He’s only small but trainer Joe Pride believes Destiny’s Kiss has what it takes to conquer the heavyweights when he steps up to stakes company for the first time on Saturday.
And if the four-year-old emerging stayer performs as Pride expects in the Listed Winter Cup (2400m), he will be given his chance to shine at the Grafton carnival next month.
“He is a midget. He is only 427 kilograms but he is a little horse on the way up and he’s going places,” Pride said.
“If he runs well as I expect, the Grafton Cup is a race we will look at.
“He has a really good strike rate for a stayer and I’d like to see how far he can go in the spring.”
Destiny’s Kiss has won seven of his 21 starts and importantly heading to Rosehill on Saturday, six of those victories have been on rain-affected tracks with wet weather expected to continue in Sydney over the next few days.
There were 12 entries taken for the Winter Cup on Monday with the Tim Martin-trained Fibrillation also nominated for the Caloundra Cup.
Fiumicino is the likely Winter Cup topweight which might present a dilemma for Nick Moraitis who also owns Destiny’s Kiss.
Both horses are special to Moraitis who bred Destiny’s Kiss and has prolonged Fiumicino’s career after the nine-year-old’s return to winning form in the McKell Cup two starts ago.
The winner of the 2007 Australian Derby and 2009 BMW, Fiumicino has earned more than $3 million on the track and also excels on wet ground.
He is trained by the Hawkes family partnership while Destiny’s Kiss came to Pride after doing his early racing with Robert Smerdon in Melbourne.
Pride will have three runners – Earnest Ernest, Falzzon and Upshot – in the 1200m sprint which may be divided depending on the number of acceptances with 34 nominations taken.
“I’m hoping Upshot can run well and also go to Grafton for the Ramornie Handicap,” Pride said.
“I think he is the right type of horse for that race.”
Upshot finished third at his most recent start in the June Stakes won by She’s Clean who finished a solid fifth in Saturday’s Group One Tatt’s Tiara.
