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Kiko overcomes serious injury to be a stakes contender

4 May 2023

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Kiko
Georgina Cartwright Next Racing
Trent Busuttin & Natalie Young Next Racing
Georgina Cartwright has been booked to ride Kiko on Saturday.

By Glenn Davis

Had it not been for a fractured splint bone early in her career, talented filly Kiko might have won a stakes race by now.

Instead, Kiko – a Georgina Cartwright mount - lines up as the only maiden performer in the Group 3 Gold Coast Guineas at the Sunshine Coast on Saturday.

It will be the first time Victorian trainer Jim Conlan has had a starter in Queensland since he won the Group 1 Doomben Cup with Above Deck in 2006.

The 63-year-old Conlan is a five-time winner at the highest level and also won the Group 1 Brisbane Cup with Danestorm in 2004.

Conlan is now in semi-retirement in Victoria and trains a small team of six horses, all for owner Nick Turnbull.

“I’ve brought all six horses to the Sunshine Coast for the winter carnival here and I’m hoping Kiko can win a stakes race,” Conlan said.

“She was a cracking filly when we bought her for $720,000 at the Magic Millions sales.

“She ran fifth in the Thoroughbred Breeders, which she should have won at Flemington, and was preparing for the autumn when she fractured a splint bone in her hind leg last year.

“It was a freak accident coming off the track one morning when she lashed out and kicked the running rail.

“Normally with her type of injury they have about eight weeks off but she fractured the splint bone in multiple places so she needed a lot of time off.”

Conlan had considered aiming Kiko for the Magic Millions Classic at the Gold Coast in January until she was hurt.

“I thought she was good enough for the Magic Millions early on but those plans were dashed once she was injured,” he said.

While Kiko is yet to win in seven starts, she jagged a Group 3 placing in the Chairman’s Stakes at Caulfield and finished fourth in the Listed Talindert Stakes in February last year.

Georgina Cartwright has been booked to ride Kiko on Saturday.

Kiko is a $151 outsider and will go into her Gold Coast Guineas assignment on the back of three straight maiden placings at Pakenham in Victoria.

She came from last early on to go down narrowly to the Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young-trained Acquarello in her latest test over 1200 metres on April 6.

Kiko arrived in Queensland last week and took a few days to settle in to her new environment on the Sunshine Coast.

“She got beaten in a maiden last run so she should be a big price in the Gold Coast Guineas but she should have won at Pakenham,” Conlan said.

“She’s a nice filly with good ability and we’re hoping she can snag a black-type race while she’s up here.

“I reckon she’s going to run a bit of a race on Saturday.”

Conlan has pencilled in the Group 3 Fred Best Classic over 1400 metres at Eagle Farm on May 27 as her next target.

“She worked very well on Tuesday morning and she’ll go to the Fred Best next if she races well,” he said.