Star sprinter Giga Kick is set to make his return to racing next month. Trainer Clayton Douglas revealed that the gelding is finally healthy enough to run. The rising five-year-old will take part in trial races in Sydney next month. If all goes well, he will run in the Group 3 Concorde Stakes (1000m) at Randwick on September 7.
Giga Kick last raced in September 2023 at Moonee Valley in the Group 2 McEwen Stakes (1000m).
Giga Kick emerged as one of the top young sprinters during the 2022/2023 racing season.
The gelding won each of his first five starts. He then proved himself against the best of the best in the 2022 TAB Everest (1200m).
Giga Kick and jockey Craig Williams beat out more experienced competition to win the $15 million race in a thrilling show of strength and skill.
After that, Giga Kick continued his rise through Aussie racing and went on to win two Group 1 races in 2023. The gelding finished first in the Group 1 Schweppes All Aged Stakes (1400m) and the Group 1 Ladbrokes Doomben 10,000 (1200m) last Autumn.
Giga Kicks’ rise came to a crashing halt after tearing a muscle between his hamstring and hip. He has been stabled since last September while recovering from that injury.
While a lengthy one, Giga Kicks’ injury was not that serious. Time was all the gelding needed to recover. Now, trainer Clayton Douglas says Giga Kick is ready to start running in trial races.
Giga Kick is expected to run in two trials before the Concorde Stakes at Randwick on September 7.
“We’ll head up to Randwick, get him settled in, and we’ll look to trial him on August 16 at Randwick, which will be his first trial back,” Douglas said.
“Then, he can have another one on August 30…He’ll run eight days later, all being well, in the Concorde Stakes.”
There’s no saying how a horse will run after such a long layoff, but Douglas is optimistic about Giga Kick’s chances.
“He’s still got nice condition on him and carrying good weight,” the trainer said, “He’s a different horse this time. More mature, a bigger, stronger version, much heavier.
“We’re doing all the checks with our veterinary team that everything is spot on with him, and he’s ticking all the boxes, but the trials will really tell us where we’re heading.”
Douglas’ plan is to run Giga Kick in the upcoming Everest at Randwick this October.
“We’ve got a plan in place and ideally, we’ll be third-up into The Everest, so hopefully we won’t have any hiccups along the way.
“Nothing is locked-in for The Everest, but there’s been plenty of interest and we don’t have a rider yet either. I think we’ll screw that down in the next week or so as to who’ll ride him in the trial and then hopefully get someone to stick with him.
“He’s a high-class galloper and it’s a matter of everyone sitting on the fence and watching him, but I’m pretty confident he’s in a pretty good spot.”
Like Douglas, the betting sites are also confident of Giga Kick’s chances of making a comeback. Most horse racing betting platforms have the gelding as second favourite to win the 2024 Everest.
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