Trainer Kim Waugh is hoping for a trouble-free preparation with bonny mare Kimillsy when she makes another comeback from injury at Rosehill on Saturday.
Kimillsy was among the best three-year-old fillies of her generation and was placed to Samantha Miss in both the 2008 Tea Rose and Flight Stakes.
But she suffered a tendon injury following that year’s VRC Oaks and didn’t race for almost two years.
Last autumn she began to show signs of returning to her best form and was unlucky not to win the Group Two Sapphire Stakes in which she was runner-up to subsequent Group One Myer Stakes winner Hurtle Myrtle.
A solid sixth to Shannara in the Listed Dark Jewel Classic at Scone followed before Waugh’s plans for a winter campaign in Brisbane went awry.
“She had a gallop one day and pulled up sore and we found she’d pulled all the muscles through her shoulder,” Waugh said.
“That was pretty nasty. We had to give her a few months off to let it heal.”
Kimillsy missed the spring and Waugh has taken her time getting the mare back to race fitness.
She will resume in the TAB Number 1 Club Handicap (1100m) at Rosehill and will carry 58kg after the claim of apprentice Josh Adams.
The six-year-old can produce a big run fresh and Waugh says Kimillsy has done the groundwork to be competitive.
“We sent her to the aqua-walker first and she had four weeks there and then she’s been in work quite a while,” Waugh said.
“We’ve brought her up nice and slowly. She’s pretty forward. The 1100 is just nice for her first run back after a while off.
“She’s had two trials back. She trialled really well both times. Her work has been really good and I’m really happy with her.”
Waugh has thrown in an entry for the Doncaster Mile but her short-term focus is on the fillies and mares races, particularly the Listed Wiggle Stakes (1400m) on March 10.
“There are a lot of different options. Coming into a prep you just have to cover your bases,” she said.
Waugh also reported French import Sheniyan, formerly raced by the Aga Khan, was progressing well and could make an appearance later in the autumn while the promising Valdhez was also nearing a return after overcoming an illness which curtailed his spring.
