Some families experience a period of fame then disappear just as quickly but one family that has stood the test of time is that of the Sir Dane mare Sasha whose only claim to fame could easily have been as the first metropolitan winner for Malcolm Johnston.
Purchased by trained Theo Green for 1,700 guineas on behalf of John Bradshaw and his brother Garry, Sasha was a fair enough racehorse winning seven and placing in seven of 37 starts.
In a long and fruitful career at stud, Sasha had 14 foals, the best of which was the champion two and three-year-old filly Shaybisc.
The daughter of Biscay made a spectacular start to her race career with a seven length win under apprentice David Green in the Widden Stakes.
She smashed the highly-touted Fiancee by nearly five lengths in the Reisling Slipper, with John Duggan coming back to scale in tears as David Green, who would have ridden the diminutive filly, had died in a race fall at Rosehill a week earlier.
Shaybisc had no luck in the Golden Slipper but bounced back to win the Group 1 AJC Sire’s Produce Stakes with ease.
She became an influential broodmare for Woodlands Stud. Like her dam she had 14 foals the best of which were stakes winners Asarka, Bradshaw, the dual Group II winner Sashed (the dam of triple Group 1 winner Freemason and stakes-winner Santissima), and the dams of Group 1 winner Mental, multiple Group II winners Debrief and Tarzi.
Shaybisc’s unraced half-sister Neensie is the dam of Rosehill Guineas winner Solar Circle while Shaybisc’s three-quarter sister Influence (Bletchingly) is the dam of the Group 1 Oakleigh Plate and Group 1 Doomben 10000 winner Undue (Commands) and the Listed winner Absurd (Crown Jester).
Influence’s seven time city winning daughter Subtle (Night Shift) is the dam of the Group 1 Doomben 10000 winner Beaded (Lonhro) and the Group III winner and Group 1 runner-up Rarefied (Commands).
Placed in seven Group 1s before her breakthrough at Doomben, Beaded (image Mark Smith ) won 10 and placed in 13 of her 27 starts while banking $1.6 million for Godolphin.
The gorgeous daughter of Lonhro had just three foals before her tragic death.
Her first foal was the stakes-placed Street Cry gelding Bezel, followed by the stakes-placed Exceed And Excel mare Resin who has won five and placed in four of her 16 starts with earnings of over $277,000.
Resin came back from a spell to finish midfield in the Group II Bobbie Lewis Quality at Flemington last Saturday.
Resin’s three-year-old sister Lesage contests Saturday’s Super Vobis 3-Y-O Plate at Caulfield.
The daughter of Exceed And Excel was brave when winning on debut at Cranbourne on May 17 before being run down late when second to St Edward's Crown at Flemington on June 8.
Off the scene since then, Lesage faces a field of promising three-year-olds on Saturday including the Group III Blue Diamond Prelude winner I Am Immortal so it will be a good test to see what level she could reach this campaign.
