Last season’s 2,000 Guineas fourth Slim Shadey notched his first black-type win in style on Saturday when winning the Grade 2 San Marco Stakes over ten furlongs at Santa Anita.

Slim Shadey, thriving in the US

Formerly trained in Britain by Stan Moore, for whom his best run was his Classic placing behind Frankel, Dubawi Gold and Native Khan, Slim Shadey was switched to America by owner/breeder Phil Cunnignham to the stable of ex-pat trainer Simon Callaghan, who is now based in California.

The four-year-old is out of the Chief’s Crown mare Vino Veritas, a half-sister to Hong Kong champion Bullish Luck, and by Val Royal, the sire of Cunnignham’s homebred 2,000 Guineas winner Cockney Rebel, who has replaced his late father on the roster at the National Stud in Newmarket.

Slim Shadey made the running in the $150,000 contest and, though visibly tiring in the final furlong, held on to win by a head. It was his second victory in three starts in America. His only other career win came at Ascot during his two-year-old season where he landed the seven-furlong Bourne Capital Novice Stakes before running second to Janood in the Listed Washington Singer Stakes at Newbury.

His trainer, the son of retired Newamrket handler Neville Callaghan, has enjoyed notable success since relocating to the US, winning a total of five Graded stakes races, including two Grade 1s, with the British-bred duo, Dubawi Heights and Up In Time.