Shima Set To Shine In St Leger 

After opening his career with three breathtaking victories, superbly-bred youngster Shima Shine will face a baptism of feature race fire in Tuesday night's heats of the Group 3 Warragul St Leger (460m).

Not two until November, Shima Shine is a son of champion sire Barcia Bale and Shima Song (Dyna Tron – Shimaguni), which won the Group 2 Geelong Cup in 2016, Group 2 McKenna Memorial in 2017 and was runner-up in the 2016 Group 1 Maturity Classic.

Like his mother, Shima Shine is trained by Andrea Dailly and raced by owner/breeders David Gleeson and Bob Cummings.

And the wonderful damline, that dates back to Sunny Manda in the 1960s, appears to have hit the jackpot again with Shima Shine, runaway winner of his three starts in best of night time at Ballarat (25.09s and 25.25s) and Warragul last Tuesday in 25.64s.

"He looks like he's going to be a gun dog," said David Gleeson.

"Right from the start, everything he learned to do he was just dynamic at doing it.

"He's only had three races and before that he'd only been to the racetrack three times – once at Ballarat and twice at The Meadows."

While he couldn't have been more impressive in the unbeaten start to his career, Shima Shine has been thrown in the deep end in the first of four excellent heats of the Warragul St Leger.

Drawn in box three, Shima Shine will tackle recent Group 1 Maturity finalist Get It Gizmo (8) and Group 1 Harrison-Dawson finalist Spearhead (5), while the series also features the likes of Western Envoy, Mister Harlewood, Weblec Jet, Aston Peregrine and Curt Lee, all Group finalists.

"He's in a very tough race," Gleeson conceded.

"But his win at Warragul last week was very good and he'd never seen the place before. 

"If our bloke can begin, he doesn't know how old he is, he doesn't know that he's not 21 months old yet and he runs in a straight line too.

"He might come a gutser on Tuesday – we're not to know – but if he does we'll just ease up on him and he'll continue serving his apprenticeship. Because that's what he's doing and being 35 kilos you can only look at him and think he's going to improve."

Shima Shine is a member of Shima Song's first litter, with Gleeson and Cummings following a proven formula when selecting Barcia Bale for her first mating, followed by young sire Mepunga Blazer as her second beau.

When Barcia Bale was mated with multiple Group-winning stayer Shimaguni, Shima Song's dam, the resultant litter was headlined by the brilliant Shima Bar.

Shima Bar won the Group 1 Paws Of Thunder in 2017 at just his 13th start and 12 from 21 overall before injury curtailed his promising career.

"That was pretty much the reason," Gleeson offered.

"Barcia Bale has been an incredible stud dog but Shima Song was no slouch either.

"She won the Melbourne Cup Consolation in 29.24s and if she was in the final she wins it, she beat Fanta Bale in the McKenna Memorial and was only beaten a half-head in the Maturity, when she came from six lengths behind.

"Shima Shine has always been the best in Shima Song's first litter. When I dropped him off at the Daillys', Tom asked me what his name was and I said Group 1! I was only joking of course, but that was my opinion of the dog.

"I've also got another dog from the litter called Shima Rock, which ran third at The Meadows last Wednesday. He got hammered but chased hard to the line. The Daillys have another one named Jagger's Joss than can run a bit.

"We went to Mepunga Blazer for Shima Song's second litter because he's a very good son of Barcia Bale, his dam, Mepunga Nicky, and her litter could all run and Barry Smith's line has been very good for a long time.

"There were eight pups in the litter and they're four months old. They're beautiful pups and they have two important ls – legs and length!"

Gleeson is perfectly placed to enjoy the fruits of his breeding labours, having recently stepped down from the Sandown GRC committee after serving 31 years, while he also sponsored the MGRA for 35 years.