Mary Shan (NZ) Shakes Off Bridesmaid Tag

Previously a second placegetter in four black-type races, MaryShan (NZ) (Almanzor) broke through for a richly deserved win in Saturday’s $120,000 Group Three Bayleys Great Northern Challenge Stakes (1600m) at Ellerslie – also delivering a big boost for a full-brother catalogued for Karaka 2026.

Mary Shan was offered by Prima Park in Book 1 of Karaka 2022, where Forsman Racing bought her for $180,000. She has now had 22 starts for five wins, six placings and $482,290 in stakes for owners Jackie Rogers and Gerald Shand.

Until Saturday, Mary Shan had a reputation for being a black-type bridesmaid. She had run second in the Group Two Soliloquy Stakes (1400m), Group Two Eight Carat Classic (1600m), Listed Matamata Cup (1600m) and $1m Listed Elsdon Park Aotearoa Classic (1600m), but was still looking for her first stakes win. That search ended in outstanding style in the Great Northern Challenge Stakes.

The Andrew Forsman-trained Mary Shan was positioned in midfield by jockey Craig Grylls, who angled her into clear air at the top of the straight to make her run. She had half a dozen lengths to make up on the front-running favourite El Vencedor (NZ) (Shocking), who had kicked away and opened up a big lead.

But Mary Shan knuckled down and began to gain ground. She moved through her gears and charged home, drawing up alongside El Vencedor in the final few strides and nailing the New Zealand Horse of the Year right on the finish line to win by a head.

“It’s great for this mare to get a black-type win,” Grylls said. “She’s been knocking on the door so many times, so it’s thoroughly deserved. Well done to Andrew and all the connections.

“I rode her quite a bit earlier on in her career, but hadn’t sat on her for a while until today. The race panned out perfectly and we settled exactly where I wanted to be.

“There was good speed coming down the side of the track and they stretched us out a bit, but she was always travelling well.

“I was pretty confident from about 200 metres out and I really felt like we were going to catch El Vencedor. She balanced up and just built up all the momentum and then hit the line very strongly.”

Mary Shan is now likely to chase further black-type spoils in the $270,000 Group Two Rich Hill Mile (1600m) at Ellerslie on New Year’s Day.

“She’s won three out of four this season, with the only blip coming on a very heavy track,” Forsman’s racing manager Joe Walker said. “She’s going super.

“We had a very good one to beat today, catching El Vencedor is a tough task on a track that he loves, but she was brilliant.

“We thought she was going well at home leading into this, her work had been super, and in the end it all worked out beautifully.

“She’s won really well today and we’ll get her home now and assess where we go from here. But the Rich Hill Mile on New Year’s Day is the one race we’d pencilled in beyond this.”

Mary Shan’s heroics have delivered a timely pedigree update for her full-brother in the countdown to Karaka 2026. Wentwood Grange will offer the colt by Almanzor out of Shanzam (High Chaparral) as Lot 114 during Book 1, which takes place on January 25 and 26.

Vendor	Prima Park
Purchaser	Forsman Racing (Waikato)
Breeding	Almanzor – Shanzam
Sale	Lot 570, Karaka 2022 Book 1, $180,000
Breeder	C & C Charalambous, D J & M A Frew, T Hatzopoulos, C & H Scheffer & J Underhill
Owner	Mrs J J Rogers & G A Shand