Kitchwin Hills sire Dane Shadow added another dimension to his successful start at stud when Shadows in the Sun won the G1 South Australian Derby at Morphettville.

Dane Shadow has sired 51 individual winners of 104 races but only five of them have won over a trip further than a mile.

Shadows in the Sun (3g Dane Shadow-Best Out West by Best Western) never looked like being run down when stretching out to 2500 metres on Sunday.  Under a heady front-running ride by Ben Melham, he comfortably defeated Echoes Of Heaven (Encosta De Lago) and Lalla Rookh (Street Cry).

Shadows In The Sun won the classic on the back of a last-start sixth behind Shootoff in the Frank Packer Plate at Randwick.  “That was on a Heavy 9 and the key was getting him back on top of the ground,” trainer Anthony Cummings commented.  “His Sydney form had been reasonably good if you take out those runs on rain-affected tracks.”

Cummings took a shine to Shadows in the Sun at the 2009 Gold Coast Magic Millions yearling sale and went to $280,000 to secure him from the draft of Kitchwin Hills.  “He was a really cracking individual at the sales and we bought him thinking he was a Magic Millions 2YO Classic type.  He showed plenty of ability but things just didn’t quite go to plan early on.”

Shadows In The Sun is the second G1 winner for Dane Shadow following precocious colt Shellscrape who won the AJC The Galaxy over 1100 metres last year.  The SA Derby winner is a half-brother to LR Fernhill Handicap winner Stone Canyon (Rubiton).

Cummings has not ruled out a start in the Queensland Derby.  “If it’s dry, he could head to Brisbane.  Otherwise, we will tip him out for the spring.”