Story by Damien Donohue:
Lang Lang based horsewoman Allison Sheehan maintained her outstanding season winning strike rate when honest mare She’ll Strykeya was victorious in the Helloworld BM64 Handicap (1217 metres) at the Moe Racing Club on Sunday.
The five-year-old mare by Stryker has now won twice this preparation and four times overall in a twenty-two-run career for Sheehan’s boutique stable (currently six). The hard working, very much hands on trainer, prepares her team from a thirty-acre establishment in tranquil Lang Lang, with her horses venturing to the state-of-the-art Cranbourne Racing Centre for workouts.
Sheehan has always credited her ability to ride her horses in trackwork as a huge asset to her operation. Sheehan being able to gauge accurately the progression of each horse and prepare a work schedule that suits.
She’ll Strykeya ($18) has raced without luck since winning impressively at Mornington in early December, but with the removal of the barrier blanket and addition of Jye McNeil for the first time, showed plenty of heart in the straight, holding off the fast finishing Elegant Queen ($31) and Terindah ($7), who both look coming winners.
She’ll Strykeya was bred by Lee and Carmel Powell from Fulmen Park – Moorooduc, out of the five times winning Dolphin Street mare La Piazza. She’ll Strykeya will now head to the water walker at Fulmen Park for a week, Sheehan keen to target another race in around three weeks.
Allison Sheehan Racing has trained six winners from twenty-six runners this season (at an impressive twenty three percent strike rate), was delighted with her charges determination, “She is only little but she always tries hard, she certainly defied her big odds, it definitely suited racing a bit closer to the pace.”
“She was at her top the whole way,” McNeil reported, “and it was a very tough win.”
It’s a great start to a big week for McNeil, who partners the Robbie Griffiths Racing trained Grand Symphony in Saturday’s Group One Ladbrokes.com.au Blue Diamond Stakes (1200 metres) at Melbourne Racing Club meeting at Caulfield.. The colt by Glass Harmonium has drawn barrier five, and is currently a $34 chance.
Sheehan reported that two of her stable stars will be coming into work in the coming weeks. Four-year-old mares Alonzah and El Questro both love wet tracks, have spelled well and look set for lucrative winter campaigns. Alonzah won a Maiden at the Moonee Valley Racing Club defeating one of the states current form horses Steel of Madrid (three-time winner since for Tony Noonan Racing).
Sheehan is kept busy with her team and other business enterprise, Ace Caps , which creates a hugely popular range of custom made jockey caps. Velvet, PVC, Lycra, Metallic and Hologram are used to create your preferred design in the colour you desire, with a client basis including the leading trainers, jockeys and track riders, across Australia, New Zealand and Asia. More information can be obtained from http://acecaps.com/Home.php