\n\t\t\t\t\tBy Tayla Dyke<\/b>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Listen<\/p>\n
She\u2019s the only one of her sire\u2019s progeny to win a race, and she could now become his first Stakes winner.<\/p>\n
Unbeaten filly Cicala, by the little-known stallion Tamasa (So You Think), will put her flawless record on the line in Saturday\u2019s Lightning Stakes (Listed, 1050m), where she shapes as the best of the local hopes in the Morphetville feature.<\/p>\n
Trained by Will Clarken and Niki O\u2019Shea, who have won two of the last four editions of the race, Cicala emerged as an unlikely but exciting talent when she burst onto the scene with a brilliant debut win at Gawler, producing a powerful late surge under her own steam, to score by 2.7 lengths on a rain-affected track.<\/p>\n
The three-year-old then franked that effort with a gritty success at Morphettville, defeating subsequent city winner Noetzie (Harry Angel) by 1.4 lengths, confirming her credentials ahead of Saturday\u2019s rise to stakes company.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe had a little bit of a quiet time since she looked so good last start,\u201d Clarken told ANZ News.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe targeted this race, knowing that the track is generally pretty heavy and pretty average ground this time of year, and she obviously is really adept in that, and that\u2019ll be her key for her being in the finish on Saturday.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rochelle Milnes, who is set to be crowned Adelaide\u2019s leading jockey this season, retains the ride from barrier 12 in the now 13 horse field.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBarrier 12 by that time of the day will mostly be a good draw for her. I want to get off the rail, and she will be just behind them and a couple of other favoured runners will be out there with her. I think it\u2019ll be just picking the right path down the middle of the track to the outside of the track to find the better ground.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Clarken added that the filly\u2019s proven ability on rain-affected surfaces could prove decisive.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think we have had as heavy a track as we\u2019re going to have on Saturday for a while,\u201d said Clarken. \u201cIt has really rained here in Adelaide, and I think that her key to being in the finish is that she is adept on these wet tracks. It was wet at Gawler, it was moderately wet the other day. It was wet on Tuesday morning and she just floated through it.\u201d<\/p>\n
While her race record is clear-cut, her backstory is anything but.<\/p>\n
She was offered unreserved by Maddie Raymond via the Inglis Digital 2023 October (Late) Online Sale, where she failed to attract a single bid.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She then ended up in the care of jockey-turned-trainer Jackson Matthews, who trialled her twice, before she found her way to the Clarken and O\u2019Shea stable.<\/p>\n
\u201cA friend of mine who was just training a couple of horses had got her, broke her in and put her in a jump out.\u201d Clarken said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe decided he had enough of training for a while, so she was offered to us, and I thought she moved well. He stayed in for a tiny share in the ownership, and we just rounded up some other clients and put it together.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe is just a straightforward, simple filly. No supermodel \u2013 she\u2019s just a nice, strong filly, a good head, good hip, but you\u2019d walk past 20 in the stables before you stopped to look at her.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her sire: Tamasa? You\u2019d be forgiven for asking who that is.<\/p>\n
Well, the son of So You Think (High Chaparral) was trained by Darren Weir where he won five of his eight starts. She was then relocated to Lindsey Smith in Perth, where he failed to win, but placed at Group 3 level in the R J Peters Stakes (Gr 3, 1500m) at Ascot, before having his final career start where he finished down the field in the Railway Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m).\u00a0<\/p>\n
He was then retired to stud \u2013 where he served four mares in total, three in 2020, and just one in 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n
From that limited book, he has produced three foals for two to race, Tamwood, a six start maiden in the Maddie Raymond stable, and the other is Cicala.<\/p>\n
Cicala was bred by Glenn Davies, a prominent Victorian owner, who not only owned Tamasa during his racing career, but also raced Cicala\u2019s dam, Dark Jewel Classic (Gr 3, 1400m) winner Divertire (Econsul).\u00a0<\/p>\n
Clarken said: \u201cMy racing manager has a bit of a crush on the stallion. Darren Weir used to train him and told me that he had oodles of ability, but obviously never got there, but I suppose it\u2019s a bit of a fairy tale story, isn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n
The news also came this week that the Clarken O\u2019Shea partnership would dissolve at the end of the current season. The split is a result of practical challenges, not personal differences, as Clarken prepares to reset his stable with a younger, more focused team of horses.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the back end of this season, we\u2019ve been getting rid of a bit of dead wood,\u201d Clarken told ANZ News.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve moved on about 25 of the older horses who have hit their mark, and we\u2019re making room for young horses. I think I would have 25 unraced two and three-year-olds who are soon to be four-year-olds. So there\u2019s heaps of ammo, we\u2019ve just got to get through them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clarken acknowledged the stable\u2019s former Murray Bridge base had complicated their programming, particularly with a promising group of rising four-year-olds.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had too many horses when we had the Murray Bridge stable, and ultimately, that was a failure up there,\u201d he said. \u201cNothing to do with Niki. It was just political reasons and staffing issues, and it held our three-year-old crop, that are now going four, back.\u201d<\/p>\n
While disappointed the pair can\u2019t continue together under one banner, Clarken said the lack of physical boxes in Adelaide has made it unviable to maintain the current structure.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sad that we can\u2019t get enough boxes in Adelaide to have the two of us, but that\u2019s all it comes down to. We need to have 60-plus horses in full training, and there just aren\u2019t boxes that you can get without having six horses here and eight horses there in these little pokey stables at Morphettville.\u201d<\/p>\n
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