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A summer campaign is Kitty Chat’s chance to make a case to be set for an early autumn stakes race and co-trainer Adrian Bott hopes she can kick off with a win at Canterbury on Monday.
It's hard not to pay attention to the form around the filly's only race start, where she started favourite and split subsequent Group 1 winner Joliestar and the smart Arctic Glamour at Warwick Farm back in June.
The now three-year-old bled in that race, adding merit to the performance, and Adrian Bott, who co-trains with Gai Waterhouse, said that naturally prevented her from taking part in the spring but feels she has the potential to make up for lost time in 2024.
"The form is good around her, she had the setback in that run which just put her out for some time so we had to be patient with her,'' Bott said.
"We weren't necessarily looking at any spring targets last campaign.
"Even you look through her trial form she had good form there but we wanted to see her go through her grades and build a bit of confidence and a profile. So she's still got to do that."
Step one on that mission is the Ranvet Plate (1200m) at Canterbury and Bott said Kitty Chat's two trial wins have provided the right grounding for her to be a force first-up.
He said the latest trial, where she held over 1-1/4 lengths from Not So Common in a 1050m trial at Randwick, was intentionally solid.
Regan Bayliss has the ride, Tim Clark was the partner on debut and in her two trials, and she was $2.40 favourite with TAB on Sunday.
"She's come back really well, her trials have been excellent, she looks to have a fair bit of class going forward,'' he said.
"We wanted to make sure she's ready when she steps out. She's pretty tractable, she has good tactical speed and she has a good turn of foot.
"This run can build a nice platform and if there's a chance for her early in the autumn after she's had a few runs and strengthened up there's options for her."
Venetian Blue has been in the market in both runs this time in and missed a place but Bott forecasts a sharp improvement in the Agency Real Estate Handicap (1900m).
The four-year-old was only beaten 1.4 lengths by Arale over 1550m second-up, when $5 into $3.90, just over two weeks ago.
"She's been okay but she doesn't usually show her best form until, she gets out to this sort of trip,'' he said.
"She's been favourite in a couple of runs but they probably haven't been the races to suit. Hopefully we can see her run much better."
Last start Scone winner Tarabeau will have some work to do from a wide alley in the TAB Handicap (1100m) but Bott said that country win could be a turning point.
"Ít was off the back of a disappointing performance in town,'' he said.
"He's still learning so he probably needed to take that step back in grade."
