‘Shima’ line continues to shine

[Wandering Eyes]

Superbly-related littermates Shima Shadow and Shima Dream are both favourites to continue the promising start to their careers in Premier Racing at The Meadows on Saturday night.

Shima Shadow (box 1) is $2 with Sportsbet for race 2 (6.44pm) and Shima Dream (box 2) heads betting on the seventh event (8.26pm) at $2.50.

The ‘Shima’ siblings, trained by Tom Dailly, are younger half-brothers to former superstar sprinter Shima Shine, a dual Group 1 winner and Victorian Greyhound Of The Year in 2020/21.

“They do remind me a bit of Shima Shine, particularly Shima Dream. He has that electricity in him.”

The lightly-raced brothers have similarly impressive records, with Shima Shadow winning five of his nine starts and Shima Dream five from ten, while both were finalists in the G2 Ballarat Cup last month.

“They’ve got ability, but I think we’ll find out more about them in the next five to ten starts,” said Tom Dailly.

“Their Achilles heel is that they lack a bit of early pace.

“They seem to run the ‘500’ no problem, so from their draws on Saturday night, especially Shima Shadow in ‘the red’, hopefully they can possie up and go close to winning.”

WATCH: SHIMA SHADOW (B7) made a winning debut at The Meadows on April 26, defeating litter brother and kennelmate SHIMA DREAM (B5) in a slick 30.05sec.

By Bernardo out of 2016 Geelong Cup winner Shima Song, Shima Shadow and Shima Dream, which turn two on June 1, were bred by 2019 Ken Carr Medallist David Gleeson and Bob Cummings, with Cummings’ son Steve joining the ownership group.

“I do have a big opinion of them,” said Gleeson.

“Obviously, they’ve had the ‘L’ plates on for a while because they haven’t had many starts yet, but they’re getting there and I’m very happy with them.

“They have a lot of ability. Shima Dream is more brilliant, but the other bloke (Shima Shadow) is stronger.

“They’ve run very quick time at Ballarat and Horsham. Shima Shadow ran 24.91sec at Ballarat and Shima Dream went 25.41sec at Geelong at his first start there and on a sloppy track.

“They weren’t beaten far by Kelsey Bale in the Ballarat Cup. I think Shima Shadow should’ve won it. He was in a position to let go – his last 200m is very strong – but he ran into the back of Flying Pie and lost his momentum.

“They do remind me a bit of Shima Shine, particularly Shima Dream. He has that electricity in him, whereby he really lets go and goes whoosh!

“I’m looking forward to seeing where they are in six months.”

Gleeson and Cummings have enjoyed phenomenal success with their prolific breeding line, which dates back to the 1960s.

In recent times, the ‘Shima’ greyhounds have made their mark; star stayer Shimaguni, her G1-winning son Shima Bar and daughter Shima Song, the dam of Shima Shine, G1 placegetter Shima Classic, and now Shima Dream and Shima Shadow.

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“Shima Song is nine years old and while she’s as fit as a fiddle, she’s had four litters now,” Gleeson said.

“I’ve just bred a litter with her daughter Shima Pearl, who’s a full sister to Shima Shine. She had six pups to Feral Franky that are four weeks old.

“Shima Shine’s oldest pups are just over two and I can tell you that there are some very good ones on the horizon.

“I was talking to Dennis Barnes (respected NSW breeder) this week, and at Dubbo last weekend, Royal Nangar was only beaten a length by She’s A Pearl in a heat of the G3 Brother Fox, while Nangar Larry (29.35sec) and Miss McGraw (29.54sec) both ran really quick time. They’re out of Nangar Diva.”

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