Any time you speak to Pauline, it is impossible not to be struck by her absolute love of horses. It is a connection which comes straight from the heart and you know that she rides the ups and downs of every thoroughbred that comes under her eye.
So when Shrouded In Mist, who was foaled and raised at Three Bridges on behalf of breeder Peter Katelanis, held off Group 1 winner Seabrook (NZ) (Hinchinbrook) to secure her first stakes success at start number 29, Pauline's thoughts immediately went to all that had come before.
"It was exciting and it’s very nice when you think you have foaled down three generations of the same family," Liston told TDN AusNZ.
"It's been a great family. It’s very rewarding, and so many fillies out of that family have been good horses."
The start of a dynasty
Liston's first connection to Shrouded In Mist's family came nearly 30 years ago when she and her husband Peter had the mare's third dam, Ceres Mist (Plush {NZ}), at their Lakewood Stud in South Australia.
It is the hard times as much as the triumphs that stick in Pauline's mind through the journey and she recalls the difficulty of losing Ceres Mist to cancer soon after the arrival of her final foal in 2000.
A few years earlier, Liston had foaled down a filly by Southern Appeal (USA) from Ceres Mist who would ensure the mare's legacy would continue. Named In The Mist, she was a five-time stakes winner and was a key broodmare at the old Lakewood Stud.
Pauline Liston
But the Listons opted to disperse much of their Lakewood Stud interests in 2004 and In The Mist was sold to Eureka Stud Farm for $137,500, while her weanling filly by Encosta De Lago, was also sold.
"I foaled down (Shrouded In Mist's) mother at Lakewood Stud and we sold her to Peter Katelanis as a weanling at our dispersal sale for $105,000 which was the highest priced weanling we ever sold," Pauline said.
"She stayed with us and he was going to put her through the yearling sale but she got injured and hurt herself. So he retained her to race."
That twist of fate kept the Listons connected to the family, and that filly, to be called De Lago Mist, proved herself a very handy racehorse, winning a G2 VRC Sires' Produce S. and a G3 SAJC Breeders' S.
De Lago Mist at Rosehil
Under the guidance of the Listons, Katelanis decided to breed with De Lago Mist and she has proven somewhat of a blue hen, with her first colt, Instinction (Exceed And Excel) winning a trio of stakes races while her Redoute's Choice filly Into The Mist won the Queen Of The South S., in 2016.
When Shrouded In Mist made it a trio of stakes winners with her win in that same race on Saturday, Pauline's thoughts turned to De Lago Mist.
"We lost her last year, post foaling. She wasn't well and unfortunately we lost her. After the win yesterday, there was initially a sense of sadness because we had just lost the mother," she says, barely holding back the emotion.
That orphan foal, a colt by Russian Revolution, is now weaned and doing well, under Pauline's ever watchful eye.
Sticking strong with a skinny filly
It was that eye for the best qualities in a horse which enabled Katelanis to stick with Shrouded In Mist after she had seemed to lose form at the end of her 3-year-old campaign.
She had won one of her first four races under Tony McEvoy but returning to the track in the late autumn, she was at the rear of the field in her next two runs and her career was at the crossroads.
Shrouded In Mist
The filly arrived at Three Bridges to spell and Pauline picked out straight away that she just needed time.
"When she came back as a 3-year-old, the owner was disappointed in her and a bit disheartened and I said to him, she looks like a praying mantis. She just needs to develop a bit. She was just immature, but she was always a lovely filly," she said.
"She was just immature, but she was always a lovely filly." - Pauline Liston
"You have to manage your horses well, and you have to understand them. She was very immature and tall. You see photos of her as a 3-year-old, she looked skinny and gangly. She was like a ruckman that wasn't ready yet and she needed a couple of years. You have to be patient with that family, because they are often big horses."
It was some time in the paddock with G1 South Australian Derby winner Leicester (Wanted) which proved a turning point.
Some time in the paddock at Three Bridges was the turning point in Shrouded In Mist's career
"They were in the paddock during the day together. They just do so well when they are like that and they are happy. They're comfortable and they are warm," she said.
"Because you have delivered it yourself and watched it grow up and worked with it all the way through, you have that understanding of the horse."
Shrouded In Mist returned a much better racehorse, albeit still with plenty of improvement left in her, winning benchmark races across the past 18 months before a canny front-running ride from Barend Vorster delivered a very valuable stakes breakthrough.
A bright breeding future
That ensures that in time she will return to Three Bridges as a broodmare in the years to come, but not before she has a few more attempts at building her racetrack resume.
Her half-sister, Into The Mist, is already in that stage of her career under Pauline's eye at Three Bridges. Her first colt, a 2-year-old by Lonhro called Limited Vision, will race for Katelanis' Medallion Thoroughbreds and is in work with Anthony Freedman. She also has a yearling filly by Written Tycoon and is in foal to I Am Invincible.
Meanwhile, De Lago Mist's final filly by Snitzel was also retained by Katelanis and is also a yearling.
All young horses at Three Bridges will have the Pauline Liston touch
All of those young horses will have the Pauline Liston touch, an approach focussed on educating them to work closely with humans, something which is a key plank to her focus on horse welfare.
"It sets them up for life. If you walk out to a paddock, they like you. They have never been mistreated. And if they don't make a racehorse, a girl might get them and within six months, you couldn't get that girl and that horse separated if you tried," she said.
A bond that lasts
It may be some time since Pauline has been called a girl, but she still forms the same strong bonds with her horses.
Three Bridges sold an I Am Invincible colt through the recent Inglis Easter Yearling Sale for $700,000, with his departure to Hong Kong Jockey Club tugging at Pauline's heartstrings.
"He just got under my skin. He was just an outstanding individual. He's got a temperament to die for and was so mature mentally and he was just a ripper," she said.
"You have to let them go and that's what pays the bills, but it’s hard sometimes."
Wearing her heart on her sleeve when it comes to her equine babies is something Pauline has done all her life and she sees no reason to change.
"We are lucky that we love what we do, so it makes it easy to get along. For some people, it's just a job and they can’t wait to get home at night but that's just not us," she said .
