A DEBUT WINNER TO TAKE NOTE OF, IF YOU CAN REMEMBER HER NAME

By Graham Potter | Wednesday, September 23, 2026

Chuchichaschtli

The name is a real tongue-twister. Maybe it wasn’t selected specifically to make a race commentor’s job more difficult, but it was certainly not chosen to do the race-caller any favours … but, if you are numbered amongst the horse’s connections or were on it as a punter when it won on debut at odds of $6 at Warwick Farm on Wednesday, you’ve probably already got a soft spot for the three-year-old filly.

Three measured and well-spaced trials … in which she finished second twice and then won her third trial … brought the Team Hawkes trained filly along nicely enough to a point where the stable were happy to allow her to enter race action.

Under the guidance of Tyler Schiller, Chuchichaschtli jumped well and was given a perfect trail a couple of lengths back as the $2.35 favourite Love Story set the early pace.

On straightening, Schiller initially looked to move Chuchichaschtli out wider, but he then switched the Hawkes trained runner back to the inside where the filly quickly began to stretch out on cue and she moved up to, firstly, to put the pressure on Love Story, before going on to assert her authority over the main fancy over the concluding stages to land an eye-catching debut win by a 0.73 length margin.

For the record, as confirmed by the winners’ co-owner, Chuchichaschtli is a famous Swiss / German word for a small kitchen cupboard or cabinet which combines Chuchi (kitchen) and Chäschtli (little cupboard). It is used more as a playful tongue-twister and a playful pronunciation test for non-Swiss / German speakers than it is in general conversation.

There you go. Now you’ve learnt something new!

And as for a horse being named after a small kitchen cupboard. That’s got to be a first!