By Tom Frary
Debuting in Saturday's Two Year Old Trophy at Beverley, Wathnan Racing's €460,000 Arqana May Breeze Up purchase Shareholder (Not This Time) made the perfect start to point to Royal Ascot's juvenile features. Slowly away under James Doyle, the Karl Burke-trained 6-4 favourite quickly recovered to track his four rivals racing a touch freely without cover. Delivered to take a narrow lead approaching the furlong pole, he belied inexperience to hold the previous winner Moving Force (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}) and score by a short head.
“He was a little tardily away and they were going quick in the first few hundred yards, so they got a bit of a break on me but we were just keen to try to make it as smooth as possible with him,” jockey James Doyle said. “He's quite racy this fellow and when he got a slow start, he just fired up a little bit and took time to settle back into a rhythm. He moved into the race super and when he popped his head in front, he just got a bit lost and jumped the winning line but I was pretty happy he was always going to hold off the other runner. It was our first day at school, so you'd have to be pleased. He is a smart-looking horse.”
Trainer Karl Burke added, “I'm relieved as much as anything, as he's a horse with a big reputation and he was very good at the breeze-ups, but the breeze-ups are a long way from galloping two furlongs on a flat track to five furlongs up a hill here. We knew we had a good horse, but it's nice to get the job done and I'm delighted with his attitude. We've only had him three weeks, we haven't had a good run at him really and we haven't got a lot of time going into Ascot. Today was just planning to see if he was good enough to go to Ascot–we thought he was on his home work and I think he's just shown there that's he's plenty good enough.”
The unraced dam, who has been bred to Street Sense, is a daughter of the listed winner Ronaldsay (GB) (Kirkwall {GB}) and a half to the G3 Jersey S.-winning sire Gale Force Ten (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) who was also placed in the G1 Irish 2,000 Guineas, G1 Middle Park S. and G2 Norfolk S. Also kin to the listed scorer and group 3-placed Rousay (Ire) (Muhaarar {GB}), her family also features the G1 Moyglare Stud S. winner Bianca Nera (GB) (Salse), the G1 Fillies' Mile and G1 Falmouth S. heroine Simply Perfect (GB) (Danehill) and her G1 Criterium International-winning son Proud And Regal (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}).
🏇 Shareholder fends off Moving Force to land the bet365 Two Year Old Trophy Conditions Stakes in the hands of James Doyle for Karl Burke 👏@bet365 / @karl_burke pic.twitter.com/dYt05zLOKk
— Beverley Racecourse (@Beverley_Races) June 8, 2024
3rd-Beverley, £50,000, Cond, 6-8, 2yo, c/g, 5fT, 1:04.76, g/f.
SHAREHOLDER (c, 2, Not This Time–Cloudy Dancer {GB}, by Invincible Spirit {Ire}) Sales history: $62,000 Ylg '23 KEESEP; €460,000 2yo '24 ARQBRU. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $32,778. O-Wathnan Racing; B-Skyfall Thoroughbreds, LLC (KY); T-Karl Burke.
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
