ROSEHILL JULY 1 - DESTINY’S KISS SEES OFF FIUMICINO TO CONFIRM HIS UP-AND-COMING STATUS

By Graham Potter | Monday, July 1, 2013

Rosehill, July 1, 2013.
Track - Heavy 9.
$100 000 Winter Cup.
1 Destiny’s Kiss; 2 Fiumicino; 3 Thebigiam; 4 Fibrillation.
Time: 2-17.44. Last 600: 37.56.
Margins: 2.30; 4.30.

High profile owner Nick Moraitis was not a particularly happy man in spite of enjoying a one-two result in the Listed Winter Stakes at Rosehill today.

Two horses carrying the famous Moraitis silks, Destiny’s Kiss and Fiumicino, had the race to themselves over the final 250m and it was the former, five years younger and 3.5kg better off at the weights with his rival, whose effort carried the day as the son of Power Of Destiny forged his way to a clear-cut 2.30 length victory.

This was Destiny’s Kiss’s second successive win, following in his win in the Kensei over 2000m back on June 15.

Moraitis’s first thoughts were with his old warrior Fiumicino.

“I think the weight they are putting on this horse is absolutely disgraceful!

“He is a nine-year-old now. I think they should take that in consideration. People like to see good horses run here and my horses are always trying to the best of their ability at all times, but they have got to be a bit fair and see what weight they should be carrying.”

Having made his point Moraitis then turned his attention to Destiny’s Kiss’s prospects.

“It’s exciting … very exciting. He’s by my stallion Power Of Destiny. He’s showing there is a lot of good young horses coming out of him. They are not two-or-three-year-olds, but they seem to carry on and go on further which is great.”

WINNER FEEDBACK:

TRAINER JOE PRIDE:

“I was a bit concerned before the start. He was a bit sweaty and probably with the extra couple of days he was a bit fresh, but he handled it well. He is a good little stayer.

“It was a bit of a mismatch when he landed up alongside Fiumicino. I know my bloke weighs about 430kg. I don’t know how big Fuminchio is, but he looked bigger. Fiumicino’s been a fantastic racehorse and this bloke is still on his way up, so it was good.

“You’d love to see him at Grafton. In saying that too, I’d love to see a soft track up at Grafton which might not be the case.

“Look, we’ll keep one eye on the weather and another eye on the horse.

“He’s going through the grades nicely and this race really suited him today. He seems to have taken a liking to Rosehill and Christian Reith’s rides on him … both times … have been ten out of ten.

“The horse hasn’t got early speed, but he has got it from about the 1000 on that’s good enough to be able to make up the ground you lost early on.

“He got a bit of a squeeze out of the gates today so you can forgive him being back there, but he’s got that speed that can take him forward from the 1000 so, yeah, he is pretty versatile little horse.”

JOCKEY CHRISTIAN REITH:

“He is not the best horse out of the gates. He is always slow into stride, but he copped a bit of a squeeze so I settled back a little bit further than I wanted to.

“From the 1000 we got a beautiful run. I was able to sneak ground on the fence.

“Once I got on the back of Fiumicino coming to the corner I knew he was the only one to beat.

“He has been racing in great form so once I was on his back and travelling I knew we were going to be hard to beat.

“He is a very versatile horse. He is still learning the trade but he is an up-and-coming stayer.”

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