Craig Kerry
Fred Noffke doesn’t profess to be a racing expert, but he knows and believes in his dream horse, Sheza Alibi.
The Queensland cattle farmer, who paid just $10,000 for Sheza Alibi as a weanling online, thinks the four-year-old “could be a Black Caviar”, that she will win as much money as Winx and is the best horse in the country.
And, importantly for Saturday, when Sheza Alibi takes on Autumn Glow at Randwick in the group 1 Winx Stakes (1400m), Noffke believes she can’t wait to show again just how good she is.
The first showdown between Autumn Glow, unbeaten until rising to 2000m last start in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes, and Sheza Alibi has been the most anticipated in racing since Noffke’s wonder horse dominated the Randwick Guineas and Doncaster Mile in the autumn.
The clash has come earlier than expected, after Sheza Alibi changed course from resuming in next week’s Memsie Stakes at Caulfield, but it can’t come soon enough for Noffke, or his mare. He believes she is ready to repeat her Doncaster performance, when she came from last to win by more than four lengths.
“I saw her up on Stradbroke weekend, and she kicked and farted like I’ve never seen,” Noffke said of Sheza Alibi while she spelled at Beaudesert.
“She’s normally just so calm and collected, and I just knew then … this might sound a bit airy fairy, but I think the Doncaster taught her that she’s a racehorse, and she liked the feeling.
“She surprised herself and now she just wants to do it again. I can just see it in her.
“She just can’t wait for someone to say, ‘Here, whack, whack, let’s go’.”
Before the change in plans, Noffke was already heading south for stallion parades in the Upper Hunter on Sunday, then staying on for Thursday night’s NSW and Australian racing awards at Randwick. He said throwing in a race against Autumn Glow, and 11 other group 1 winners, became a must.
“I actually pressured him,” he said of talking to co-trainer Peter Moody.
“I could see by the videos he was sending me that she was desperate to go racing. I’m not telling Peter his job. I just had a sense she was keen, she has to go racing somewhere.
“He put the idea up first, and then I just watched her. I know how she reacts.
“Probably,” he said of the Memsie being an easier option, “but they get hurt in the box. I said to Peter, ‘If she’s right to go, we’ve just got to race her’.
“I was keen, not to go racing against Autumn Glow, I’m sort of dreading the thought, but it’s like a Band-Aid on a sore. Sometimes getting it done isn’t worse than thinking about it.
“And if I’ve got the best horse in Australia, which I think I do have, why would we care?”
While Autumn Glow’s part-owner, Arrowfield Stud founder John Messara, has said this could his star’s last season before becoming a broodmare, Noffke has prioritised racing, in Australia, for Sheza Alibi – which will be set for the $5 million King Charles III Stakes and $10 million Golden Eagle this campaign at Randwick.
“Winx won $25 million, and I think we’ll win $25 million,” Noffke said.
“And Winx didn’t have to go anywhere. If I can stay here and win $25 million, I don’t give a shit. You don’t have to take on the world when you’ve that much money.
“I’ve got reason to think she might be a Black Caviar,” he said, referring to Moody’s late, unbeaten legend.
“I know the people who had Black Caviar and they are thinking they aren’t very far apart. They may not be the same, but even back within a couple of lengths of Black Caviar would be good enough, wouldn’t it?
“She’s a race filly, not a broodmare. She’s a racehorse and she’ll be that until she tells us she doesn’t want to race.
“We’ll make more racing than having foals. There’s a lot less risk racing her than there trying to get her in foal and have them. That’s the goal, and I’ll live long enough to get a few foals out of her anyway, I reckon.”
Sheza Alibi, a winner of seven from 10 starts and $3.7 million, steps out against weight-for-age company for the first time on Saturday and will carry 56.5 kilograms, 7.5kg more than in the Doncaster. Drawing gate one of 14, up against potentially eight Waller-trained runners, could be another obstacle.
“Barrier one wouldn’t matter if Chris Waller didn’t have so many horses in the race, and rightfully so. If I had seven horses in the race, I’d be expecting one of mine to win,” Noffke said.
“She’s gone rail, she’s parted horses, she’s not intimidated by the horses around her, and don’t worry about the weight thing. They’ve all got to carry some weight.”
Noffke said he will still be “pretty blood happy” if Sheza Alibi runs second to Autumn Glow, and he was excited about the clash.
“It’s good for racing,” he said.
“I keep saying to people, the hierarchy within the racing industry don’t realise that they are in the entertainment industry. They aren’t in the racing industry at all. It’s the entertainment that’s important.
“That’s how you get people through the gates, getting betting and keep the industry afloat.
“If there’s no entertainment, if it’s not exciting, what’s it matter?”
The only drawback about a win on Saturday for Noffke was the next day.
“If she wins and you party, then it might not be so easy to get back up to Scone by nine o’clock Sunday morning,” he quipped.
Meanwhile, the Australian Turf Club, Racing NSW and TAB on Friday announced a new 1000-capacity infield precinct at Randwick for Everest day (October 17). The TAB Clubhouse will sit opposite the Queen Elizabeth II Grandstand, overlooking the final 150 metres of the home straight.
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