G1 Toorak trifecta for Arrowfield sires
Lady Shenandoah (red stripe cap) bursts from the pack to head off Changing Colours (olive green & grey silks) & Welcometotheshow (gold cap) and claim her 4th Group 1 victory - and the 38th on Snitzel's stud record - in the $1 million Toorak H. G1. (PHOTO: Darren Tindale)
Arrowfield’s exuberant Spring continued at Caulfield on Saturday with a Group 1 trifecta, a new Group winner & new Group 1 performer for The Autumn Sun, plus a new Group 1 performer for Dundeel.
Arrowfield-sired horses and/or Arrowfield graduates have now won 11 Group & Listed Races (three at Group 1 level) in the past 15 days.
Snitzel’s champion daughter Lady Shenandoah led home last-start Group 2 winner Changing Colours (by The Autumn Sun) and Welcometotheshow (by Snitzel’s son Showtime) in a dramatic, high-pressure finish of the $1 million MRC Toorak H. 1600m G1.
It was a superlative performance by the Arrowfield-bred-&-sold Lady Shenandoah, who carried topweight of 58kg and matched James McDonald’s determination to take a narrow gap between runners in the straight to snatch her 4th Group 1 victory, and Snitzel’s second consecutive Toorak winner after Transatlantic last year.
She is the first mare to win the race since 2010, when More Joyous won it, also carrying 58kg, and she is Snitzel’s 5th stakeswinner this season.
LADY SHENANDOAH WINS A CLASSIC TOORAK 🏆 JAMES MCDONALD WEAVES HIS MAGIC AGAIN 👑 https://t.co/0jdQfjxVmY
— 7HorseRacing 🐎 (@7horseracing) October 10, 2026
“Huge thrill. She hadn’t won for a while and I keep saying to everyone that it’s not that she doesn’t try, she’s got great tenacity, but she just hasn’t had much luck and she’s raced against the best horses in the land.
“For her to win like that, she aimed up a needle eye gap, she just burst through. An incredible performance, really.”
Lady Shenandoah is raced by Hermitage Thoroughbreds who worked with trainer Chris Waller and agent Guy Mulcaster to purchase her for $525,000 from Arrowfield at Inglis Easter. Now a 4-time Group 1 winner and $5 million earner, she is one of four Group 1 winners from Arrowfield’s Yearling Class of 2023 – the others are Lazzura, Private Life & Switzerland. Her dam Star Pupil has a yearling colt by Snitzel and last month foaled a colt by The Autumn Sun.
Earlier on the Caulfield card 5YO Surfin’ Bird became The Autumn Sun’s 13th stakeswinner with a polished victory in the MRC Ladies Day Vase 1600m G3 for First Light Racing & partners, and the Waterhouse & Bott stable.
Her 6 wins and $665,000 prizemoney are the results of a carefully managed 11-start career, from her debut win as a late 3YO, then progressing steadily last season before ending her 4YO campaign with success in the $500,000 Magic Millions National Classic. An excellent 4th placing in Lazzura’s Golden Pendant G2 on 26 September indicated that Surfin’ Bird was capable of stepping up again in Group company, and so it proved.
SURFIN’ BIRD 🏄♀️
cAnother strong win at Caulfield for Gai and Adrian’s talented mare!
@JChilds47 @GaiWaterhouse1 https://t.co/MBoABbJavF
— 7HorseRacing 🐎 (@7horseracing) October 10, 2026
Bred by Makybe Racing & Breeding, Surfin’ Bird is out of Summer Surf (by Big Brown), a half-sister to Champion 2YO Farnan & Listed winner Sandbar. She was offered by Milburn Creek at Magic Millions 2023 and purchased for $280,000 by her trainers and Bruce Slade’s Kestrel Thoroughbreds.
At only his third start, Arrowfield graduate Call Me Coach (Dundeel-Mother’s Mercy by Redoute’s Choice) unwound a big finish to nab third in the $3 million MRC Caulfield Guineas 1600m G1, won by the favourite Warwoven (by Snitzel’s son Sword Of State).
Call Me Coach was a $440,000 purchase by Dean Hawthorne for Pinecliff Racing from Arrowfield’s Magic Millions draft and is Dundeel’s 28th Group 1 performer. He has surely earned the opportunity to upgrade his status in the $3 million Victoria Derby G1 on 31 October .
