Ross Shannon's reward for breeding effort

By Jordan Gerrans

Central Queensland hobby trainer and breeder Ross Shannon landed a ‘satisfying’ triumph on Tuesday at Callaghan Park when a young filly of his broke through after a recent run of encouraging form.

The prominent former racing administrator only dabbles with a few horses he breeds himself these days out of Rockhampton.

Shannon has been tinkering with young filly Leica Flamingo in recent times and she delivered a maiden victory at her seventh attempt over 1400 metres on Tuesday afternoon.

The 72-year-old Shannon noticed his daughter of Showtime did not have the speed for sprinting events earlier in her career but quickly appreciated the step up to 1400 metres over her last couple of starts.

“I think she can go on from the win on Tuesday,” he said.

“She's pulled up well, one good thing in her favour is she's been a sound horse all the way through.

“She's never even gone shin sore, so that's unusual for babies. She's been a very sound sort of filly.

“I think she can possibly go on with another win or two, somewhere along the line.

“Well, fingers crossed, anyway.”

With local rider Chris McIver in the saddle, Leica Flamingo was able to lead from a low draw and was not headed from there to score by a touch over a length.

Shannon, who is a former Chairman of the old Queensland Trainers’ Association, purchased Leica Flamingo’s mother Ara Star when she was in foal to Showtime.

The yearling that became Leica Flamingo was offered at the Magic Millions sales a few years back but when she did not attract much interest because of her small stature, the veteran trainer decided to race her himself.

The hobby trainer races Leica Flamingo and his small team alongside his wife and his daughters.

“We were rewarded on Tuesday,” he said.

“It's a long journey. You've got to have a lot of patience if you play with babies because they've got to grow up for a start from being a foal.

“You put some work into them there; the education process is a lengthy process.

“Sometimes they're just not ready made two-year-olds. You've got to just kind of progress slowly and have a lot of patience on the way through.

“She's always shown a little bit of ability in her trackwork. It was just a matter of getting it right.

“It's always a bit of a long journey to go from having a mare in foal to taking something through to the track. The win was quite satisfying.”

Leica Flamingo’s win on Tuesday was Shannon’s first since May of 2022 when Astral Odyssey scored at Gladstone.

Shannon notes that Leica Flamingo’s small stature and immaturity played a part in her not being purchased at the Magic Millions sales.

But, regardless of her size, he believes she is in the fight.

“She's proved she's pretty tough,” he said.

“She's not a big filly even now and fairly lean sort of figure, not a big gross sort of filly, but she's tough.

“She can back up. She had that little freshen up and then a couple of weeks further work into the race.

“She was really cherry ripe for Tuesday.”

The stable also prepares unraced filly Donna Susan who has gone to the trials once in her short career.

The two-year-old daughter of Super One had her first public appearance at Callaghan Park earlier this month where she ran fourth in a trial.

Now retired from the work force, Shannon studied a Bachelor of Science in his early days before working as an industrial chemist and in the veterinary pharmaceutical industry.

Before going into the gallopers later in life, he was firmly entrenched in the harness racing game as a young man.

He trained and drove in races in Rockhampton, Charters Towers and Townsville with success.