Shalaa moves to Woodside Park for a Victorian debut of $22,000

Written by Jessica Owers

Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything

In a feverish week of stallion announcements, news broke on Thursday that the Victorian-based Woodside Park Stud, owned by businessman Eddie Hirsch, will stand Shalaa (Ire) for the 2023 breeding season. The son of Invincible Spirit (Ire) arrives at the Tylden facility on Friday.

Shalaa will relocate to Victoria after six seasons at Arrowfield Stud. In that time, he has sired seven stakes winners and 14 stakes winners worldwide.

His Australian notables include Shaquero, a dual Group winner and hero of the R. Listed Magic Millions 2YO Classic, a horse that was responsible for launching Shalaa in 2020. There is also the Group 2 winner Seven Veils, the G3 Kindergarten S. winner Semillion, and the G3 Zeditave S. winner Recommendation.

Overseas, Shalaa has produced the Group 1 winner No Speak Alexander (Ire) and, as recently as last weekend, his daughter Jennilala won the G3 Auraria S. in South Australia.

Shalaa will join Woodside Park at a fee of $22,000 (inc GST), which is shy of the $33,000 (inc GST) at which he stood at Arrowfield last season. In the barn, he will join Woodside residents Vancouver, Foxwedge, Delaware (GB), Rich Enuff and Tosen Stardom (Jpn).

“Eddie (Hirsch) bought Foxwedge in a similar sort of situation,” said Mark Dodemaide, speaking to TDN AusNZ. “Foxwedge came to us from Newgate with 11 stakes winners and he’s now up to 25, and Eddie has really enjoyed watching those stakes winners come along. He also got a real kick out of Overpass winning The Quokka for Vancouver on the weekend.

“To a point, Shalaa has more bullets to fire than even these two. In the last couple of years he’s covered close to 200 mares and, from the year before, I think there’s over 100 yearlings.”

Woodside Park has made it something of a specialty to assume these big-name horses and relabel them for its local audience in Victoria. In the case of Shalaa, the horse comes with six seasons behind him and a proven ability to sire a top-quality racehorse.

“We’ve heard all the accolades around Shalaa,” Dodemaide said. “Frankie Dettori said he was the fastest 2-year-old he’s ever ridden and John Gosden said he was the fastest 2-year-old he’s ever trained. You only have to look at his replays to see how good he was when he won six straight in between two and three years of age.

“But even as far as a stud career goes, his oldest Australian progeny are 4-year-olds and he’s already up to 14 total stakes winners worldwide. In the last 12 months, I think from March last year, he’s had 10 new stakes winners. And that’s not 10 stakes winners… that’s 10 new stakes winners.”

Shalaa still has good numbers in France to come through. Initially, his career began as a shuttler between Arrowfield and the French-based Haras de Bouquetot for Al Shaqab Racing. However, his final season in France was in 2020, which coincided with COVID-19. Thereafter, he remained at Arrowfield until this week.

“He’s had a Group 1 winner in Europe, and with the numbers he’s still got coming through over there, you’d have to think that something is going to happen there as well,” Dodemaide said.

Reinventing Shalaa for Victoria

Dodemaide spent much of Thursday on the phone with clients and interested parties in Shalaa. The horse is a prolific addition to Woodside Park, and to a roster with a degree of spice already.

Tosen Stardom represents the Deep Impact (Jpn) line, while Delaware is a son of Frankel (GB). Horses like Foxwedge, Vancouver and Rich Enuff are each well-known and well-liked locals.

Gallery: Stallions standing alongside Shalaa at Woodside Park in 2023

“Someone said to me today that he’s a real coup for Victoria,” Dodemaide said. “We do think he’s a really ideal horse for the VOBIS Gold scheme down here, and even the VOBIS Sires, because Shalaa was an early going horse himself.”

Dodemaide believes that of Shalaa’s 14 worldwide stakes winners, five have been black-type winners at two years of age. It says a lot about the stallion’s precocity, which will be a huge marketing tool for him in Victoria.

“He’s made for that VOBIS market and he should really suit it,” Dodemaide said. “He’s a good-looking horse too, one of those horses that you really want Victorian breeders to come and look at. He’s also known for getting good sorts as well. His progeny are good types of yearlings.”

Shalaa’s top-priced colt on the yearling circuit this year was a $220,000 youngster at the Magic Millions National Yearling Sale. From Murtle Turtle (Murtajill), he was offered by Emirates Park and went to Bjorn Baker for a figure that represented six times his service fee.

Since 2019, when Shalaa's stock first hit the sale rings, the horse’s most expensive yearling has been the stakes-placed Custodian, a son of Honesty Prevails (Redoute’s Choice) and thereby a half-brother to the Group 1-winning and now freshman sire Profondo. Custodian sold to James Harron for $1.15 million when offered by Arrowfield on the Gold Coast in 2021.

At $22,000, Shalaa is a drop on his previous years’ fees, but the expectations around him are different in Victoria. Woodside Park is expecting that some of the clients who will use the new horse may have considered him in the past, but geography got in the way.

“For some breeders, travelling their mares all the way to Scone might have been an issue,” he said. “Now, we’re hoping that people will consider him just because he’s down here. A horse like him that was early going, is very good-looking and by an excellent stallion, he should really suit the VOBIS breeders down here.”

Woodside Park is aiming for a magic number of 80 to 100 mares for Shalaa. With the strength of the Victorian stallion market, it’s a viable ambition.

The farm will open up its doors later in the winter for inspections, traditionally on the last Friday in August. However, Dodemaide is encouraging anyone interested in Shalaa, and any other of the Woodside roster, to get in touch.

“He’s such a good-looking horse that we want to show him off,” he said. “If anyone wants to see him, by all means give us a call.”