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There’s a touch of excitement in trainer Gary Portelli about his three-year-olds this season and he's looking to promising filly Kimochi to fly the flag at Randwick on Saturday.
The Gary Portelli yard filled the placings in last weekend's Group 3 Up & Coming Stakes, with Kintyre and Encap running second and third behind Tom Kitten, but he feels Kimochi is well placed to snare an early feature in the Group 2 $300,000 Darley Furious Stakes (1200m).
"We had some nice two-year-olds last season and now they've developed into really nice three-year-olds,'' Portelli said.
"I always believed every good three-year-old has raced at two, now they're furnished and know what they are here for. We only have a small stable but we have a bunch of nice horses.
"She's the one we're excited about because what we saw the other day was pretty promising at a good level."
Portelli has won two Golden Slippers, with She Will Reign and Fireburn, and Kimochi would have been pointed at the two-year-old classic earlier this year if not for a mishap following her luckless debut second.
It meant she missed the lead ups to the Slipper but stamped her promise with a first-up win in March and a placing in the Group 2 Percy Sykes Stakes on a heavy track.
"About a week after her first run she must have got cast in her stable overnight because she hurt her pelvis,'' Portelli said.
"She had to go for a spell and missed the carnival. She came back pretty solid, she was a bit hot and wasn't seasoned enough but she's furnished into a lovely filly now."
Kimochi, $3.40 with TAB on Thursday, caught everyone's eye with her fast closing third in the Silver Shadow (1200m) two weeks ago, clocking the second fastest last 600m of the race (34.31, Punter's Intelligence).
Portelli hopes a kinder barrier draw in the Furious, the second leg of the Darley Princess Series, will be in Kimochi's favour and said he would be like to see her stalking the speed rather than giving away a big start.
"She drew a poor barrier and it meant we had to ride her really cold,'' he said.
"If she can jump away nicely she might just get a nice run behind some of Gai's horses.
"They'll go forward and hopefully present some nice gaps inside us and she can get that nice run behind them."
Fireburn kicks off her four-year-old season in the Group 2 $300,000 AMD Medical Tramway Stakes (1400m) and Portelli warns she'll be in need of the run.
The 2022 Golden Slipper winner hasn't raced since scoring in the Group 2 Doomben Roses (2000m) back in May but was a race week scratching from the Queensland Oaks on vets advice.
The mare has had the once over by Racing NSW vets in the lead up to the Tramway and Portelli is keen to get her started with one trial under her belt.
"She's a little underdone but if we're going to get her into other races then trialling wasn't any good to us,'' he said.
"She steps up when race day is on anyway. She's trialled okay but I think she's quite dour and will find 1400m at this level, at the weights, just beyond her.
"When we get out to 2000m we'll see her peak."
It's likely Fireburn will head next to the $1 million 7 Stakes (1600m) at Randwick on September 16.
