I never saw Shannon in action, but several veteran horsemen told me over the years that his second placing in the 1946 Epsom was the greatest performance ever seen over the Randwick mile.
I have no idea where this old photograph came from, but doesn’t it show Shannon as the great horse he was. With Darby Munro on board, he’s got all four feet off the ground and looks perfectly balanced. Look at the focus. Look at the fire in his eye.
The great bay horse was bred on the famous Kia Ora Stud at Scone and sold as a yearling for the equivalent of $735. Shannon was owned and trained by Peter Riddle, also a highly regarded trainer and driver of trotting horses.
Shannon won the Sires Produce as a two year old and the Hobartville Stakes at three. He won his first four straight as a four year old including the 1945 Epsom with 55.5 kgs.
As a spring five year old he won a 6 fls sprint at Randwick followed by the Theo Marks Quality at Rosehill with a young George Moore up. Then came the performance which has become part of racing folklore.
Shannon had the steadier of 61 kgs in the 1946 Epsom but was sent out a 4/5 favourite by punters. In this pre starting gate era, the fifteen horse Epsom field was despatched from an open strand barrier.
Eyewitnesses of the day testified that the starter hadn’t noticed Shannon was facing in the opposite direction. Jockey Darby Munro’s initial instinct was not to chase the field in the belief the horse would be declared a non starter.
The huge Randwick crowd was stunned when regular jockey Darby Munro elected to take off after them, despite the fact that the field had travelled an estimated 100 metres.
Those that saw it were in total disbelief. Today you need to look at a replay to get your head around the enormity of Shannon’s performance. In a nutshell he went under by half a head to Blue Legend who got 6 kgs from the favourite. Remember Blue Legend had won the Doncaster a few months earlier and won the Doncaster again the following year.
Munro returned to scale to one of the ugliest demonstrations ever seen. The crowd unrest continued for the rest of the day with many punters waiting for Munro to exit the jockeys room after the last race. The champion jockey had to be escorted off the course by police.
Two days later Shannon backed up to win the George Main Stakes by 6 lengths from the great mare Flight, and still there were hecklers waiting to give Munro a serve.
The great horse was again in the spotlight following the death of Peter Riddle in late 1947. William Inglis and Son convened a special sale in which Shannon was the sole entry. A huge crowd turned out at Newmarket following enormous attention in the press.
Shannon was knocked down to W.J. Smith for a mind boggling $54,000. He raced only four more times in Australia for two wins before being sold on to American interests for a reported $68,000 US.
The Aussie champ lived right up to his huge reputation in America, winning several top grade races including the famed Hollywood Gold Cup. He equalled world records for 9 furlongs and 10 furlongs at the Golden Gate Fields track.
Shannon was retired to the renowned Spendthrift Farm in Kentucky where he stood alongside his celebrated countryman Bernborough. He sired the winners of $4 million US.
The stallion was by Midstream and was named by Peter Riddle for Ireland’s longest river the mighty Shannon. He won fourteen of twenty five races in Australia, most of them in top company.
But Shannon will always be best remembered for one magnificent defeat.