"They were talking $500,000 to $600,000 at the Magic Millions sale in Australia. I told them I would give them $300,000 and the first foal."
Shand gave Stolen Dance to Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman and put the mare in foal to Tavistock. There was one niggling problem - Stolen Dance had won at Group 2 and Group 3, but hadn't won a Group 1 and, until Saturday, was probably New Zealand's most unlucky thoroughbred not to have done so.
Two years back in consecutive starts Stolen Dance finished second, beaten a neck, to Kawi in the Group 1 Thorndon Mile and was beaten a head by the same horse in the Group 1 Zabeel Classic. At her next start she beat Kawi home in the Group 1 Herbie Dyke Stakes at Te Rapa, but Valley Girl beat them both.
That same lack of good fortune counted against the mare as she prepared for what is almost certainly her last start on Saturday. She had to lead in the Cal Isuzu Stakes at Te Rapa, which is right against her style and like most in the Zabeel Classic was beaten by the fierce on-pace bias.
She wasn't entitled to win on Saturday. She dropped back to last early and Sam Spratt decided to push forward from the 900m, but the pair were forced four and five wide. They continued to motor into it to be outside the leaders on the home bend, but horses can't do what she had already done at Group 1 level and her race surely had to be over.
No, she forged clear and if you watch the race again, take note as commentator Tony Lee swallows the microphone as he realises at the 175m Stolen Dance has the race won.
"What's even more remarkable," says co-trainer Murray Baker, "she was actually edging further clear at the finish. I'm pretty sure I've never seen a horse cover that much extra ground on a good track and win like that at that level." Along with Gerald Shand, Baker was absent from Trentham, but rather than miss the occasion, Shand says he was glad to be at home and enjoyed the occasion, for reasons other than just the several hundred thousand dollars the mare put on her residual broodmare value.
"I was in my lounge and did all the things I couldn't have done at Trentham. I jumped up and down, yelled and screamed and cried. Yes, I cried. I went up to the golf club and had a few drinks after that."
Sam Spratt, with racing's most gregarious nature, chuckled and made light of what looked a shocking ride when interviewed on horseback by Emily Bosson: "What a peach of a ride (not)," but she made the pertinent point when she added: "She's a female, she doesn't like to be told what to do." Stolen Dance inherited some of her mother's temperament. Bitchy racemares are almost always the best - read here Sunline - and arguing with them during a race is counterproductive. Spratt is a superb horsewoman for whom horses run and keep running and she summed up the situation brilliantly when she let Stolen Dance continue to roll forward at the 650m when she had the opportunity to check her forward momentum and tuck in mid-field. Forget the ugly, there is only one measuring stick for the prizemoney and it's called the winning post.
On a raceday that truly excelled, this was certainly the most remarkable performance on the day.
Shand said yesterday there is little chance of Stolen Dance continuing on to run in the $400,000 Herbie Dyke Stakes at Te Rapa, which because of the service date to Tavistock would, under racing rules, be her last allowable racedate. "I will talk it over with Murray and Andrew, but personally I don't want to go further with her." No, that's not a bad way to go out.
If there is a disappointment it is for initial trainer David Greene, who tried so valiantly to gain that critical Group 1 victory with a difficult mare. As Forsman said on Trackside Television on Saturday: "David Greene did all the hard work with this mare and we are just lucky to get her for this final campaign."
The stable will have no time to celebrate as they try to determine what happened to their other runner, hot favourite Love Affair, who at no stage showed any interest and tailed the field. "She's arrived back here at Cambridge in perfect health and I'm totally mystified," says Baker. "She's top class and her work had been excellent." No, racing ain't easy, but the roundabouts are there along with the swings. Forty minutes after the Thorndon the stable produced one of its next stars, Hinerangi, to win it's 69th race for the season.
