A NICE WARM FEELING FOR CUDDLES FOR KIMMY'S CONNECTIONS AS THE FILLY WINS ON DEBUT

By Graham Potter | Wednesday, October 16, 2024

A two-year-old runner winning on debut is a big plus in any stable’s makeup and the Corey and Kylie Geran trained filly Cuddles For Kimmy ticked that box with an eye-catching victory in a QTIS Two-Year-Old Plate over 1050m at Doomben on October 16.

A daughter of Spirit Of Boom, Cuddles For Kimmy only had one official trial before her first formal racing engagement … and she won that trial over 650m by a five length margin at Toowoomba, eight days before stepping out at Doomben.

She wasn’t the biggest trial winner on that day though. That distinction went to the Team Sears trained Geitz, who won her trial over 950m by a whopping 15.50 lengths.

Both of those efforts put the names of these two runners in the notebook but, in truth, the respective trail efforts of Cuddles For Kimmy and Geitz were difficult to line up … and when they both accepted in the same race for their first outing at Doomben, the betting boards sided with Geitz … but only just!

Geitz jumped as the $2.45 favourite. Cuddles For Kimmy was on the second line of betting at $2.90.

Cuddles For Kimmy jumped well and immediately found herself caught up in an early speed battle which saw four of the six runners in a line spread across the track after the field had travelled 200m.

Geitz, who was the widest of those four runners, was the first to ease back and let the speed go. Shortly afterwards, Cody Collis did the same with Cuddles For Kimmy, going back to third place, just a length off the lead and three-quarters-of-a-length ahead of Geitz who had settled in fourth place.

Coming to the home turn, Cuddles For Kimmy was a very handy third, but hugging the rail … a position which, in spite of the small field, was soon to complicate her task.

Twice, from the top of the straight until the 150m, Collis tried to take a run on the inside of the long-time leader Secret Sort ($8.50) but the gap was too tight and, until just inside the 150m, another runner, Soul Intent ($5), was blocking any possible outward path for Cuddles For Kimmy.

But at the 150m mark, Soul Intent began to tire and started dropping away, leaving a gap. Now to the outside of the still hard running Secret Sort, which Collis wasted little time in angling his mount into and beginning the chase in earnest.

After being inconvenienced for much of the straight, Cuddles For Kimmy showed impressive commitment for a previously unraced horse, changing gears and charging down Secret Sort, taking her rivals measure at the 50m mark and going on to score by 0.65 length margin.

At no stage did Cuddles For Kimmy’s market rival Geitz, who finished third, 2.90 lengths back, pose a serious threat to the result.

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