Giga Kick is now a Group 1 winner in three different states after a stirring victory in the Group 1 VRC Champions Sprint (1200m) at Flemington.
Second up off a blistering return win in the Group 2 Schillaci Stakes (1100m) at Caulfield, the six-year-old gelding surged late on the heavy 9 track under jockey Mark Zahra to deny noted wet tracker Magic Time, in what Douglas described as a ‘ding dong battle.’
The race itself was plenty exciting as Giga Kick ($5.00) edged out Magic Time ($11) by a head, with 1-1/4 lengths back to $2.70 favourite Joliestar in third, but was made more dramatic as three-year-old colt and one-time favourite Tentyris was scratched at the gates on vet’s advice.
For Douglas, it was a sense of gratitude for the now three-time Group 1 winner, who famously also won The Everest as a three-year-old in 2022.
“Happy days. He’s a champ this horse and I love him,” Douglas said.
“He’s done so much for my career and he’s taken me everywhere with Group 1 wins in Sydney and Queensland.”
“It’s his third go at this race. He hasn’t had a lot of luck in other years and it worked out perfect today.”
“I was a little concerned with how the weather was, but I thought he would get through the conditions, and he prevailed.”
Having missed preparations through injury in his career, Douglas said it had been an aim to target the back end of the Spring Carnival.
“To win two from two starts this preparation, we aimed him for this race and we got it done,” Douglas said.
“Obviously there was a case for an Everest again but I really wanted to plan out that we could get this race under the belt and it has come off.”
In his final ride for the carnival, Zahra notched up his eighth winner for Melbourne Cup week and third at Group 1 level, saying it was great to see Giga Kick up for the fight.
“It’s so good to see him back,” Zahra said.
“We were all hugged up on the outside there and it looked like Magic Time was going to hold me, but his last 50 (metres), he had a proper crack the old boy and got his head out at the right time.”
“It’s been a massive week and hopefully there’s a nice bottle of champagne there for me now.”
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