Craig Kerry
Fred Noffke feels like it is destiny for Sheza Alibi – his dream $10,000 horse named honouring his long-time partner – to win the $10 million Golden Eagle (1500m), and many more feature races.
The Queensland grazier, though, would no doubt love to see Kris Lees-trained Rivellino also run into the major money in the race for four-year-olds on Saturday at Randwick.
Rivellino, a $101 shot, was assigned Multiple System Atrophy Australia (MSAA) as its charity partner at Tuesday’s barrier draw. Each runner’s charity receives 10 per cent of their winnings on Saturday.
MSAA supports people living with Multiple System Atrophy, a rare, progressive, and fatal neurodegenerative disorder which claimed the life of Noffke’s partner, Aliceson Moore, six years ago, following a seven and a half year battle.
“When this filly came along, and it came to naming her, I knew that she was going to be quite a good horse, and the whole time I just kept thinking, I just wanted to name a good horse after Aliceson, even though she passed away three years before,” Noffke said.
“Most of whatever success I had, she was there, always backing me up, backing my judgment. She always tried to benefit everybody else around her.
“It was just a travesty, an injustice that she ended up with this hideous disease, and that’s where life’s not fair, you know?
“It’s way, way worse than people would even know.
“The mind is so astute, the mind is there, but there’s nothing we can do. Every word everybody says in the hallways of the hospital, and at home, they can hear everything, they know everything, but they can’t do anything.
“Even the doctors say, you’re not of sound mind. Well, you are, it’s just difficult to communicate. And until you live it, it’s hard to understand just how cruel it really is.
“There’s no cure, it’s not environmental, it’s not genetic. It’s just you get picked out of the haystack, and then you’ve just got to contend with it.”
Noffke opened up about the loss of his “amazing” partner of more than 25 years just before Sheza Alibi, the $1.80 TAB favourite, was matched with the Royce Simmons Foundation at the draw. The foundation was established by the Penrith Panthers rugby league legend to raise money for dementia research.
“During the early stages, I didn’t know what we’d ever be able to do for Multiple System Atrophy, and because it’s so painful to think about it, you just go back to tears because you just remember the crappiness,” Noffke said.
“I say that there’s never enough money to make much difference to anybody, but this race will make a difference to every one of those charities.
“It’s just an amazing thing to be part of, and I hope to enjoy every moment of it on Saturday.”
Noffke said the Golden Eagle has been in his sights with Sheza Alibi for more than a year. The Saxon Warrior mare he bought as a weanling online through Inglis has won the Randwick Guineas and Doncaster in dominant fashion over the mile at the track and was second only to Autumn Glow in the Winx Stakes there first up this preparation at 1400m.
She was then an easy winner of the group 1 Makybe Diva Stakes (1600m) at Flemington before almost running down Land Legend, which clocked a track record in the 2000m Might And Power Stakes at Caulfield.
Noffke had no concerns about the tough debut run at 2000m, three weeks before the 1500m Golden Eagle, given the Peter Moody and Katherine Coleman-trained mare’s “amazing constitution”.
“She don’t care, it’s just fun for her,” he said.
“I think her destiny is just there waiting for her. It’s just one race after another … Peter is very confident, it’s been the job all the way along, and we’re hopeful, but it’s a hell of a race and a hell of a number of horses. They reckon six-horse fields are tricky, but I bet you 18-horse fields are even more complicated.
“But how she just finds that last little bit, other horses just don’t have it. It’s just a matter of when to click her into gear and what else is going on.”
The field was down to 16 on Thursday with the scratching of Barrengarry and Federalist, moving Sheza Alibi from gate six to five.
She has already earned more than $4.5 million and can pick up another $4.725 million on Saturday. Noffke has resisted the temptation of other prestigious but less lucrative group 1s to focus on the Golden Eagle.
“You need to make sure the money flows, and you don’t know when the ride’s going to be over, so you have to be mindful of that,” he said.
“Until there’s enough overflowing, you need to make sure you take the opportunities.”
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