A stallion chain will be used on Kisukano when she makes her latest appearance at Eagle Farm in a bid to curb the filly’s troublesome barrier manners.
Kisukano delayed the start for nearly 10 minutes before winning first up at the Sunshine Coast on July 11 and staged a repeat performance when she proved reluctant to load prior to placing at Doomben on July 25.
Stewards lost patience with Kisukano’s antics at Doomben and told trainer Michael Nolan the filly would have to pass a barrier test before being allowed to race again.
She failed her first attempt at the Toowoomba jump outs a fortnight ago, which prompted Nolan to hit the reset button.
“I sent her out to the guy who does our breaking-in at Bahram Stud and he suggested putting a stallion chain on her,” Nolan said.
“It’s a piece of chain that goes around her nose and connects to the halter underneath her chin and just keeps her mind on the job.
“We took her to the jump outs in Toowoomba on Tuesday and she went straight into the gates with Bubba Tilley aboard without any problems and the stewards have cleared her to run this Saturday.”
Nolan said the filly’s size and stubborn streak have caused him plenty of headaches.
“I wouldn’t say she’s highly strung. She’s quite a nice filly to work with but she’s a very big filly, well over 16 hands and she can be pig-headed,” he said.
“It’s her way or the highway and because of her size she’s very hard to push around.”
Kisukano is owned by a syndicate which includes Nolan’s long-time stable client Peter Reeves and his sons Robbie and Dave, who went to school with Nolan.
“I boarded at Marist Brothers Ashgrove in Brisbane with Robbie and Dave for two years so we’ve been mates a long time,” Nolan said.
Nolan has trained numerous black-type winners for the Reeves family, including Prince Hakeem, Princess Margaret and Grouse Lane, the granddam of Kisukano.
