Chilly Girl will be on a mission to emulate the feat achieved by her dam, I Got Chills, when she attempts to win a black-type race on debut at Rosehill.
Heavily backed from $14 into $5 when taking out the 2005 Listed Maribyrnong Trial (1000m) at Flemington by 4-1/2 lengths, I Got Chills won her next start by seven lengths but raced just twice more before her premature retirement.
By promising stallion Trapeze Artist, Chilly Girl is displaying a measure of her dam’s precociousness, and co-trainer Sterling Alexiou won’t be surprised to see her feature on Saturday.
“She was a very fast filly herself, I Got Chills, and hopefully we win on debut like I Got Chills did,” Alexiou said.
“She’s going the right way. She has trialled really nicely twice this time in.
“We have always had a bit of time for her. Obviously it’s not going to be an easy race to win at her first start, but from a good barrier, if she can get a few breaks she’ll run really well.”
Chilly Girl is a homebred for prominent owner Bert Vieira, who raced Trapeze Artist, and will be partnered by Tim Clark.
Clark won two feature races on her sire and was happy to stick with the filly after testing her credentials in a recent barrier trial win.
“We put Tim on in her second trial. Obviously, Tim rides a lot of two-year-olds for Gai (Waterhouse) and a lot of other stables, so we thought he would give us a fair indicator of where she sits among those, with the idea of running her in this race,” Alexiou said.
“Tim said she was very pushbutton and gave him a nice feel.
“She’s a nice quality filly and if it doesn’t happen for her this preparation, we’d probably give her a breather and focus on the winter and spring.”
The stable will also be represented by Just Party in the Asahi Super Dry Handicap (1500m) and Sequista in the Kia Ora Bloodlines to Headlines Handicap (1200m).
With one win and eight placings from his 18 starts, the former has been a headache for punters, but a handy money-spinner for connections.
“Much maligned by punters but he is the fortnightly ATM for the owners,” Alexiou said.
“Hopefully his turn comes shortly. He had a lot against him the other day at Rosehill. There’s a bit more speed on paper Saturday that can see him finishing closer, and back to dry ground will be a big help to him.”
Sequista has won two of her past three starts and while she still has some kinks to iron out regarding her racing manners, Alexiou says she is talented and should be hard to beat again.
