In-form Aimee will face the toughest test of her racing career to date in the 2014 BRC Sires Produce Stakes at Doomben on Saturday, but trainer Noel Doyle believes that the talented filly is good enough to record her fifth straight win in the Group 2 event.
Aimee recorded her maiden win at Group level with a narrow victory over Sagatona and Goodbye Kevin in the Ken Russell Memorial Classic. Photo by: Daniel Costello
Aimee made her racing debut on October last year, beating home just a single runner in the Carlton Draught Plate (1010m) at Doomben, and started her autumn campaign with a narrow defeat in the Powerade Handicap (1110m) at the same venue on February 1 and has since recorded four straight victories.
The Exceedingly Good filly scored her maiden race win in the Jim Beam Handicap (1110m) at Doomben on February 15 and won both the Heart4kids Handicap (1300m) at Eagle Farm on February 22 and the Sky Racing Plate (1200m) at the Gold Coast on March 15 before recording an impressive win at Group level in the Ken Russell Memorial Classic (1200m) at the same venue on May 3.
Doyle told Racing Ahead that he has been thrilled with the way that Aimee has come out of the her strong victory in the Ken Russell Memorial Classic and is confident that she will perform well in the BRC Sires Produce Stakes this weekend.
“She is very, very well and I am very pleased,” Doyle said.
“I think that she is better suited on a firmer track.
“She got through it at the Coast and I didn’t think that she was 100 percent comfortable on the heavy, but her class got her through I think.
“Her work has been spot-on, she is a tough little monkey and she has done really well and I am very happy with her.
“We are getting into the nitty gritty now and we have to take on the Southerners and that will tell us how good she is.
“She is up to this lot, I am sure of it.”
Aimee has been included in the nominations for Group 1 J.J. Atkins (1600m) at Eagle Farm on June 7 and Doyle does not believe that the two-year-old will have any problems running out a strong mile.
“I feel that she will,” Doyle said when asked if Aimee will stay the trip in the J.J. Atkins.
“The Sire is a little bit of a doubt to me, he only raced as an early two-year-old and he was a very smart horse, and Aimee’s dam is by Real Quiet and he was a Kentucky Derby winner, so I don’t think that the mile would worry her too much.”
Doyle is chasing his first Group 2 winner since he took out the 2012 QTC Cup with Celtic Dancer.
