 1922, and another one in 1936 following Housman’s passing. To be given such a famous literary name has made absolutely no difference to Shropshire Lad’s galloping ability, but it makes for great trivia.

The four legged Shropshire Lad showed enough ability in his very first trial to set the bells and whistles off among a large group of talent scouts working for the lucrative Hong Kong market. It was February 2024 at Scone and Chelsea Hillier rode the gelding in a 2YO trial over 900m on a firm surface against four opponents. The strength of the opposition was inconsequential as Shropshire Lad, travelling at what looked to be little more than a working gallop won by the colossal and curious margin of 14.79 lengths. “My phone started ringing before he’d pulled up and didn’t stop all day,” recalled Rod. “In fact, it didn’t stop for two days. This happens after barrier trials all over Australia these days. These wealthy HK owners want unraced or lightly raced geldings with upside, that might jump out of the ground when they get over there. It’s a bigger market than people realise. Despite some tempting offers we respectfully declined to sell.”

Rod barely had time to enjoy the afterglow of the spectacular trial win before he came crashing back to earth. Later the same afternoon Shropshire Lad looked a little scratchy. The trainer immediately detected the presence of heat in both fore tendons. The vets were there in a flash and their scans revealed clinical straining of both tendons - no bowing, no ruptures simply evidence that this boy was a candidate for breakdown if not looked after.

A year in the paddock would probably have been the natural course of action for most trainers. Rod went way beyond that. He immediately sent the talented two year old to a racehorse rehabilitation centre in the Barossa Valley owned by an old friend veterinarian Cam Baker. Five months later Shropshire Lad returned to Scone where he would spend many more weeks in the paddock. When the gelding had his second trial at Scone it was almost exactly nine months since the day he’d gotten the Hong Kong agents very excited. He won this one against average opposition by just under half a length but was “cuddled” throughout by Chelsea Hillier. The gelding actually got beaten first up in a 900m maiden at Newcastle, but opened his account on his hometrack a week before Christmas 2024. “He’s no superstar and he’s been a work in progress in some aspects but we’ve had plenty of fun,” said Rod. “He’s got this frustrating habit of wanting to walk out of the gates and he needs a few favours in his races, but very few horses are perfect. He’s a wonderful traveller, has a great attitude at the races and has already returned his purchase price many times over. You can’t have everything.”

THE ADVENTURES OF A SHROPSHIRE LAD

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