Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
Airlie Stud in north Kildare is a long way from Sandown Racecourse, and at 2am in Ireland last Saturday, parked alone on the couch with just a phone, television and cup of tea, studmaster Anthony Rogers felt every mile of it.
His 3-year-old filly Shuffle Dancer (I Am Invincible), co-owned with the Mitchell brothers at Yarraman Park, was lining up in the G2 Angus Armanasco S. When she won by a nose in a squeezed finish, it was beer, skittles and a party for one.
“I was slightly giddy,” Rogers said, speaking to TDN AusNZ. “It was really exciting and I then stayed up for another four hours because I couldn’t get back to sleep, bouncing around the house by myself.
“At this time of year over here, though the foals are starting to come through, there’s not much happening on the racetrack, so to have a bit of excitement like that from the other side of the world, it was just amazing.”
Anthony Rogers is the son of Sonia Rogers, and the pair run the old, established Kildare nursery that is Airlie Stud. It’s one of Ireland’s most accomplished operations, run initially by Roger’s father, Captain Tim Rogers, who died when his son was 12.
Anthony Rogers | Image courtesy of Tattersalls
The horses that have emerged from this property since the 1960s demonstrate a rich vein of decades-long success, and this eye for good pedigrees is how Rogers became involved in the neat, Group 2 Sandown winner Shuffle Dancer.
“My mother initially found the full sister to this filly in an Easter catalogue,” he said. “My mum goes through every single catalogue, and the reason she found this one, who was later called Forbidden City, was because we had bred the great-grandam, Eljazzi, who was from a mare called Border Bounty.
“This is going back a very long time, almost before my time. We had Border Bounty here at Airlie and we sold Eljazzi, but we’d been trying to get back into the family.
“You can have a family for a very long time and then you lose it because it just goes a bit quiet, but we’d been looking for the family for 15 to 20 years by the time my mum came across Forbidden City.”
“You can have a family for a very long time and then you lose it because it just goes a bit quiet, but we’d been looking for the family for 15 to 20 years by the time my mum came across Forbidden City.” - Anthony Rogers
Forbidden City (I Am Invincible) was bred by Yarraman Park and sold to Peter Moody for $450,000 at the 2020 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale. To date, she has won three races and placed six times in 14 starts, including dual Group 3-thirds at her last two starts.
“We tried to buy her, but she made too much for us at Easter and that was that,” Rogers said.
“But after we couldn’t buy Forbidden City, Harry Mitchell came back to me to say they had a full sister coming through that’s even nicer. We did a deal, Mum came through for a bit and I came through for a bit, and Arthur and Harry stayed in her, so that’s how we ended up with Shuffle Dancer.”
Forbidden City as a yearling | Image courtesy of Inglis
Long-time family ties
Initially, Shuffle Dancer was consigned by the Mitchell brothers to the 2021 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale, a year after her full sister had gone through the ring.
However, she was Lot 1 in the catalogue and, in-hand with an x-ray issue that later resolved itself, she was withdrawn, which was a happy situation for Sonia and Anthony Rogers and, in the end, for Harry Mitchell.
“Anthony was interested in her before we knew she had an x-ray issue, and when she was withdrawn from Easter he was still keen to follow it through,” Mitchell said. “When she came completely sound and was broken in, he wanted to buy half of her so we decided to race her together and we gave her to Peter Moody, and it’s been a really enjoyable ride.”
Harry Mitchell
Shuffle Dancer, like her sister, is with Moody at Pakenham. In six starts she has won three races and placed twice, which is a very good record.
She’s one of the first horses that Harry and Arthur Mitchell have had with Moody since he resumed training, the brothers eager to send the trainer a particularly good one. They thought Shuffle Dancer fitted that mould perfectly, as she has since proved.
“We’ve had a long association with Peter, going right back to when he worked for my brother,” Harry Mitchell said. “He and I worked as foremen for my brother back in the 90s, so there’s a connection there all along the way.”
Shuffle Dancer after winning at Moonee Valley in January | Image courtesy of Racing Photos
In fact, the connections through Shuffle Dancer go back even further than that, as Rogers well knows.
“I’ve known Harry for a long time,” he said. “I worked out at Widden in the early 90s, and Harry’s father was very good friends with my father. They were in the army together, and when I worked at Widden I went and stayed with Arthur and Harry and they fed me a couple of times.
“That's not to say that Widden didn’t look after me or anything, but Antony Thompson was just a pup at that stage and always in Sydney.”
“I’ve known Harry (Mitchell) for a long time. I worked out at Widden in the early 90s, and Harry’s father was very good friends with my father. They were in the army together...” - Anthony Rogers
The memories are good for Rogers, probably of simpler times in the hot Australian summers when the likes of Danehill (USA), Bletchingly and Rubiton were covering books.
