Had the spring campaign gone differently, there was the high chance Giga Kick would not be lining up for another campaign that commences at Flemington.
The Group 1 Lightning Stakes (1000m) on Saturday will see Giga Kick start his campaign before the sprinter is Sydney bound to continue his autumn.
Trainer Clayton Douglas said Giga Kick’s latest campaign was the smoothest he had encountered for a long time and is hopeful of the gelding continuing the form that saw him undefeated in two runs last spring.
Those efforts followed a luckless trip to Adelaide for The Goodwood in May and a moderate run in Brisbane in the Kingsford Smith Cup the following month, and Douglas said if Giga Kick had not come up in the spring, he would possibly not be racing now.
“He had a big last year, and you always worry whether they’re going to come back, a horse like him at six, rising seven,” Douglas said.
“If he hadn’t of performed last spring, we aren’t the type of people that would keep going with him, and there’s been multiple times where it’s been touch and go with him, for sure, but to see him perform as he did, it showed he’s still got that zest for racing.
“He was a bit wishy, washy in his first couple of runs back in Sydney (spring 2024) and we were wondering where he was at and then he ran really well in The Everest.
“Then again, he didn’t have the best of luck in The Goodwood and then he went up to Queensland, and it was only a fair run.
“I’m hopeful that we’ve still got another 18 months, two years, left in him, and this time I feel he’s had the ideal preparation.
“The key is keeping him in good order, feeling good, and hopefully he does the rest.”
Giga Kick has won three time from seven first-up attempts and Douglas said there had been genuine excuses for those defeats.
Douglas said Giga Kick had come off and extended break due to injury along with other niggles which had affected his first-up record.
A trip to Caulfield Heath for a barrier trial, running second to Lightning Stakes opponent My Gladiola on January 29, showed Douglas the old Giga Kick was back.
“The other day, he was pumped up, excited to be there,” Douglas said.
“He began fast and I haven’t seen that in him for a long time, and he’s run well up the straight on numerous occasions.
“He won there at two, he won the Danehill Stakes at three and he’s won a Champions Sprint, so I don’t think it will be a problem on Saturday.”
A field of eight is set to run on Saturday with three-year-old’s making up more than half the field.
Douglas is banking on Giga Kick’s experience being crucial with only six three-year-olds winning the Lightning Stakes in the last 25 years.
There was a spate of four three-year-olds winning in six running’s from 2000 through to 2005, before Home Affairs scored, by a lip, from Nature Strip in 2022 which was followed by Coolangatta the following year.
This year the three-year-olds are headed by Group 1 winning colts Tentyris and Beiwacht while the fillies will be represented by Mahroona, My Gladiola and Military Tycoon.
“He might not have a great first-up record, but he’s had the perfect prep leading into this,” Douglas said of Giga Kick.
“It’s going to be a good race, for sure.”
