From Shelby Benchmark 66 to Shelby The Group 1 Winner – The journey so far:

By Jack McInerney

Any punter in Australia that pays remote attention to the weekly theatre that is horse racing would have without a doubt, at some stage have put their hard earned on the emerging cult figure that is SHELBY SIXTYSIX. And its all due to one man, Danny Williams.

On the 3rd of March 2020 an unraced Toronado gelding by the name of SHELBY SIXTYSIX lined up for his first ever official trial over 900 metres on a chilly, borderline icy Goulburn morning.

Shaun Guymer rode SS in the trial and as they say he “didn’t ask the horse for an effort” it seemed to be more an educational trial with the horse finishing 6th of 7 in a rather nondescript outing in the end.

A mere 9 days later SS lined up in his second official trial, again at Goulburn, again with S.Guymer riding but this time over 800 metres. Again SS was sent around without being asked for an effort and again finished second last in the trial, 7th of 8 runners. To put it simply there was nothing at all shown in his first two trials that would forebode what was to come!

So after his first 2 fairly plain official trials SS was sent to a lowly Monday meeting at Wagga for his debut over 1200 metres in the ‘Sportsman Club Hotel Maiden Handicap’ with a paltry $11,200 up for grabs for first place. Shaun Guymer was given the ride at his debut where he was sent to the barriers as an $8.50 chance on NSW TAB Fixed Odds.

After travelling in the one out, one back position till the home turn Guymer ‘cuddled ‘SHELBY SIXTYSIX around the turn and asked the horse for the ultimate effort at the 300 and it appeared for a few strides that he might just put them away convincingly but an outsider ($26) by the name of ILE DE RE had kicked a few lengths clear on the turn and as a result SS couldn’t run him down, going down by a mere 0.6 Lengths as the official margin.

In a very common theme in racing ILE DE RE never went on to either place in, or win another race!

In fact he ran a total for 5 more times, once for his original trainer Wayne Carroll and 4 starts for Natalie Jarvis but the closest he came to running in the top 3 was a subsequent two 4th placings and then was retired.

It was a case of Deja Vu at SS’s second start where he lined up at Moruya in a Maiden over 1425 metres with Guymer again taking the ride. He travelled sweetly in the run and was presented on the turn but it seemed he was still learning what racing is all about as he didn’t really knuckle down till the last 50 metres, again running second this time with a margin of 1 length.

At his third ever start in a race SHELBY SIXTYSIX lined up a week later on Sunday April 19th, again in a Wagga Maiden, dropping back in distance 225 metres from the week earlier to 1200m from 1425m.

It was a case of third time lucky with SS getting the suck run on the rails with S.Guymer angling him out on the home turn and its safe to say the penny had dropped in the 7 days from his previous run as he really scythed to the line, winning convincingly justifying the short quote he jumped at of $2.10 on NSW TAB Fixed Odds.

So now after breaking his maiden at his third start he had accumulated $22,260 in Prizemoney and had never finished outside the quinella. A bright future beckoned.

At his very next start SS won again, at the same time discovering his niche, Heavy Tracks.

He was nothing short of dominant in his 4th start win, again at Wagga and again over 1200m, he won running away winning by a lengthening 2.94 lengths on the line and it was clear that he had a penchant for the Heavy going, something that would go on to be a cornerstone of his cult status, his ability to run Personal Bests on the quagmire that the majority of other horses resented!

It would be a remarkable 16 more starts till SHELBY SIXTYSIX was in the winners circle again, in those 16 starts he ran second 5 times.

His third win at his 20th start came in a Highway Handicap at Randwick on 26th February of this year over the sprint distance of 1000 metres on his favoured Heavy 10 going where he was piloted by another cult figure in Willy Pike.

He really stormed home impressively on his preferred going and in his post race commentary Danny Williams said that SS was really taking a liking to the rain affected tracks.

Who would have thought that he excelled on Heavy Tracks to the point where it would result in him being a Group 1 winner NOT EVEN ONE MONTH later!

The next 3 starts for SHELBY SIXTYSIX would prove to be his launchpad into superstardom and bona fide Cult Status, ensuring that his name will be on the tips of Punters tongues long long after his retirement.

His next start after his Heavy 10 domination in the Highway Handicap was in the Group 2 Challenge Stakes where he lined up against, wait for it, NATURE STRIP, EDUARDO and the much maligned SPLINTEX.

Point being SHELBY SIXTYSIX ($61) seemed to be astronomically out of his depth up against the two predominant sprinters in Australia in NATURE STRIP ($1.70) and EDUARDO ($2.30).

The one thing that SS seemed to have in his corner that day was Mother Nature with the track being presented as a Heavy 9. But in saying that Both NATURE STRIP and EDUARDO are both noted as horses with high winning strike rates on Heavy Tracks so it seemed in reality that SS was out there running for the $32,000 fourth place prizemoney.

What subsequently unfolded in the Group 2 Challenge Stakes was nearly one of the biggest boilovers of all time with SHELBY SIXTYSIX fighting like a Caged Lion up the rail almost getting the better of the multiple Group 1 winning machine that is EDUARDO, only going down by a miniscule 0.21 Lengths!

He collected a whopping $96,000 for running second place subsequently leaving a visibly emotional and overwhelmed Danny Williams to declare that the door would be left open for SHELBY SIXTYSIX to line up in the Group1 The Galaxy Sprint in a fortnights time declaring that horse had “Earnt his shot at the bigtime”.

The very next week the horse backed up in the Group 3 Maurice McCarten Stakes dropping back significantly, not just from a Group 2 to a Group 3 but more importantly in terms of the quality of the opposition he faced!

Just like last start again he came up the inside of the track and sprinted tenaciously fighting of the challenge of RULE OF LAW to win a dogged victory, announcing to all in sundry that last weeks near GIANT KILLING PERFORMANCE was no fluke and post race Danny Williams declared the owners would pay the late entry fee to get the horse into the Group1 The Galaxy Sprint the following week.

The Big Show had finally arrived, the horse that couldn’t run down the battler ILE DE RE in his first ever start in a Wagga Maiden on a Monday was being sent out as a $7 pop, Second Favourite in the market, in a Group 1 Sprint in Metropolitan Sydney. Truly unbelievable no matter which was you look at it. A living example of a horse rising to the challenges placed in front of it.

Rather than give a stride by stride description of the race I think its better if you watch the replay found below and watch when Robbie Dolan gives him a cut with the whip at the 200 how he goes into Heavy Track Specialist Beast Mode and running down BIG PARADE ($13) and IN THE CONGO ($14).

SHELBY SIXTYSIX ran a further 3 more times after The Galaxy but its safe to say he was getting more and more tired each run resulting in him running 12th of 16 runners in the Listed Grade Takeover Target Stakes at Gosford.

After Goulburn Based trainer Danny Williams declared that SHELBY would be given an extended break and a VERY well deserved spell after being in work consecutively, without a spell from January 2021 to May 2022. Bindi Cheers-esque.

His current record sits at 27: 5-8-3 with Prizemoney of $792, 015

No matter what the remainder of his career entails its safe to say that the once much maligned SHELBY SIXTYSIX has elevated himself from the level of a Benchmark Highway Handicap battler to a Group 1 Winning Sprinter. Something that I don’t think even the most diehard Horse Racing enthusiasts in Australia literally ever conceived possible.

Me included.

Long Live Shelby Sixtysix.