He remembers wartime stories with the Mitchells, and the two families have been friends ever since, so their coming together on Shuffle Dancer was, in a way, written on the wall.
“I’d always mentioned that we should have a filly together, and this one is inbred four-by-four to Eljazzi, which we love,” Rogers said. “We got lucky, I suppose, and I’ve got to thank Arthur and Harry for letting us come in on the filly and my mum for finding her. She looks like she’s very good.”
A new foothold in Australia
Eljazzi (Ire) (Artaius {USA}) is, in fact, the great-great-grandam of Shuffle Dancer. She was born in 1981 at Airlie Stud and is also the dam of the G1 Prix de Diane winner Rafha (GB) (Kris {GB}), so it’s not difficult to see why the Rogers family wanted back into it.
The first emergence of this line in Australia was via Fayfa (Ire), a Slip Anchor (GB) daughter of Eljazzi who was imported to Australia by Coolmore in 1997, and Fayfa foaled Duduo (Danehill {USA}), who in turn foaled Palace Talk (NZ), the Street Cry (Ire) dam of Shuffle Dancer.
Palace Talk (NZ) (blue cap) when racing | Image courtesy of Westbury Stud
The Mitchells bought into the family in 2017, picking up Palace Talk via Boomer Bloodstock (FBAA) at the 2017 Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale. She was consigned by Newhaven Park, costing the Mitchells $140,000.
“The family goes back with the Rogerses a very long time, which is why they were so keen to get back into it,” Mitchell said. “For Yarraman Park, it doesn’t go back that far but we bought her because we liked the pedigree. She was also a beautiful physical and she was by Street Cry, which really appealed to us.
“My brother actually bought her and it’s worked out really well. At the time, we didn’t realise it was an old Rogers family until Anthony mentioned it to me one day. He started following up on this filly, Shuffle Dancer, and he’s always wanted to do a bit of stuff with us here in Australia and this was a good starting point.”
“At the time (we bought Palace Talk), we didn’t realise it was an old Rogers family until Anthony mentioned it to me one day... he’s always wanted to do a bit of stuff with us here in Australia and this was a good starting point.” - Harry Mitchell
Rogers makes no secret of his interest in Australia. It might have started with the good ‘ol days at Widden, but these days it’s a sound admiration of the country's racing and breeding practices.
“I love Australia,” he said. “I’m very jealous of your racing. You’re very lucky because the animals are outside most of the time, you breed a tougher racehorse and the prizemoney… I mean, gosh.
“This filly is the first time I’ve had a racehorse where I’m looking at what she can win on the racetrack rather than what she’s worth to sell. It’s a sad state of affairs but that’s the way that it is over here, I’m afraid.”
“This filly (Shuffle Dancer) is the first time I’ve had a racehorse where I’m looking at what she can win on the racetrack rather than what she’s worth to sell. It’s a sad state of affairs but that’s the way that it is over here (in Europe), I’m afraid.” - Anthony Rogers
As such, Shuffle Dancer could be the first of something significant for Rogers. In the past, he’s had a small number of mares at Widden, but a business and four children dragged him back to a more local focus. He doesn’t pretend that his smart filly will end up as a broodmare at Airlie Stud, but she will be a valuable addition to Yarraman Park at the very least.
She’s all the Talk
The immediate plans for Shuffle Dancer involve the G2 Kewney S. at Flemington on March 11, on the same card as the G1 Newmarket H.
“She’ll go the Kewney on Saturday week, and I think Peter wants to give her a break then,” Mitchell said. “She’s a valuable mare now but she’ll come back and race in the spring in Melbourne, and we’ll see after that.”
Shuffle Dancer returns to scale after winning the G2 Angus Armanasco S. | Image courtesy of Racing Photos
Without doubt, Shuffle Dancer has a breeding career ahead of her at Yarraman Park. She’s a Group 2-winning third foal from Palace Talk, but she’s also the third Group performer from the mare in as many foals.
Palace Talk’s first born was Never Talk, a daughter of No Nay Never (USA) who was second to Every Rose (Choisir) in the G2 Light Fingers S. She’s now retired after four placings in Group and Listed races.
The second foal was Forbidden City, who was third in both the G3 Mannerism S. and G3 Geoffrey Bellmaine S.
Forbidden City winning at Moonee Valley | Image courtesy of Racing Photos
Since her three foals, Palace Talk has had a colt by I Am Invincible, born on October 18 last spring. Mitchell describes him as one of the best on the farm, which is saying something, and the mare went back to the farm's leading stallion again.
“With the first three out of this mare being black-type horses, she (Palace Talk) could prove one of our best,” Mitchell said.
