El Chico A Cheeky Chance In BRC Sprint

One of the many New Zealand horses in action this Saturday at Doomben will be El Chico for Michael Pitman.

After a highly successful run on New Zealand’s South Island the horse will run in the BRC Sprint and is certainly worth some consideration.

In 50 career starts he’s won 12 and finished in the money more than 50% of the time.

Plenty of those wins have come recently too with six open class victories this season alone.

It’s an incredible story of the now six-year-old gelding.

“I bought the horse last July for $20,000, this season he’s won six open class races including a Group 3,” Pitman said.

“He’s a very honest horse and tried hard, 45 times he’s been in the first five.”

El Chico is the most experienced horse in the field and the conditions in Australia will only serve to better his chance come race day.

“I reckon he’ll relax better over here, he does really like firm ground, he has won on rain affected ground but he’s best when it’s firm,” he said.

There have been some problems settling El Chico into a steady pace but with a good jockey and a good barrier he could find himself in the ideal position as they round the turn for home.

“He can race a little bit keen, I’ve got a really good rider on him Chris Munce, he’ll be back in mid field,” he said.

“He’s a very nice little genuine horse, he’s been a great buy and great fun to train.”

El Chico isn’t the only horse Pitman will be running in Queensland with Milo shaping as a promising prospect as well.

The three-year-old brings with him plenty of expectations but Pitman will try and ease him into Australian racing.

“He hasn’t raced since the end of February so we’re going to kick him off on a 1200m race,” he said.

“He’s a very nice horse, potentially one of the best horses I’ve ever trained.”

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