Lady Shenandoah digs deep in G1 Surround Stakes win

Star filly Lady Shenandoah has shown her class but also been forced to call on her fighting qualities to win a thrilling Group 1 Surround Stakes at Randwick.

Off the back of a dominant Flight Stakes win last spring and an effortless first-up success this autumn in the Light Fingers Stakes, the Chris Waller-trained Lady Shenandoah was sent out the $1.30 betting sites favourite in Saturday’s 1400m feature for fillies but was forced to work overtime to edge out Golden Slipper winner Lady Of Camelot in a driving finish.

With champion jockey James Mcdonald aboard, Lady Shenandoah took up a position just behind the leaders and loomed up ominously early in the home straight before the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained Lady Of Camelot rallied strongly.

Lady Shenandoah responded to the challenge to win by a short neck and that pair cleared out from the rest of the field, with the winner’s stablemate Lazzura another 2-3/4-lengths away third.

“I’m rapt with her, she had to really fight it out,” McDonald said.

“Credit to Gai and Adrian’s filly, that was as tough as it comes. At the 100 metre mark I thought we were done and my filly pulled out all stops.

“She’s a top-class filly. And obviously we were expected to blaze away in glory but you’ve got to have the tough victories to get the good ones as well. So that was a good effort.”

Waller was also pleased to see Lady Shenandoah lift when it counted to fight off the challenge from Lady Of Camelot.

“I could see that she had accelerated but didn’t quite clear the horses around her and then I realised it was Lady Of Camelot and she’s a Golden Slipper winner, so I knew a Waterhouse and Bott horse was going to be hard to get past,” Waller said.

“And sure enough it was.

“Lady Of Camelot lifted and it was good to see Lady Of Shenandoah fight and be dominant.”

Bott said Lady Of Camelot was brave in defeat and the Coolmore Classic is a likely next option for her.

“She was excellent and she was really brave,” Bott said.

“I thought she showed the nice improvement that we wanted to see from her first-up run. We were looking to stretch out to that sort of trip to open a few more options and I think that’s important for her, that versatility.”