Australia: Giga Kick returns from long layoff in Concorde Stakes

Unraced in 12 months, Giga Kick returns to the venue of his greatest win in Friday’s Group 3 Concorde Stakes at five furlongs at Royal Randwick Racecourse in Sydney, Australia.

The Concorde Stakes has a purse and position on the calendar that hardly befits a Group 3 race. With a purse of $670,300, the Concorde is an attractive prize, and is a key prep race for the world’s richest sprint – the $13.4 million Everest Stakes at six furlongs at Randwick on Oct. 19.

Giga Kick won the 2022 Everest Stakes, but was sidelined when the race was run last year after sustaining a torn hamstring muscle when third in the Group 2 McEwen Stakes at five furlongs at Moonee Valley Racecourse in Melbourne last September.

Giga Kick, a winner of 7 of 11 starts, returned to trainer Clayton Douglas’s stable in April.

The Concorde Stakes will be Giga Kick’s fourth start at five furlongs. He won a minor handicap at the distance at Flemington in July 2022 in his second start.

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The Concorde Stakes drew 12, including the veteran mare Bella Nipotina who won two Group 1 races earlier this year – The Doomben 10,000 at six furlongs at Doomben Racecourse in May, and the Tattersall’s Tiara Stakes at seven furlongs at Eagle Farm in her most recent start in June.

Bella Nipotina has won once in 10 starts at five furlongs in her 52-race career, including a third by a half-length in the 2023 Concorde.

The Concorde is part of a 10-race program that begins at 9:50 p.m. Eastern or 6:50 p.m. Pacific.

This is a weekend for the quickest sprinters in Australia.

At Moonee Valley, the Southern Hemisphere 3-year-old filly Lady of Camelot will be favored to win her first start against older runners in the Group 1 Moir Stakes at five furlongs.

The $504,700 Moir Stakes is Lady of Camelot’s first start since a second by about three-quarters of a length in the Percy Sykes Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at six furlongs at Randwick in April. In March, Lady of Camelot won the Group 1 Golden Slipper Stakes at Rosehill Gardens, which had a purse of $3.28 million and is the world’s richest race for juveniles.

Lady of Camelot gets a massive weight break, with jockey Zac Lloyd booked to weigh 110.2 pounds. Lady of Camelot has to hold off the 7-year-old gelding I Wish I Win, who was second in the 2023 Everest Stakes. I Wish I Win will carry 129 pounds.

I Wish I Win won the Group 1 Kingsford Smith Cup at 6 1/2 furlongs at Eagle Farm on June 1, shortly after finishing second by a nose to Bella Nipotina in the Doomben 10,000.

The speedy mare Estriella, the winner of three consecutive sprint stakes in February and March earlier this year, will be the runner to catch.

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