New era for Mishani Army

By Brodie Nickson

Mishani Lily heralded in the new Mishani Racing era on the racetrack and will be doing the same in the breeding barn with the stunning chestnut in foal.

The Listed winner was new trainer Donna Stanbridge’s first metropolitan winner when bolting in at Doomben last year.

It was Stanbridge’s first major victory for the ‘Mishani Army’ and she described the feeling as pure relief.

The Kobayashi filly is like most of her stablemates, another home-bred out of Mike Crooks’ Mishani family.

She is out of Sweet Savannah and was previous trainer Les Ross’ final black-type winner before he retired from training, taking out the 2024 Listed Dalrello Stakes at Eagle Farm.

Mishani Lily showed ability from the start, winning on debut at Eagle Farm in September 2023 over 1000m.

With the two-year-old ‘Mishani Army’ at their peak as their blue and while silks dominated the majority of pre-Christmas two-year-old races in South East Queensland, she looked the pick of them and confirmed that following a spell.

Mishani Lily returned to racing in February and recorded another fresh win, beating Overfull at Doomben.

It started a brilliant preparation where she won three of five starts, her defeats finishing third behind stablemate Mishani Aloha and second behind subsequent Group 2 BRC Sires runner-up Zouna.

Mishani Lily’s preparation culminated with a six-and-a-half-length demolition over 1110m at Doomben before leading all the way in the Listed Dalrello Stakes.

It was Kobayashi’s first black-type win as a stallion and Mishani owner Mike Crooks is backing to not be his last, because he has sent over half of his broodmares to the Aquis stallion this season.

When Mishani Lily returned to work as a three-year-old it was for a different trainer and, although racebooks changed, Mishani Lily’s routine stayed the same as she took her next steps alongside the familiar hands of Donna Stanbridge.

Following Les Ross’ retirement, Crooks entrusted his Mishani empire into the hands of Stanbridge.

Stanbridge’s appointment maintained a similar familiarity for the workers and horses at Mishani Racing as she stepped up from running the day-to-day routine of running the Mishani farm to training.

After starting her career at Lindsay Park at 16, Stanbridge worked in South Australia before moving to Queensland.

In 2020 she began working for Crooks and quickly rose through the ranks, eventually running the impeccable Mishani Racing farm at Gleneagle.

The impressive facilities has almost everything a trainer needs: stables, broodmare paddocks, spelling paddocks, day paddocks, pool, multiple training tracks and a hill track.

With the majority of a Mishani horse’s life spent at the farm, Stanbridge and her team look after everything from raising foals to retirement and the breeding barn, with breaking in and foaling down the rare times a horse will spend time away from the farm.

Possessing the intrinsic knowledge of the farm and the Mishani operation, it was no surprise to see Crooks entrust Stanbridge with his empire.

A quiet, humble person, Stanbridge was desperate for early success, and she got that with Mishani Lily.

Following an impressive trial splitting veteran Far Too Easy and gun El Morzillo, Mishani Lily returned to the races as a three-year-old at Doomben and again dominated her opposition leading all-the-way.

Stanbridge described the day as nothing but ‘nerves’ pre-race and pure ‘relief’ after.

Mishani Lily backed up the win with another impressive victory at the Gold Coast before contesting tougher company.

Having success kick-started her training career, it meant more to Stanbridge to win with a filly she had been alongside since a foal.

“[I] try to treat her like every other horse and not wrap her up in bubble wrap, but you seem to end up doing it [with good horses],” Stanbridge said.

She described Mishani Lily as quiet but a smart filly who knew her job.

“[She was] quiet at the start and at the jump outs she showed how quick she was,” Stanbridge said.

“Even the kids could ride her because she was so quiet.

“Once she started racing she would get a bit fizzy, easy to deal with but a bit ‘hot’.

“She would be calm most of the time at the farm, but at the races she would know her job.”

Stanbridge now has 30 horses in work and her allegiance to Crooks and Mishani Racing is stronger than ever, raising the next generation whether they raced with her or not.

It was a rare sight at Eagle Farm last month as Stanbridge cheered home a winner not in her stable, when she was trackside to watch Rarotonga dominate his second start for Paul Shailer.

An expensive purchase for Crooks, he paid $70,000 for the son of North Pacific and despite showing ability from day one, Stanbridge and Crooks agreed for the gelding to begin his career under the care of Gold Coast trainer Shailer and the duo haven’t look back since.

Although Stanbridge admits it would’ve been great to have Rarotonga - the horse she raised and named on the farm - win under her name, her first allegiance is to Crooks and the Mishani family.

When touring the farm and experiencing the impressive facilities with racehorses in their boxes post work and broodmares alongside their foals, the family environment is hard to miss.

Mishani Lily is one of the first horses Stanbridge will see each morning at the front of the farm and sharing a paddock in foal with first season sire Prost, will lead the next generation of the ‘Mishani Army’.