By Brad Gray
Jason Coyle is confident that his three-year-old filly Kawaikini will be fighting out the finish of the Freshmark Handicap (1200m) after an eye-catching fourth at her latest outing.
Kawaikini, named after the summit of Kauai’s inactive volcano Mount Waialeale, was held up form much of the straight last start behind Gibraltar Girl.
“She was desperately unlucky. I think she would have figured in the finish. She’s a nice filly, has a low benchmark and no weight on Saturday. With any luck I’d expect her to be pretty competitive,” Coyle said.
Kawaikini luckless last start fourth
Staying at 1200m is no issue either according to the Warwick Farm-based trainer, who is fresh off a midweek double at his home track.
“I think I actually erred in going out to 1400m. At Newcastle she looked the winner with 100m to go but didn’t quite deliver the knockout punch and then on a really testing track at Warwick Farm she loomed and Kathy (O’Hara) thought she was the winner but she didn’t quite finish the race off.”
“We’ve got a nice group of horses coming through their grades at the moment. Everything is racing well at the moment so hopefully we just keep it ticking along for as long as possible.”
Meanwhile, Coyle is leaning towards running Siren’s Fury at Rosehill over 1800m on Saturday in preference over Friday’s Wagga Guineas.
“She is going super and hasn’t put in a poor performance in this preparation. The biggest query is going past the mile. She gives every indication that she’ll get it but she needs to prove it.”
Coyle is also considering his options with Sweet Serendipity, who despite racing in career-best form, is not a definite starter at Rosehill.
“He is going as well as anything in the stable and he looks terrific but I need to decide whether I run with 61kg from the outside barrier. I don’t think there is a long run in from the Rosehill 1200m and although he is a very fast horse you’d have to get across pretty quick,” Coyle said.