No stable wants to lose a Group One performer, particularly if they believe the best is still to come.
So when the previous owner of Kimochi put the mare up for sale earlier this year, Gary Portelli went to great lengths to ensure she came back to him.
Knowing the Yulong Investments powerhouse was keen to buy her, Portelli put himself front and centre of its general manager Vin Cox in a not-so-subtle reminder he was the best man for the job.
“I was concerned that if she did go for a break and have a proper spell, which she really needed, that if she went to a new stable she could go to a new level,” Portelli said.
“No trainer wants to see a horse leave their stable and go to a new level.
“I actually rang him (Cox) before the sale, and I was standing behind him when he was bidding.
“There weren’t going to be too many people beat me to him. I was looking around the room seeing if somebody was going to be coming over and they were going to be in trouble if they did.”
Happily for Portelli, his powers of persuasion worked, and he will be the trainer saddling up Kimochi in Saturday’s Group 3 Toy Show Quality (1100m) at Randwick.
The race wasn’t initially on the four-year-old’s radar, Portelli revealing Kimochi was slated to resume in the Sheraco Stakes (1200m) at Rosehill in three weeks, but the mare convinced him otherwise.
“She wants to get back to the track,” Portelli said.
“The plan was to go around in the Sheraco first-up but she had just been going too keenly at trackwork.
“While 1100 doesn’t sound like the right distance, it is Randwick, and it will be good to get her out on the track again and build her preparation from there.”
A three-time placegetter at the highest level, winning a Group 1 is firmly on Kimochi’s spring agenda.
So is the $10 million Golden Eagle (1500m), which is also the target race for stablemate Encap, who returns in Saturday’s Show County Quality (1200m).
While the gelding has one win from 12 starts, it was in a Group 3, and he has been rumbling with some high-class horses ever since.
“Unfortunately, from then on, he’s taken on Militarize, Celestial Legend, he’s taken on all the big guns,” Portelli said.
“But he’s sharp and he’s looking good.
“He might be one run short, but he’s got a long preparation ahead of him.”
Jason Collett will partner both of Portelli’s feature race runners at Randwick.
