Shannon (1941-1955) was an outstanding
Australian Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse.
He created
new track records in Australia and the US
. Sired by Midstream
from the mare Idle Words by Magpie*, he was owned and trained by
Peter Riddle who paid £367 for him as a yearling.
Already a winner of the
1945 AJC Epsom
Handicap Shannon is probably best remembered for not winning
the same race the next year. A short-priced favourite for the
1946 running Shannon missed the start and did
not move from his starting position until the rest of the field had
travelled approximately 100 metres. Despite the setback his jockey
took off after the field and failed only by half a head to catch
the winner Blue Legend.
When his owner-trainer died he was sold to W.J.
Smith for £27,300 and
only raced four more times in Australia before being sold again,
this time to America
Neil
McCarthy for a reported £52,000.
His last start in Australia ended in defeat finishing second to
Russia in the
1947 AJC
Craven
Plate.
In total he raced 25 times in Australia for 14 wins with other
prominent wins including the AJC
George Main Stakes and the AJC
Sires Produce Stakes.
Racing in the United States
Racing in
California
in 1948, new owner Neil McCarthy entrusted
Shannon's race conditioning to trainer, William Molter.
At
Hollywood Park
Racetrack
in June he won the Argonaut Handicap then on 17 July, won the
most prestigious race of his American career, the Hollywood Gold Cup. At Golden Gate
Fields
on 17 October 1948 Shannon equaled the world record
of 1:47 3/5 for the mile and one eighth in winning the Forty Niner
Stakes then just one week later at the same track equaled the world
record of 1:59 4/5 for a mile and a quarter while capturing the
Golden Gate Handicap. In November he won his last race, the San
Francisco Handicap at Tanforan Racetrack
.
Sold for
US$300,000 to a breeding syndicate led by Leslie Combs II,
Shannon was retired to stud duty and
stood alongside another Australian champion Bernborough at Combs' Spendthrift Farm in Lexington,
Kentucky
where he had a successful career as a sire.
Eleven of his first crop yearlings averaged $11,755 each.The best
of his progeny being Clem ($535,681) who defeated
Round Table in track record time in the
Washington Park Handicap and Sea O
Erin ($407,259) who won the
Citation
Handicap and 18 other races.
In 1955, Shannon broke a leg and was humanely
euthanized. He is buried at
Spendthrift Farm.
Shannon was inducted into the
Australian Racing Hall of
Fame on 4 July 2006.
References
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