NO. 7?

Bit of a refresher on Shinzig: he won on debut as a 3YO at Randwick on 25 August 2004 – a week shy of eight years after Psychic Mick’s Vain victory.

Shinzig’s first stakes win was at Caulfield – the Schweppes Stakes-G3 over 1400m in February 2005 – commencing a flurry of Group performances which eventually culminated in a Group One CF Orr Stakes victory at Caulfield in February 2008 (that year’s Orr, by the by, was one of the toughest on record with a phalanx of Group One winners lining up in the race).

Following the Vain, a number of pundits have ‘predicted’ a bright future for Psychic Mick with his main aim being the Group One Caulfield Guineas over 1600m on 13 October.

Psychic Mick’s trainer is confident his 3YO will make the distance and while Shinzig was clearly a more ‘brilliant’ type, he did manage to run third in the Emirates Stakes-G1, third in the Otaki Maori-G1 and fourth (beaten 1.7 lengths) in the Thorndon Mile-G1 – all over 1600m.

A final factoid … there are seven sons of Danehill standing at stud in Australia who have won Group Ones up to 1400m. Six of them (Redoute’s Choice, Flying Spur, Danzero, Exceed And Excel, Danasinga and Fastnet Rock), have produced Group One winners in their own right. Where’s my crystal ball?

Shinzig (below) is the only one of the seven that’s out of a Group One (the track record holder Shindig) … and at $6,600 inc. GST, he’s tremendous value.