Moody/Coleman and Kia Ora/TFI chase another Merson Cooper with a $1.1m filly.
Not for the first time, Peter Moody and Katherine Coleman are chasing the Merson Cooper Stakes with a $1.1 million filly who carries the Kia Ora Stud colours.
The Pakenham training duo will unveil Shinjina in this Saturday's $175,000 Listed event at Caulfield, 12 months after winning the same event with Eneeza.
She was a $1.1m Magic Millions yearling purchase for Kia Ora, who raced Eneeza in partnership Tony Fung Investments and they again teamed up to buy Shinjina for the same amount at Inglis Easter this year.
By Snitzel, Shinjina is out of Hips Don't Lie, who was a three-time Stakes winner as a two-year-old, including the G2 Reisling Stakes.
That daughter of Stravinsky has had eight to race, seven of whom were by Fastnet Rock, including Lake Geneva, who placed in the Blue Diamond and Golden Slipper.
Ennis Hill won a G3 Chairman's Stakes and started $7.50 in the Blue Diamond, while Acrobat's only racetrack appearance yielded a brilliant Inglis Nursery win and he now stands at stud at Coolmore.
Ennis Hill is already following in the footsteps of her mother and has thrown a handy filly of her own with Reisling Stakes and G3 Widden Stakes winner Learning To Fly (Justify) one of the best fillies of her generation.
Hips Don't Lie's five fillies that have been offered for sale realised at least seven figures. Lake Geneva and Irish Sea both sold for $1m, Sia sold for $1.1m, while I Am Invincible filly Humming cost $1.95m.
Shinjina's preparations for the Merson Cooper Stakes have included two 800m Pakenham jumpouts, the first a fourth placing on November 12 before a commanding win under light riding seven days later.
In the latter jumpout, Shinjina defeated stablemate Maldini, a $500,000 Magic Millions son of Tood Darn Hot, who will also contest the Merson Cooper Stakes with Luke Nolen to ride.
Shinjina, a $9 chance in the Merson Cooper Stakes, will be ridden by Craig Williams, who rode Hips Don't Lie more than any other jockey, with the pair to jump from barrier eight.
The Merson Cooper Stakes has proven a good launching pad in recent years with Eneeza boasting a win over Golden Slipper heroine Lady Of Camelot in the $1m G2 Percy Sykes Stakes late in her juvenile season.
The previous Merson Cooper Stakes was won by subsequent Blue Diamond winner Little Brose, 2023 Australian Horse of the Year Anamoe won the 2021 edition, a year after another top Godolphin juvenile Hanseatic was successful.
