Shovhog gelding Shotfire Joker continued his winning streak in the Ipswich RSL Legacy Cup on Friday but the judge needed a developed print before connections collected the cash.
Shotfire Joker (4g Shovhog – Intoxicate by Noalcoholic) is trained by Bruce Brown at Doomben and is racing through the grades rapidly at Ipswich this campaign. He won a maiden there on July 16 and doubled up in a Class 1 on August 6. Stathi Katsidis was on board for those victories but he jumped off to ride Glacial Miss yesterday.
Shotfire Joker was always well placed under Paul Hammersley and did best in a hectic finish to beat Glacial Miss by a nose!
Shovhog stood at Raheen Stud until his death in November 2009. A son of Danehill, he was runner-up to Prowl in the 1998 G1 Golden Slipper and at stud has sired 177 individual winners at a 61% strike-rate.
Shotfire Joker comes from the same Shovhog crop as Beethog and Startling Pleasure. Beethog won the G3 Gold Coast Guineas and smart filly Startling Pleasure was runner-up to Fifteen Carat in the Listed Sunshine Coast Guineas.
Shotfire Joker was catalogued as a foal for the 2007 Magic Millions National Sale on the Gold Coast but was withdrawn by owner-breeders Ardie and Corina Cliffe. He is a younger half-brother to Drunken Joker (Hula Chief) who was a G3 winner of the Doomben Classic. The Cliffes also raced their dam Intoxicate won three races for Tooowoomba trainer Ron Macrae.