Almanzor’s daughter too classy

Quality mare Mary Shan was untroubled to return to winning ways in the open 1400 metre handicap at Tauranga.

The multiple stakes placed daughter of Almanzor showed her class with an emphatic victory for trainer Andrew Forsman and rider Wiremu Pinn.

Mary Shan had successfully opened her campaign at Wanganui but was then unplaced on heavily rain-affected ground in the G3 Taranaki Breeders’ Stakes at Hawera.

“She was tripped up by there a very testing track there,” Forsman’s Racing Manager Joe Walker said.

In her Tauranga assignment, Mary Shan settled in fourth spot on the fence and took advantage of a rails run into the straight to easily forge clear for her fourth career victory.

“She has been going well and there was plenty of speed in the race, which suited her,” Walker said.

The four-year-old is a daughter of the High Chaparral mare Shanzam, who won three races in Australia up to 1400 metres.

Her dam Shanzero was a talented performer and claimed an edition of the G3 Wellington Stakes and finished runner-up in the G1 New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes.

Mary Shan’s sister was sold to Te Akau at the 2024 New Zealand Bloodstock Ready to Run Sale for $150,000 and has been named Arrazola while Shanzam also a yearling colt by our resident sire.

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