Two-time group 1 winner Shadow Hero heads to Hong Kong

25 May 2020, 07:25 by Chris Roots

Two-time group 1 winner Shadow Hero has been sold to Hong Kong and will join the David Hayes stable when he heads there next season.

The three-year-old gelding was vetted on Monday and only requires a final tick of approval for the sale to go through, reportedly for more than $3 million.

https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_0.177%2C$multiply_2.1164%2C$ratio_1.5%2C$width_756%2C$x_0%2C$y_0/t_crop_custom/q_62%2Cf_auto/eb8e6f0f2748470d9c06a868b9ff9f9354e829cc — Shadow Hero winning the Randwick Guineas at Randwick in March.Getty

Shadow Hero won last year's Spring Champion Stakes and finished powerfully to win the Randwick Guineas in March. He should be an ideal horse for Hong Kong, with his distance range between a mile and 2000m.

Sydney trainer Mark Newnham was disappointed to lose his star, who was being aimed at the Cox Plate, but things had changed for his owner due to the coronavirus outbreak.

“We have been knocking back offers for him since he won a listed race in Brisbane this time last year,” Newnham said. “It was always met with 'he is not for sale', but with coronavirus his owner might not be able to come and see him race here and decided to accept an offer.

"He is probably the perfect horse for Hong Kong and we'll hopefully watch him win some big races over there."

Shadow Hero will be one of the best credentialled gallopers to leave Australia for Hong Kong and his target will be next year’s Hong Kong Derby, which is restricted for four-year-olds.

The deal was done privately by one of Hayes’ biggest and most successful owners, Edmund Lee.

He has raced group 1 winners Redkirk Warior, Spillway and Harlem in the Lindsay Park stable in Australia and was determined to give Hayes a star for his return to Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, half the units in the miEverest slot sold in the first couple of hours on Monday before its website crashed under the pressure.

The Everest slot of the people, which miEverest bought for $800,000 from Greg and Barb Ingham’s GPI Racing, is expected to sell out by the end of the week.

Under the micro-ownership model, the Everest slot was split into 1000 units. The price had no mark-up at $880, including GST.

“We have got off to a flying start but then the website went down, which was really frustrating,” miEverest chief executive Steve Brown said.

“The indications are that we will sell them all in the next couple of days and then the fun begins for our slot holders of finding a horse for a $15 million race.”