Pedigree

                                                                  Fairy King
                                        Makbul
                                                                    Royaltess
Shadow Boxer
2005 grey gelding
                                                                    Carwhite
                                         Shadows of Silver
                                                                    Mimika

The family

This gelding is a half brother to 3 winners, the best of whom was Into The Shadows, a winner of 4 flat races and 4 hurdles.
The other notable siblings are
- fair winning hurdler Out of the Shadows
- bumper winner Solid Silver, also placed 3 times over hurdles
- bumper winner Silvers Spirit
- promising placed hurdler Double Silver

The dam Shadows of Silver, won on the flat as well as a bumper - 6 races in all, and as well as her, the grand dam (Mimika) bred Kinlacay, a triple winner on the flat.

About the sire

Makbul (Bay horse, born 1987) was unbeaten in his 2 races over 6f as a juvenile when trained by David Morley, but didn’t win again in 3 subsequent efforts at 3 and 4.
At stud, he is known as a sire of sprinters (over 150 flat wins to his credit), with his best known sons being Lord Kintyre, and more recently Striking Ambition.

However, he is also the sire of the winners of over 35 races in the NH sphere, with the former Peter Bowen trained Tighe Caster the best to date.

Michael Smith also has a son of Makbul in his stable, the promising young hurdler Makbullet who runs especially well at Kelso.

Form Summary

This gelding is owned by The Peeskie Partnership, the moniker for a bunch of local lads from Hawick.

It was one of the Musselburgh meetings in early 2010 that Donald bumped into the breeder of this gelding - Linda Redmond. Explaining the still slightly unfurnished appearance of Shadow Boxer, she told us that he suffered from the equine version of meningitis as a yearling. During that period he was very brave, that all the stud staff fell in love with him and were so pleased when he pulled through.
Anyway, on to a summary of his racing career with us.
Shadow Boxer ran in a couple of bumpers in the early part of 2009, showing a lot of promise and was then left alone to fill into his frame a bit more over that Summer.
In his second season of racing, 2009-10, the grey gelding had a few hurdle races showing a little bit of promise and qualified for a handicap mark. Season 2010-11 didn't really go as planned for this gelding, his best run coming when finishing 5th in bottomless ground at Newcastle in February.
In season 2011-12, we started Shadow Boxer off in a handicap chase (his chasing debut) at Newcastle. He came in for significant market support all day (someone knew....), started favourite, and powered home to success.
Last season, the grey excited his owners following up a second at Newcastle with a chase victory at Ayr.

Not the easiest to keep sound, so we'll aim him at chases around 3 miles and soft ground.

Season		win	2nd	3rd	4th	other
2008-09	NH Flat					2
2009-10	NH Flat					1
2009-10	hurdles					3
2010-11	hurdles					3
2011-12	chases	1	1		1	1
2012-13	chases	1	1
2013-14	chases					3

Current Season Form

28 March 14 Newcastle : 3m handicap chase (Class 5 0-105) OR 83 soft 7 ran (C Whillans (5)) - pulled up

In touch, ridden and outpaced when hit 8th, outpaced when blundered 10th, lost touch and pulled up after 5 out

First time blinkers didn't make any difference here, and his last few runs have been disappointing

7 March 14 Ayr : 3m 1f handicap chase (Class 5 0-100) OR 90 heavy 6 ran (C Whillans (5)) - pulled up

Led to 10th, soon driven along, outpaced next, lost touch 5 out, tailed off when pulled up before next

11 Dec 13 Hexham : 3m 1f handicap chase (Class 5 0-95) OR 90 soft 14 ran (C Whillans (5)) - pulled up

Chased leaders till disputed lead briefly 6 out, ridden along and outpaced next, weakened and tailed off when p.u. before last

'Joe' seemed to sulk in this race. There was a false start to the race, our gelding actually jumped off well first time, but never appeared happy second time around. He's better than this, and we've got our eyes on Ayr at New Year.