Kimochi makes breakthrough in Light Fingers Stakes
Kimochi (Brave Smash) finally ended her run as a black–type bridesmaid and put the icing on a superb week for Yarraman Park with a fighting triumph in yesterday’s Light Fingers Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) at Randwick.
After a brave but agonising spring campaign of six starts for six stakes placings – including top tier seconds in Randwick’s Flight Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) and Caulfield’s Thousand Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) – the Gary Portelli-trained filly held out $4.20 favourite Learning To Fly (Justify) by a short half head in the three-year-old fillies’ sprint.
Kimochi – who’ll be a keenly sought lot at the Inglis Chairman’s Sale in May – again proved her reputation for always showing up. Jumping from gate three of 11 for Jason Collett, she was behind the leading group in fifth and sixth throughout, and only bullocked into clear running at the 200 metres when two lengths behind leader Kristilli (Hellbent).
She then had to contend with Learning To Fly – ultra impressive in her first start since being injured when losing her rider as last year’s Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) second–favourite. The pair knuckled down to fight a stirring battle over the last 120 metres before Kimochi pushed her nose out on the line. Kristilli held on for third, almost two lengths away.
A $21,000 buy from Valiant Stud for expat Hong Kong businessman Leo To at the Inglis Australian Weanling Sale of 2021, Kimochi has now earned $898,000 from just ten starts. More riches – and a top tier breakthrough – could await in the $750,000 Surround Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) next up at Randwick on March 2.
The robust Kimochi’s only previous win came in her second start in a Kensington two-year-old fillies’ handicap last autumn over 1100 metres, while she has seven stakes placings in total, also including her third in Kristilli’s Percy Sykes Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) last April at Randwick.
Kimochi’s victory yesterday, as $6.50 co-third favourite, held added merit since she had only a two-week summer spell after contesting the Thousand Guineas – rescheduled to November 18 last year by Racing Victoria.
“When the second horse moved up I thought, ‘Here we go again, we’re going to get beat again’,” Portelli said.
“I was ready for the sad story, but she fought strongly and we’re in for a big prep.
“She’s got that tenacity hasn’t she? She came off the carpet there, I thought she was gone for sure. She wanted to win today and she deserved it.
“She hasn’t had much time to furnish, so we’re dealing with the same horse we had when she went for a spell which is difficult. But just goes to show we have a great team at home they are able to keep this filly together and fit on the day. She’s in for a great autumn preparation.”
Victory was not only sweet for Kimochi and her stable, but also for Yarraman Park.
Arthur and Harry Mitchell acquired the former Japanese sprinter Brave Smash (Tosen Phantom) last season, after the dual Melbourne Group 1 winner had served his first four years at Aquis Farm.
Yarraman bumped the ten-year-old’s service fee from $22,000 to $33,000 and attracted a book of 112 mares – up from 89 in his last year in Queensland. The stud has now been rewarded with Brave Smash’s first two Group winners, after Ciaron Maher’s Brave Mead last month added Caulfield’s Manfred Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) to a Moonee Valley Listed win from last March.
Brave Smash stands alongside the great I Am Invincible, who continued his charge towards his third straight champion sire title yesterday. King Of Sparta became his 14th stakes-winner for the season when landing the Expressway Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) at Randwick – and Imperatriz later earned the super sire’s 25th stakes victory of 2023-24 – 16 more than second-best.
The stud’s other sire, I Am Invincible’s son Hellbent, has also had a successful week. Not only did Kristilli yesterday portend more success this autumn, after a spring restricted by injuries to two unplaced starts, Fully Lit became Hellbent’s fourth stakes winner when taking last Saturday’s $2 million Inglis Millennium (RL, 1100m).
In another piece of Yarraman symmetry, Kimochi (3 f Brave Smash – Summer Fun by I Am Invincible) is the best of two winners from the unraced Summer Fun who was bought by Kia Ora Stud for $80,000 at the 2022 Inglis Broodmare Sale. Her colt by Russian Revolution (Snitzel) features in their draft for the Inglis Easter Yearling Sale as Lot 327.
Summer Fun threw a Captivant (Capitalist) filly who died after birth last September, and is now in foal to Farnan (Not A Single Doubt).
Collett described Kimochi’s win as “fantastic”.
“She was up against the same fillies she raced in the spring so to come back and beat them, yeah, it’s a very good feeling,” he said.
“The gate [barrier 3] was a huge help, she was able to sit a pair closer whereas last prep we just seemed to be getting there at the line but just not close enough.
“Hopefully, she can do it again in the Group 1 [Surround Stakes] in two weeks.”
Jockey Chad Schofield was delighted with the run of Learning To Fly, last year’s Inglis Millennium winner who later tossed Schofield in the Slipper.
“We had a good run in the race and I felt like she was the winner when she quickened,” Schofield said.
“But obviously, after a year off, she needed that run but to get beaten by a small margin like that, it was a great sign going forward.”
Maher’s Tiz Invincible (I Am Invincible) – Kimochi’s old sparring partner who twice beat her into second at Group 2 level last spring at the same course – ran only sixth as a well-supported $4.60 second–favourite, but her rider James McDonald said she’d got too far out of her ground and would be “hard to beat” in the Surround.