The family
Shoeshine Boy is the 7th progeny of the unraced broodmare Godlylady. From a
National Hunt family that traces back to such top class horses as
Carvill's Hill, Samlee and Alcapone.
Closer to home though and Godlylady has bred 3 winners. Useful
8-time
hurdles winner West to the Bridge (by Flemensfirth), fair winning
hurdler Polymath and bumper winner/progressive 4-time hurdle winner Yes No Maybe
So (by Stowaway).
She also has an unraced, 3 year old gelding by Affinisea.
Godlylady is owned by Whytemount Stud where Valirann currently
stands.
Second dam, the unraced Different Dee, has proven very successful
at stud with 5 of her progeny to race having won. The best of
these have been the Listed Placed winning hurdler, winning chaser
Barafundle and the top class Grade 1 gelding Flemenstar, a multiple
winner over fences.
Craig Star, a standing dish in staying handicap hurdles in the North
these past few seasons, is also one of her sons.
About the sire
The
Aga Khan bred and owned Valirann (bay horse born 2010) was unraced
as a 2 year old but reach high class standard in his five races as a
3 year old when trained by Alain de Royer-Dupre. He was beaten a
short head on debut but then reeled off a 4-timer. The last two of
these were victories in Group 2 and Group 3 staying events at
Longchamp.
Timeform rated 112p, this well bred, workmanlike type is a half
brother to the ill-fated 2012 Prix de Diane winner Valyra plus a
further couple of black type horses.
Valirann was retired to stand at Whytemount Stud in Ireland in 2015
and had books of over 100 mares in each of his first few seasons
there. He now has over 30 individual winners, and stands for 2024 at
a fee of €2,000.
His 3 year olds continue to be generally well received at the NH
Store Sales in Ireland and Britain with a top price of €155,000 paid
by Paul Nicholls for one of his sons in 2019. This was Grade 2
winning hurdler Knapper Hill and Panda Boy is another very useful
hurdler.
Season 2023-24 outlook
Quietly progressive.
Shoeshine Boy enters the 2023-24 season (his 4th) as an
established fair handicap hurdler. From a lean, unfurnished sort,
"Theo" now holds onto his condition and shows muscles in all the
right places. A sturdy, compact frame - a pocket battleship.
A winner at Ayr on his final run in 2021-22, Shoeshine Boy ran
several fine races last season around the 3 mile mark winning at
Carlisle at the start of April before improving again to chase home
the formerly useful Burbank (who'd since tumbled down the handicap
weights) in a Class 3 event at Perth a few weeks
later (clear of the 3rd horse).
Probably acts on any type of jumping ground, this Valirann gelding
did take a couple of runs to find his form last season, but he could
be one of the first of the winter string to hit the racecourse in
October. He'll stick to 3 mile handicap hurdles with maybe an eye on
qualifying for one of those Northern series finals.
Shoeshine Boy seems ideally suited by 3 miles and cut in the ground, and
starts the season on a mark of OR103.
The lads of Mousetrap Racing will have another exciting season in
staying handicap hurdles with this lad.
Profile....
There's little doubt that our most successful horse bought at the
annual Tattersalls Ireland August NH Store Sales has been
Keyboard
Gangster. Snapped up for €4,600 in 2014 by The Buyers Club, that
syndicate returned to the same venue in 2018 to acquire
Stolen Money.
CEO of The Buyers Club, 'Mouse' Young has clearly been buoyed
by the experience of horse syndication and with a group of
prospective Hawick likely lads lined up, he once again scoured the
catalogue and horseflesh at the Tattersalls
Ireland August NH Store Sales in 2019 with an eye for a young horse
to bring home.
And so to Day 1 of the sale, when a Valirann gelding with an
attractive NH pedigree came up. This fellow was quite raw, backward and lean on appearance so despite being a half brother to a
couple of recent winners, Mark was able to pick him up
for a minimum bid. In fact, on closer inspection this is a very
good National Hunt pedigree from a family of high class winners -
Flemenstar to name but one. But even closer up in his pedigree are a
couple of multiple winning half brothers in the useful West To The
Bridge and fairly useful Yes No Maybe So.
Shoeshine Boy's gained valuable experience in initial runs in bumper
and novice hurdles during his first couple of seasons in training,
as he matured both mentally and physically.
Handicap hurdling though was the making of Shoeshine Boy, as after a
run for four runner up spots he won in the April of the 2021-22
season over 3 miles at Ayr. He continued to improve last season too,
and after a couple of placed efforts won a 3 mile hdcp hurdle at
Carlisle.
Season | win | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | other | |
2020-21 | NH Flat | 2 | ||||
2021-22 | Hurdles | 1 | 4 | 3 | ||
2022-23 | Hurdles | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | |
2023-24 | Hurdles | 1 | 2 | 1 |