Outstanding mare Sea Siren will stay in training with Randwick trainer John O'Shea after her owners rejected a substantial stud offer for the dual Group One winner.
Photo by Racing and Sports
A major NSW stud had been chasing Sea Siren and made a big offer to her WA owner Keith Biggs in a bid to add the four-year-old to its broodmare band.
Biggs took some time to contemplate the offer before rejecting the sale. He has confirmed that Sea Siren will now proceed with a spring campaign that will start at the Moonee Valley night meeting on October 26 in the G1 Manikato Stakes.
It's good news for O'Shea after the tragedy of having the classy G1 performer Elite Falls, also owned by Biggs, put down last Friday after suffering an injury.
Elite Falls was also a valuable breeding prospect and was about to be sold by Biggs to Coolmore Stud. She won the G2 Reisling Stakes as a two-year-old before a third in the Golden Slipper and was also placed in the G1 Oakleigh Plate, earning almost $800,000 prizemoney.
Biggs told the West Australian he had decided to defer Sea Siren's retirement to stud as he feels she can add to her record of five wins from just eight starts over the next 12 months.
"I think we'll have a good next 12 months with her," Biggs said.
"Hopefully she comes back as good as she was last time in.
"She's all set for the Manikato. She's beaten Buffering twice so I think she has his measure and she should go well."
Sea Siren geared up for her Melbourne campaign when she ran second in a 1050m trial at Randwick on October 2 and early fixed odds betting has her second in the Manikato betting behind Queensland star Buffering.
Buffering, who won the Moir Stakes first-up at Moonee Valley on September 28, finished second to Sea Siren in the G1 Doomben Ten Thousand (1350m) in Brisbane in May. Sea Siren also beat a crack sprint field at her previous start in the G1 BTC Cup (1200m) at Doomben.
She was spelled after finishing ninth in the G1 Stradbroke (1400m) at Eagle Farm won by Mid Summer Music with Buffering second.
Sea Siren is expected to go to the $1 million Patnicak Farm Classic (1200m) at Flemington on November 10 after the Manikato Stakes and may then proceed to Perth for a start in the G1 Winterbottom Stakes (1200m) at Ascot on November 24.
