Promising three-year-old filly Shameless Star (NZ) (Shamexpress) continued a week of milestone successes for the Didham family at Waverley on Sunday.
The daughter of Shamexpress delivered her co-trainer Peter Didham’s 100th training victory in the NZB Mega Maiden Series (1200m), just two days after the Awapuni horseman got his first win in partnership with his son, Trent Didham, courtesy of Danjuro (NZ) (Saxon Warrior) at Otaki.
Shameless Star had appeared three times as a juvenile, the third of those contesting the Gr.1 Manawatu Sires Produce Stakes (1400m) at the end of March. While she didn’t figure in the finish on that occasion, she came close to breaking maidens first-up at three, going down by a head to Amazing Son at Wanganui.
Remaining at the 1200m, the filly showed her tactical speed early to find the one-one and travelled strongly in the soft conditions under Kelly Myers. Dancing Light ensured a hot tempo and had many off the bit turning for home, but Shameless Star was looming large and had the edge late, kicking clear to edge out Fleeting Glimpse and debutant Into The Circle.
Alongside the winning stake, Shameless Star’s owners will collect a $20,000 bonus and the Didhams an additional $5,000, having been a $55,000 purchase by Exempt Bloodstock out of the draft of Woburn Farm at the Karaka Yearling Sales.
Didham has never doubted the filly’s ability, but said she has taken some managing with such a light frame.
“She’s a lovely horse but just very weak, she’s a picky eater and doesn’t carry much condition which makes her harder to train,” he said. “She’s always had a tonne of ability, but just with her light frame she may be one of those horses that takes another six months to a year.
‘’Her last run was unlucky, she got a bit unbalanced and missed by a head, but Kelly did a beautiful job from a wide gate today and got her into the one-one on a fast pace.
“She got to the front and wandered around a bit, but she was going away again at the line so it was a good, strong win.
“When she comes home, she can have a week in the paddock and she seem to enjoy being trained out of the paddock more so than the boxes, so we’ll be conscious of that.”
Didham was equally pleased to bring up his century, having taken out his trainer’s license in 2019. In the years since, he has enjoyed a consistent run of strong results, including two stakes victories with House Of Cartier in the Gr.3 Metric Mile (1600m) and Listed Feilding Cup (2100m).
“It’s really good to get 100 wins, we’ve only been training about four and a half years so the strike rate is important,” he said.
“We’ve got a really young team of horses coming through which is exciting for myself and Trent. Trent worked for John O’Shea and Mick Price and felt out the industry before deciding to come home and get involved here, the racing industry has its ups and downs but we need to keep attracting young people.
“I’m excited to have him on board and we’ve got an amazing bunch of owners, we had Felucca run second today and you’d think they’d won the Melbourne Cup so it’s pretty cool.
“We all need those Group level horses to get you out of bed in the morning so we’ve gone out and bought some nice young horses to try to get to those good races, we have 10 two-year-olds and there are some promising types in there.”
