At Windsor Park Stud in Cambridge, pride runs deep in the paddocks where so many champions have been nurtured.
Among the stallions to have carried the stud’s hopes, few have left such a complex legacy as Shamexpress. A Group One-winning sprinter turned stallion, he is the sire of the world’s best racehorse, Ka Ying Rising, a fact that cements his place in New Zealand breeding history.
Yet his story is also tinged with a sense of what might have been, for despite his talent as a sire, Shamexpress has battled sub-fertility throughout his stud career.
A striking son of one of New Zealand’s great sires, O’Reilly, Shamexpress won one of Australia’s best sprint races in the Gr.1 Newmarket Handicap (1200m) as a three-year-old, defeating older horses.
Prepared by Danny O’Brien, Shamexpress retired to Windsor Park Stud in New Zealand to much fanfare, covering a book of nearly 160 well-credentialled mares in his debut season at stud.
But it soon became clear that fewer mares were conceiving than expected, with only 59 foals arriving the following spring.
Numbers aren’t everything, but in a high-risk game like breeding and racing, they certainly help.
Since that initial flurry, the volume of mares waned to the extent that Ka Ying Rising was one of just 27 foals by Shamexpress in 2019, with an all-time low of 7 foals born a year later.
But with a very good stud record of 6.4 percent stakes winners to runners, 25 stakes performers and two Group One winners including the world’s best racehorse, breeders are again gravitating to Shamexpress despite his sub-optimal fertility.
“Statistically he’s a very good sire,” Windsor Park Stud’s General Manager Steve Till said.
“When they get to that level of stakes winners to runners, you are in the company of very good stallions.
“He has had that known fertility issue, which has limited his numbers. When you look at his strike rate of the horses that he produces, it’s very good.
“He is a very well balanced stallion in terms of producing good fillies and colts, which makes him very easy to mate.
“Physically, he is very straightforward. He is definitely the most physical stallion we have stood at Windsor Park, which pairs well with his on-track performance being a class sprinter.”
By outstanding sire O’Reilly out of a Volksraad mare, Till said there were a number of reasons why the progeny of Shamexpress are so well suited to Hong Kong, where he has had eight winners from 14 starters.
“He passes on a lot of his own traits and he has such a good brain,” Till said.
“The environment in Hong Kong is very different from New Zealand, but they seem to take that in their stride.
“Then you also have the substance of them, the constitution that often pairs well with a good attitude and a good temperament. They don’t wilt away, and they are strong mentally and physically.
“The New Zealand environment lays a great foundation for soundness. The quality of the bone is very good, and they can comfortably stand the rigours and stress of the training.
“That is just a hallmark of the breed in New Zealand, they are raised very naturally here in a great temperate environment, and it doesn’t matter what part of New Zealand they come from, there is hardly a region in New Zealand that hasn’t produced a great horse.”
With Asian markets so keen on his colts, Shamexpress has proved equally versatile with his fillies, represented by Group One winner Coventina Bay in New Zealand, while quality mares Grinzinger Belle, Maracana and Embrace Me have been flag-bearers in Australia.
Till said Shamexpress has upgraded his stock and given his fertility issues he has largely covered modest mares but thanks to the Ka Ying Rising effect he will cover more than 100 mares this season.
“To stand the sire of the best horse in the world, we are immensely proud of that,” Till said.
“You’ve climbed Everest when you have achieved that as a stud, and hopefully Ka Ying Rising can climb Everest in a few days’ time.”
November’s New Zealand Bloodstock Ready To Run Sale will feature four lots by Shamexpress and Till admits demand outstrips supply and they are sure to be popular.
“When you can sire a superstar like Ka Ying Rising, the impact is huge, particularly when it is in such a significant market for our breeding industry,” Till said.
“We are taking four or five really nice Shamexpress yearlings to the Karaka Yearling Sales next year and they are very typical of their sire. He is very reliable and every year a few of our best foals on the farm are by Shamexpress.
“He will probably serve between 120 and 130 mares this year and is very popular, so the future looks bright and hopefully there will be more foals on the way to meet the eager demand.”
