Jim Conlan seeks sentimental win with Kiko

Jim Conlan can get a little nostalgic when the Newmarket Handicap rolls around and it will not surprise if he is more reflective than normal ahead of this year’s edition.

Not just because he will be at Flemington with Kiko, who runs in a support race, but also due to Saturday’s event being the first run since the death of Miss Pennymoney, the filly who provided Conlan with the biggest win of his trainer career.

Just a few weeks short of the 22nd anniversary of her Newmarket Handicap win, Miss Pennymoney died suddenly at the farm of her owner Nick Turnbull at the age of 25.

“Nick was out doing some farm work and he saw her in the paddock and thought, ‘gee, she’s looking well’ and then went back an hour-and-a-half later and she was as dead as a doornail,” Conlan said.

“She must have had some heart attack or something. It’s actually great that she went so quickly and it wasn’t a long, drawn-out thing. She had a very healthy existence all the way up until that point.”

Miss Pennymoney was a daughter of Brocco and the former star two-year-old Bold Promise, who is also the dam of Golden Slipper winner Merlene (Danehill).

The Newmarket Handicap was one of two Group 1 wins, both over 1200 metres, the other being a William Reid Stakes victory at Moonee Valley, defeating Redoute’s Choice.

Despite being a contemporary of that star colt, and therefore his arch-rival Testa Rossa, Conlan said a Wakeful Stakes (2000m) experiment the previous spring confirmed that if Miss Pennymoney was to make it at the top level it would be as a sprinter.

“The Wakeful absolutely convinced us that she wouldn’t run a genuine trip,” he said.

“There was always a chance she could run a mile after that but we then knew she was going to be best served over 1200 and 1400 metres.

“She could never beat Testa Rossa – he had us covered – but she beat Redoute’s Choice on a couple of occasions. She had three clashes with Redoute’s and we beat him twice.”

Between the William Reid and Newmarket, Miss Pennymoney was narrowly beaten by Redoute’s Choice in the C.F. Orr Stakes (1400m) before finishing second to Testa Rossa – with Redoute’s Choice third – in the Futurity Stakes (1400m).

Miss Pennymoney did not win after the Newmarket, but finished second to Miss Kournikova in a track record Oakleigh Plate (1100m) and was third in Sunline’s Manikato Stakes (1200m), before being retired after finishing ninth of 14 in the 2002 Group 2 Sunline Stakes (1600m).

Fertility problems impacted Miss Pennymoney’s career as a broodmare and while she had four named foals, only Wai Lin (Scenic) and Quantum Of Solace (Exceed And Excel) raced for three wins between them.

Wai Lin has had seven to race, however, six of which have won including Mister Yeoh, a multiple Listed winner in Singapore, and Melbourne winners Pinyin and Mister Yu Shu.

They all carried Turnbull’s colours of white with a blue sash and yellow sleeves, which will be in action at Flemington on Saturday with Kiko to contest the $200,000 Group 3 TBV Thoroughbred Breeders Stakes (1200m) that kicks off the Flemington card.

Kiko has links to Miss Pennymoney, being by Capitalist, whose dam Kitalpha is out of Compulsion, a half-sister to Miss Pennymoney.

Unlike the other members of the family in the stable, Conlan and Turnbull had to go to the sales to get Kiko, who is out of the American mare Sky Treasure and set them back $720,000 at last year’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.

“She was a just a very neat, athletic filly and we probably paid more for her than what we expected, but she really was a lovely filly,” Conlan said.

“She was a little bit small but had real presence about her.”

Kiko is yet to win in three starts but jagged a Group 3 third placing in the Chairman’s Stakes (1000m) at Caulfield and last start finished fourth in the Listed Talindert Stakes (1100m).

Conlan had initially planned to run Kiko in the Group 2 VRC Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m) before a last-minute decision to pivot and keep her to 1200m against her own sex.

“I couldn’t be happier than what I am with the horse,” he said of Kiko, who will be ridden by Craig Williams.