One of three runners in the nine-horse field for the Tom Charlton yard at Canterbury on Wednesday, 2yo Pinatubo (IRE) filly Pin Up Sheila announced herself as one to watch as she took up the running and gave nothing else a chance to win on debut.
Jumping away from barrier 3, jockey Dylan Gibbons went forward to eventually find the lead with the Chris Waller trained race favourite Miss Scandal (NZ) settling in fourth after jumping from the inside gate with James McDonald in the saddle.
A length clear of the Michael Freedman trained Celestial Charm (Extreme Choice) who sat in second under Tommy Berry, the race favourite had moved a little closer and appeared to be getting the run of the race in third.
On the heavy 8 going, Pin Up Shelia took the home turn in front where Gibbons asked for an effort and started to shake up the filly as Celestial Charm began to make ground on the leader.
With McDonald starting a short-lived challenge along the inside aboard the favourite, Pin Up Sheila kept the field at bay, pulling clear to win by the best part of a half-length margin from Celestial Charm.
Extreme Choice filly Extremely Chic, a stablemate to the favourite, worked home well down the outside to grab third, with Miss Scandal weakening to finish in fifth place after getting what appeared the run of the race.
“She has always shown natural ability, but we haven’t been sure where that would take her. I was a bit worried she’d get to the front and look around a bit, but she handled it well," said Charlton.
“The thing I liked is she got around the corner, got a little bit lost – maybe she felt my hands move – but she quickened up really nicely underneath me, and I thought she was going to take some catching,” Gibbons said.
“She was a little bit vulnerable late being her first time at the races, but she has still done a really good job today."
A $50,000 purchase for D & M Esplin Pty Ltd from the Widden Stud draft at the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale, the Dalanna Bloodstock and Tunstall Bloodstock bred Pin Up Sheila is the fourth winner from five to the races out of the for Authorized mare Sheilarized, a half-sister to the Listed winner Office Bearer, who was interestingly raced by the Esplin Family.
The current yearling out of Sheilarized, a colt by Jacquinot, was sold at this year’s Inglis Classic yearling sale to John Foote Bloodstock for $140,000 while the mare foaled a filly by St Mark's Basilica (FR) in the spring and was subsequently not covered.
Sheilarized has since been offered in the recent 2026 Inglis April (Early) Online Sale, being sold for $3,500 to Prymslea Lodge.
Set to return to cover his fifth book of mares this season at Darley Kelvinside for a fee of $27,500 (inc. GST), Pinatubo has been represented by four first crop winners including the Nick Olive trained Voynichese who defeated the older horses on Tuesday to break her maiden at just her second start.
While yet to win, Pinatubo has also been represented by three stakes performers to date in Australia; the G2 VRC Sires' Produce Stakes runner up Zambales, G3 VRC Maribyrnong Plate runner-up Tales Of Time as well as the G3 Widden Stakes third placed Hardanger, suggesting that bigger and better things are to come at three for the progeny of Shamardal’s Horse of the Year.
