Nobody has mentioned another Major Factor in this horse's remarkable race record ...

Shaquille(GB) - is Home-Bred - by one of the Owners...

- and - Shaquille's only siblings are ...

- a Half-Brother is - 0 from 19 runs - and Rated just 48 (although rarely ran to even that lowly rating)

- and - a Once-raced BUMPER horse - who Finished LAST of 10.

The Dam never ran.

'Funny old game, Saint'

Good question - glen.

Soviet Song is listed as having been Bred by Elite Racing -  But whether Maurice Camacho 'managed' their breeding operation (if that is what you are intimating) I would not know - although, the more I think about it, something in the dim and distant past falls into the where/when have I heard that before.

Soviet Song's Dam - was bred by a John O'Byrne - and trained by Paul Cole as a Juvenile - when Owned by Elite Racing from the Off.

If he wasn't prone to missing the start I suspect offers from the likes of Hong Kong would be made,that said it does not seem to be an impediment and marks up his last two wins.Might not get away with it in a Breeders Cup but should he win well at Haydock I would imagine it would be hard to resist.

I agree.  Complete pros but they wouldn;t be human if they weren't very excited by his exploits and all the attention he brings to them.  Good luck to them.

LoyalHoncho 16 Jul 23 15:03

I agree.  Complete pros but they wouldn;t be human if they weren't very excited by his exploits and all the attention he brings to them.
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- and the - £782,469 - Prize-Money (so far) too.

Agreed.  Pros do it for money.  But inside every one, who unearths/acquires one, which helps them to punch way above their weight, is a little thrill button.  And I'm sure it still works in all of them.   

Also think five furlongs more likely to benefit more than seven would.

Was Soba grey? She was a phenomenon 5f filly.

I meant she was a "phenomenal" 5f filly.

Enjoy that CG,I hadn't realised the Owners Group was an offshoot,just as successful then?

How much is he worth? By an unfashionable sire, out of a mare with a thin page...

Can't knock the horse on what he's done, but when he locks horns with the American's in the BC, or worse the Aussies, then his poor racing technique will let him down.

Cannot help but think if he was with a "sprint trainer" they would sort out his kinks and then he would be a monster.

Trainer's only won 7/8 races with the horse.
People whinge about the big yards having all the best horses but
when a smaller yard get's hold of 1,they want it with another trainer.

Intriguing thought: who rides next time?....Would it matter Ryan could not ride one side of him and he still Won as he liked.

Join the club for fading memory Honcho,I believe she was second in the L'abbeye to Habibti who beat her every time I think?

SOBA, the extraordinary sprinting filly who rose from rags to riches to be crowned 'Queen of the North' in the 1980s, has died at the age of 25 at the Yorkshire farm where she was foaled.

The winner of 13 races, most memorable among them the 1982 Stewards' Cup, was put down after becoming ill at owner-breeder Muriel Hills's Lane Side Farm, near Bram-ham in West Yorkshire, the place where Soba's remarkable story began.

'She was born here and she died here,' said Hills. 'She had become a bit of a creaky old lady, but she had been in good health until last weekend when she wasn't quite herself. At first we thought it might be colic, but the vet said it was worse than that, so we had to put her down.

'She was a wonderful mare who had a great life and gave us so many wonderful memories, which we will always cherish.'

Despite her modest background and a particular dislike of a saddle, Soba was skilfully produced by trainer David Chapman to become one of Europe's top sprinters and, but for the presence of the outstanding Habibti, would have been an outright champion.

Her career took off aged three when, with blinkers applied in an effort to atone for some disappointing efforts at two, she got off the mark at Thirsk at 33-1 under the man who was to become her regular partner, David 'Dandy' Nicholls.

It was the first of 11 wins in 1982, a year during which she rose up the handicap by more than 4st.

The high point came undoubtedly at Glorious Goodwood, where her victory was achieved against all odds.

Just 17 days earlier, her run of six straight wins - the first five in five-and-half weeks - had come to an end when she was beaten at odds-on at Ayr and walked away slightly lame.

The bookmakers' ante-post favourite was removed from the Stewards' Cup lists, but a back problem was successfully treated by physiotherapy and she made every yard of the running from the supposedly unfancied number one stall to win at 18-1 and, in the process, smashed the six-furlong course record at the Sussex track.

Recalling that triumph and her career yesterday, Chapman said: 'That was a very big day because she'd been favourite for such a long time. Drawn one, people thought she had no chance and that let the pressure off a bit.

'She wasn't easy to train. She could bronk [buck] for England. You couldn't get a saddle or a roller or anything on her. Anything around the ribs she didn't like and she detested bikes. If she saw a bike she just went mad, but David [Nicholls] managed her all right.

'If it hadn't been for Habibti she would have been champion sprinter. But she trounced us every time we met, although Soba wasn't beaten far in the Prix de l'Abbaye, when she raced with stitches in a joint after a turbulent flight. I didn't see much of it because of the bad viewing at Longchamp and I never got a video of the race.

'Habibti didn't train on and I half wish we'd kept Soba in training, but we had agreed a foal-sharing arrangement with Robert Sangster and retired her. I trained one or two of her offspring, including Soaked, a grandson, who has done well for me but shows the same traits.'

Soba's final season featured two more wins, including the Group 2 King George Stakes at Goodwood, and no fewer than four seconds to Habibti - in the July Cup, Vernons Sprint Cup at Haydock, York's William Hill Sprint Championship and the Abbaye, in which she was beaten a length.

Nicholls said: 'She gave me many happy days. She put me on the map at a time when I was scratching around for a living. Winning the Stewards' Cup was a great day, but, for me, the highlight came at Longchamp. Habibti kept beating us, but Soba so nearly got her that day.

'She was quite a difficult ride and a tough bugger. Twenty five is a good old age.'