Shane Nichols Racing

16/10/2026

Ottalaus scores an impressive maiden win at Southside Cranbourne tonight with a brilliant ride from Lauren Burke over 1000m. The four-year-old has been knocking down the door this prep and he got a deserved victory.

Lauren urged him out of the gates and settled in the lead. The pair then slipped the field on the turn and kicked clear to win by two lengths. The removal of the blinkers for the visors seemed to do the trick.

Well done to the ownership group and our team at Mornington. The win was especially enjoyed by Nicolas who was watching on from France. Ottalaus was his favourite horse while he was working with us.

📸 Racing Photos

15/10/2026

We snapped up a bargain at the Inglis Ready2Race Sale, purchasing this Portland Sky x Tumbler gelding for just $30,000. He was offered by one of the leading vendors at this sale over the past two years, Hunter’s Lodge. They do an outstanding job sourcing these horses, educating them and then presenting them as two-year-olds.

He breezed up in 10:82 on a Good 4 surface at Warwick Farm.

Portland Sky was trained at Mornington, and I saw a lot of him in the mornings. He retired to Widden Stud as the winner of the Group 1 Oakleigh Plate, and his oldest crop has just turned three. He already has several winners on the board from his first runners and, being a son of Deep Field, you fully expect we’ll see a lot more of them this season.

This horse is out of a really tough race mare. She won eight races in total, stringing together five in a row at one stage, and earned just under $300,000. She had only 18 starts and finished second a further six times. She finished outside the first two placings just four times in her career.

She has only had one foal to race, and this gelding is her second foal. Her first foal has won since the catalogue went to print. Our Combination broke his maiden over 1100m at just his fifth start. It’s a winning family, and this horse looks set to carry that on.

Get in touch to find out more.

https://www.shanenicholsracing.com.au/horse-for-sale/13631/portland-sky-x-tumbler-24-gelding

13/10/2026

We present a racy type of filly purchased for just $50,000 at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Horses in Training Sale from Newington Farm on behalf of Yulong. She clocked 10.56 seconds on the synthetic surface at the Gold Coast track.

Tagaloa has made a great start to his stud career. His oldest progeny have just turned four, and his two best-performed horses are fillies. Salty Pearl is a G2 MVRC Fillies Classic winner who was placed in the G1 Vinery Stud Stakes. Spicy Lu won the G3 Ethereal Stakes and is a two-time Listed winner.

This filly is in a much sharper mould than these fillies, showing her turn of foot in her breeze-up.

She is out of the Dubawi mare Agent Sonya, who raced in Europe for Yulong before being imported to Australia to commence stud duties. This filly is her first foal and, after visiting Lucky Vega, she was bred back to Tagaloa, interestingly on Northern Hemisphere time.

The second dam is the Champion Older Female Miler Very Special. She won five races and is a daughter of Lope De Vega, out of a prolific Danehill mare.

The pedigree brings together Dubawi, Lope De Vega and Danehill, all extremely influential stallions.

She will be brought back to Mornington and is available for inspection, but only 40% remains available.

https://www.shanenicholsracing.com.au/horse-for-sale/13608/tagaloa-x-agent-sonya-24-filly

12/10/2026

Meet the team! 🧲

26/09/2026

Always Enuff was a dominant Grand Final Day winner at Mornington in Race 4 under Zac Spain. A mid-race move proved a master stroke from Zac who took over the race half way through and it proved the winning move!

Well done to the MRC who put on a great Grand Final Day meeting! As an Essendon supporter it’s the best Grand Final Day result we’ve had for some time! 😂

Congratulations to our terrific ownership group of this Capitalist filly and our team at Mornington.

📸 Racing Photos

22/09/2026

It was an honour to receive a Life Membership to the Melbourne Racing Club on Saturday as part of their 150 year celebrations. Two of our three Group 1s have come at Caulfield with Streets Of Avalon claiming the Futurity Stakes in 2020 and coming back the following year to win the CF Orr Stakes, both over 1400m. We call the MRC Mornington Course our home track and train out of their adding to the thrill.

03/09/2026

Shane Nichols and Hayden Black are heading into spring with an exciting young team, led by promising new season 3-year-olds, emerging 2-year-olds that are slowly building and established mares ready to build on encouraging recent form.

For Nichols and Black, there is plenty to like about a team that finished last season with several promising 2-year-olds, now 3-year-olds showing promise and up-side. Nichols spoke to The Thoroughbred Report about how the team is lining up ahead of an exciting spring.

Here are the three-year-old's to watch.

Read the The Thoroughbred Report Ausnz Stable Tours Feature here: https://www.shanenicholsracing.com.au/news/archive/65712/stable-tours-shane-nichols-and-hayden-blacks-young-team-takes-shape

31/08/2026

Thank you to Aushorse and the Melbourne Racing Club for putting on the MRC Preview Day at the Mornington Racecourse on Sunday. It was a great turnout and we were pleased to showcase some of the two-year-olds we have remaining available.

We were able to breeze five horses up the straight on the course proper and then parade a further three juveniles in the mounting yard.

A big thank you also goes to the people who came along and enjoyed the day. It was great to see some familiar faces and have some new ones join our stable. It couldn’t be done without the wonderful team we have at SNR, who gave up their Sunday to have the horses looking great.

If you would like to know any information on the horses we presented on the day, please feel free to get in touch with us to have a chat.

30/08/2026