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Shangri La Boy delivered a powerful all-the-way win in the 2025 Gloaming Stakes results at Rosehill, stamping himself as a serious Spring Champion Stakes contender next start.

Trained by Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott, the lightly raced Pierro colt made it two wins from three starts with a dominant front-running performance in the $500,000 Group 3 feature over 1800m making light work of his rivals to prove himself as a serious young stayer in the making.

Sent out at $4.60 in the markets on the back of his maiden win at the track on October 1, Shangri La Boy jumped cleanly from barrier eight and was taken straight to the lead by jockey Adam Hyeronimus, who never looked back.

The well-bred three-year-old controlled the tempo beautifully and gave a strong kick at the top of the straight, holding off 60/1 outsider The Pearls by over two lengths with the Michael Freedman trained San Giovanni in an eye-catching third fighting all the way after overcoming a tricky gate.

“He’s good from the gates, but he’s so relaxed after 100m and he’s beautiful throughout the race. He has got a sharp turn of foot,” Hyeronimus said post-race, praising the colt’s temperament and professionalism.

“He was in control after about 200m once he found that rhythm and just switched off beautifully, he found a nice bowling rhythm, but he’s quite sharp as well, he does have a good turn of foot.

“I knew once I let him roll at the 600m, I still had a lot up the sleeve and obviously being by Pierro, he pins those ears back and he was nice and strong in that final furlong.

“It was a great win, and the owners have been fantastic and patient with him and he’s well-bred and I’m sure Coolmore were delighted.”

Co-trainer Adrian Bott was equally impressed, noting the colt’s staying potential and upside.

“He’s obviously got some great true staying capabilities there,” Bott said.

“He’s a very good stayer because he’s up to this grade very quickly in his career.

“This is his first racing preparation, this is his third start. So, to get quickly up to 1800m and do that in such dominant fashion, that’s certainly encouraging.

“Look, in fairness, he’s always looked that way right from the outset, obviously being by Pierro, you always felt he might be more of a classic style of horse, but physically and the way he always presented, right from a yearling stage he’s looked that way.”

The win comes just 10 days after Shangri La Boy’s maiden victory over 1400m at Rosehill, highlighting his ability to back up quickly and handle a rise in trip.

He’s now firmly in the mix for the Group 1 $2 million Spring Champion Stakes (2000m) in two weeks, where he’ll be looking to complete the Gloaming – Spring Champion double that El Castello (2024) achieved last year.

“I think we have to, the manner in which he won that,” Bott said of targeting the Group 1.

“That would have been the only concern coming here today. It was a good test because, as I said, he was 1400m metres up to 1800m; he was only on a relatively quick turnaround, on a 10-day turnaround from a Wednesday meeting here, so an excellent effort in that regard.”

The all-in price for Shangri La Boy to win the Spring Champion has been slashed in from $13 to $6 through Ladbrokes.com.au with markets led by last weekend’s Dulcify Quality winner Attica ($3.60) from the Joe Pride yard.

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