'The most naturally gifted two-year-old I have ever trained' - blue-blooded Golden Slipper winner Shinzo joins Coolmore roster

Shinzo, arguably the best-bred Golden Slipper -winning colt ever to retire to stud, who was also crowned last season’s champion two-year-old, has officially joined Coolmore’s Hunter Valley roster ahead of the 2024 season.

The Chris Waller-trained Shinzo, who is out of the Blue Diamond and Slipper-placed mare Samaready and by a renowned sire of sires in Snitzel, clinched the title as the country’s best two-year-old by virtue of his victory in the Slipper, which came a week after he was catapulted into contention for the most coveted juvenile event in Australia courtesy of his Pago Pago Stakes demolition.

“Snitzel is a four-time champion sire of two-year-olds and one of the greatest stallions we have seen in Australia in the modern era,” Coolmore Australia principal Tom Magnier said. 

“We are delighted to stand his best two-year-old and his best-bred son at stud. The Golden Slipper has an unmatched record as a sire-making race and Shinzo has all the credentials we look for in a sire prospect, with an impeccable pedigree and incredible good looks.”  

Snitzel’s first Golden Slipper-winning colt, Shinzo will stand for an introductory fee of A$55,000 (inc GST) in his maiden season based in the Hunter Valley, on a roster which also includes another son of Snitzel in Best Of Bordeaux, who finished runner-up in the 2022 edition of the Slipper.

Ridden by Ryan Moore in his career-defining performance at Rosehill, Shinzo defeated fellow colts including Cylinder, recent winner of the Newmarket Handicap, Roman Consul Stakes scorer King’s Gambit as well as subsequent three-time Group 1 winner Militarize and Little Brose, winner of this season’s Blue Diamond.

He achieved a Timeform rating of 120 with his Slipper performance, the highest mark for a two-year-old in 2022-23 and the biggest figure ever posted by a juvenile by Snitzel. 

Waller described Shinzo as a “very special horse”.

Ryan Moore, Tom Magnier and Chris Waller after Shinzo's Golden Slipper successCredit: Martin King

“And we knew early on when he came into our system,” said Waller, who completed a Sydney Triple Crown cleansweep last autumn when Militarize subsequently won the ATC Sires’ Produce Stakes and Champagne Stakes.

“He has a great temperament and is the most naturally gifted two-year-old I have ever trained. When you pair that with his great physique and pedigree, he is such a desirable stallion prospect.”

Shinzo was not offered at a public auction by Coolmore. Instead, the horse was syndicated privately as a yearling amongst its colts partnership clients after being born at Coolmore’s Jerry’s Plains property.

Magnier paid A$1.8 million for his dam Samaready at the 2020 Inglis Chairman’s Sale when she was carrying the colt in utero. Samaready is also the dam of Shinzo’s Magic Millions 2YO Classic-winning sister Exhilarates, who also won the Quezette Stakes. 

Shinzo and Exhilarates are not the only two in the pedigree to demonstrate elite level talent as juveniles, with the pair also hailing from the family of Karrakatta Plate winner Night War.

Another half-sister to Samaready, who also won the A J Moir Stakes and ran third in a Lightning Stakes at Flemington, is Samarmeteors, herself a juvenile winner and the dam of this season’s Canonbury Stakes-winning colt Prost.

By Arrowfield’s four-time champion sire Snitzel, Shinzo was a veteran of just eight race starts and his record also includes placed efforts in the Canonbury Stakes and the Skyline Stake.

Third up in the spring as a three-year-old he ran third behind the Newgate Farm-bound Ozzmosis and the Widden-owned I Am Unstoppable in the Coolmore Stud Stakes.

Shinzo returned to racing last month, finishing fourth in the Star Kingdom, before Coolmore and partners elected to send him to stud without another start.

Magnier vowed that Shinzo’s syndicate would back the colt to the hilt in his early years at Coolmore.

“We have a great group of partners involved in his ownership and his Golden Slipper win was one of my fondest ever memories on a racetrack,” Magnier said. 

“Being foaled, raised and broken in here at Coolmore, he was a special horse since the day he was born and we look forward to welcoming him back.”

Goffs Doncaster Breeze-Up Sale

Goffs Doncaster Breeze-Up Sale catalogue

Subscribe to make sure you never miss updates from Australia, New Zealand and beyond and to have ANZ Bloodstock delivered to your inbox every day