Harden’s Bec Shea with her super mare Savagery Vibe, also part owned by Melbourne Storm Coach Craig Bellamy’s wife.
The Shea family is synonymous with horse racing. While initially well-known locally, the family is perhaps more known these days in a metropolitan setting.
In the competitive world of Australian thoroughbred racing, few stories capture the imagination quite like that of Savagery Vibe, the gritty four-year-old mare by Newgate Stud’s Brutal.
Dam, Kiss Moon has been covered by some high-class stallions including Frankel, but she hasn’t produced a stakes winner until Savagery Vibe came along. Born in 2021, she has surged from Benchmark races to etching her name among the elite with a stirring second-place finish in the Group 1 Fillies and Mares Tattersall’s and Tiara Weight For Age over 1400 metres.
Trained by the astute Tony Gollan at Eagle Farm, Savagery Vibe began her career with modest successes, including wins in Benchmark 70 handicaps over 1200m. But her trajectory shifted dramatically in May 2026 when, entered as the fifth emergency for the Listed Helen Coughlan Stakes at Eagle Farm, she was there in the faint hope that a heap of horses could pull out, and she may get a crack at a step up in class. Amazingly, she did when wearing the number 23 saddle cloth and produced one of the biggest upsets of the season. At staggering odds around $71, the mare stormed home under jockey Daniel Moor to claim the $160,000 feature, turning reserve status into a Listed victory. That breakthrough was no fluke.
Fresh off her Listed triumph, Savagery Vibe backed up with competitive performances, including a strong 3rd placing in the Group 2 Magic Millions Dane Ripper Stakes, by just a length and a half, before she delivered the career highlight on the weekend.
Her pedigree provides a solid foundation for such tenacity: Sire Brutal, a Group 1 ATC Doncaster Handicap winner, has quickly made his mark at stud, with Savagery Vibe representing his fifth stakes winner. Standing at Newgate Farm, the son of O’Reilly continues to produce progeny with explosive speed and fighting spirit.
On the dam side, Savagery Vibe is out of the imported Malibu Moon mare Kiss Moon (USA), herself a Group 3 winner in America and a half-sister to stakes winners Kiss Mine and Mischievous Kiss. Kiss Moon has already proven a producer of note, with Savagery Vibe as the third winner from her first four foals to race, but by far her best.
Adding to the fairytale narrative is the ownership syndicate.
The mare is partly owned by a passionate group of locals, prominently featuring the Shea family (Ms H Shea, Miss R M J Shea, Mrs J C Shea, and M D Shea) alongside Mrs W J Bellamy from the renowned Bellamy family, famous for their involvement with the Melbourne Storm NRL club. This
syndicate, which also includes Cameron Cooke bloodstock agent, has savoured every step of the journey.
Gollan has praised the mare’s “gritty, hard-nosed nature,” a trait that has seen her defy odds and expectations time and again. With career stats now reading five wins, multiple placings, and over $471,000 in prizemoney from 19 starts, Savagery Vibe has transformed from a metro roughie into a genuine stake’s performer.
The Times caught up with co-owner Bec Shea who has done her best to follow her horse around the country side to support her.
Bec praised the mare who has only gotten better further into the preparation.
“She’s had 11 starts this prep, which is sort of unheard of, so that’s really unusual to be able to keep a horse up for that long, but a massive team effort up at Gollans to keep her going,” says Bec.
“I think they also sent her out for a few days now and then, just out to the farm and I don’t know what the key secret is, but we are thrilled at what they did. It’s a huge training performance. Eleven starts and she’s not been out of a placing at Eagle Farm which is great and she has picked up about $370,000 this prep, which arguably could have been more, but she was really unlucky in a few races.
“Even in the race on the weekend, Jordy Childs rode Splashback amazingly and it didn’t have to pass a horse on the inside, whereas we sort of got stuck in the ruck there, and she’s come home really well and with similar sectionals to Splashback. We were absolutely thrilled. We all partied like we had won it.”
Being a mare, Savagery Vibe has picked up black type pedigree, and her value as a broodmare prospect has risen.
“She will have a six week break,” says Bec.
“She’s definitely earned it. We haven’t mapped out what the summer looks like, but probably just a couple of runs and then aim for the same carnival next year in Brisbane.
“Craig Bellamy’s wife is a part owner. I got Wendy into the horse, they’re good friends of ours. It was unlucky that she couldn’t come up on the weekend, but we’ve got Craig to the races a few times and they’re really enjoying it too.”
“It is good to have them in there and we had a lot of the owners there on the weekend. One of them flew out from Singapore.”
Turning five in August, Bec says she reckons Savagery Vibe could have another good year ahead of her.
Bec is based in Melbourne these days and works at a prominent school when not watching her very fast thoroughbred go around the course. ‘Changa’ and Judy are still in Harden.
The South West Slopes Times covers an area approximately the size of Fiji in country NSW. We look after a population of more than 50,000 people with our staff servicing 7 major towns and dozens of villages with our story telling footprint.
We offer weekly print editions at $3 a copy and we also offer digital subscriptions across 3 months $30, 6 months $60 and 12 months $120.
We are one of the last truly local independent family run newspaper businesses in the state.
Contact us today to find out how we can promote your business or organisation across our huge network by emailing ads@thetimes.net.au or by calling 0413 763 216.
If you have a news tip, lead or scoop for us please make contact as we love celebrating our communities. You can contribute articles via our South West Slopes Times website.