BIG BUCKS
Portelli dreaming of spring riches as star trio make trial return at Warwick Farm
Gary Portelli lifts the winter covers off his trio of stars at Warwick Farm on Monday with very real hopes all three will represent his compact but select stable in the $10 million Golden Eagle (1500m) in October.
In fact one of them – Kimochi (Brave Smash) may yet compete for a stunning sum of money by attempting the rare double of the $20m Everest (1200m) at Randwick on October 19, and the Golden Eagle at Rosehill two weeks later.
Kimochi, Encap (Capitalist) and Kintyre (Hallowed Crown) will take their first substantive steps for spring in three successive Group-standard trials over 900 metres on Monday, on a program sure to be keenly watched as a host of quality runners warm up for new campaigns.
Portelli hopes his three four-year-olds, who each earned Group wins for his 45-box stable last term, will live up to the promise of their booming three-year-old seasons, as he eyes a series of top quality races.
Kimochi has been kept in Portelli’s Warwick Farm stable by new owners Yulong, after she was bought by Ilsay Vale at the Inglis Chairman’s Sale in May for $2.2 million from past owner Leo To, who purchased her for $21,000 at the Inglis Australian Weanling Sale of 2021.
“I was delighted to keep her of course, so a big thank you to Yulong, plus I think she’s happy to stay at what’s been her home for the past few years,” the trainer told ANZ Bloodstock News.
Having already been a robust filly, Kimochi has returned bigger and stronger still, Portelli said, after a 2023-24 CV of ten starts for seven stakes placings and victory in the Light Fingers Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m).
After also showing her class with three elite-level placings in that time – seconds in Randwick’s Flight Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) and Caulfield’s Thousand Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) before a third in Rosehill’s Coolmore Classic (Gr 1, 1500m) – Portelli believes the mare is well positioned to finally break through at the top level.
But away from Group 1 racing, she may yet take up Yulong’s slot in The Everest before rising in distance to the Golden Eagle – a double dangling a potential $12.25 million.
Kimochi is set to resume in the Sheraco Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) at Rosehill on September 14.
“We’ll know more after that about where she’s headed,” Portelli said. “The Everest is in the back of our minds of course. She’d have to earn that spot, but if she was to win over that trip first-up, I’d be pushing pretty hard for the crew to take a good look at it.
“So there’s a chance she could try for the Everest and Golden Eagle, which would be very exciting. I don’t think it’d be beyond her. She’s pretty versatile.
“Because the Thousand Guineas was put back [to mid-November], she hadn’t had a real break in more than a year until the spell she’s just had. So she’s appreciated a good long time in the paddock.
“She’s come back really sharp, stronger than ever, and it’s been very hard for her riders to hold her at trackwork. So I just want to see her strong through the line in her trial, and recover really quickly.”
Kimochi lines up in a small but high quality third trial of the morning. As of Sunday night, it held six starters including the Ciaron Maher-trained pair I Am Me (I Am Invincible) and Southport Tycoon (Written Tycoon), plus Michael Freedman’s ATC Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) winner Manaal (Tassort), and Group 1-winning five-year-old mare Sunshine In Paris (Invader).
Encap won last September’s Ming Dynasty Quality (Gr 3, 1400m) before a narrow top-level second to Militarize (Dundeel) in the Golden Rose (Gr 1, 1400m), and was twice Group placed in the autumn.
He’ll contest Monday’s second heat against five rivals including Epsom Handicap (Gr 1, 1600m) winner Rediener (Redoute’s Choice), before a likely resumption the same day as Kimochi in the Theo Marks Stakes (Gr 2, 1300m).
Portelli has pencilled in a series of potential spring races for the gelding headed by the Golden Eagle, but also including the Epsom and Rosehill’s Alan Brown Stakes (Listed, 1400m) – both worth $1.5m – or the $1m The Gong (1600m) at Kembla Grange.
“He’s been really sharp,” Portelli said of Encap, whose trajectory took off following his gelding early last winter, with seconds in two Warwick Farm maidens followed by a Group 3 third and his Ming Dynasty victory.
“He’s not the best trackworker by himself but every time he’s galloped with a mate this prep he’s been very strong.”
Contrasting the physical growth of Kimochi and Kintyre, Portelli said the compact Encap had returned from his winter break looking the same as when he left.
“He hasn’t changed physically at all,” the trainer said. “That raises a slight query, because you wonder about four-year-olds who’ve come back with a bit more oomph to them.
“But then again, I don’t think he’ll have to improve much. And sometimes horses can get bigger and heavier and it can be detrimental to them. [Golden Slipper winner] She Will Reign was a great two-year-old, but came back a different shape; she lengthened out, and lost a bit of her power as she got older.
“To me, Encap has come back just how I need him. And I just know he’s the type of horse that you can just rely on.”
Kintyre, younger half-brother to Portelli’s second Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Fireburn (Rebel Dane), emerged from the shadows of his more illustrious stablemates last autumn.
Bred and raced, like Fireburn, by Laurel Oak Thoroughbreds, the gelding last season racked up an agonising string of four Group placings – plus two more fourths – before winning Randwick’s Frank Packer Plate (Gr 3, 2000m) in April and Eagle Farm’s Queensland Guineas (Gr 2, 1600m) in May.
He then ended his campaign with another Group placing when third in Doomben’s Rough Habit Plate (Gr 3, 2000m).
While Kintyre can see out 2000 metres, Portelli feels his best distance is in the 1500 to 1600-metre range, putting the Golden Eagle in his zone.
“He’s coming together quickly. He didn’t have as long a spell because of his Brisbane winter carnival campaign, so he’s got some residual fitness,” Portelli said. “He’s in great order, and he’s one who’s matured a lot from the early days, into being a very reliable horse.”
With his benchmark rating reaching 92 after his last start – compared with Kimochi’s 98 and Encap’s 96 – Kintyre may need to add a few points to secure a Golden Eagle start, raising the prospect of running him in some easier grade races to boost his chances of winning.
But with Portelli saying there were “not many options for him” to attempt that task, he is likely to instead be “thrown into the deep end”.
“But I might try to keep him and Encap apart as much as I can, which could mean a trip to Melbourne,” he said.
“I’m hoping Kintyre can make those couple of lengths of improvement to put himself among the real top–class of horses. And you’d want to pursue the Golden Eagle with him. It’s a race you’ve got to get into if you can. The prize–money is so good, even down to tenth [$75,000].
“I think a mile is his distance. He can run out 2000 metres but at the very top level I’m not sure he runs it out well enough.”
Kintyre will contest the fourth heat of the day, with his five rivals headed by Amelia’s Jewel (Siyouni) – having her first outing since leaving her home state Western Australia – and Ducasse (Trapeze Artist).