Giga Kick will have a new rider as he caps his Lightning Stakes preparation with a barrier trial at Caulfield on Thursday.
Trainer Clayton Douglas had to find another jockey after Giga Kick’s regular partner Mark Zahra was sidelined with a fractured leg and opted for rising star Ethan Brown.
It is not the first time Brown has been in the saddle of Giga Kick as he jumped him out between his Schillaci Stakes and Champion Sprint wins in the spring.
The six-year-old was back to his best in the spring, and Douglas believes it will continue into the autumn.
“He is ready to go and will have a trial on Thursday to top him off,” Douglas said. “He only had a month out, so he has kept his fitness and might be even better now.”
“He is very strong and powerful.”
Giga Kick won The Everest as a three-year-old but suffered a pectoral injury as a spring four-year-old that saw him miss a year.
Douglas believes he has only just returned to the horse he was as a three-year-old.
“It was such a deep-seated injury that he just need time to get over it,” Douglas said.
“You could see it on the scans but there was nothing you could do for it was wait for it to heal.”
“He came back in the spring and was that horse again because he wasn’t injured.”
”He has been in the same shape since being back and might be stronger.”
Giga Kick is a $4 chance for the long-awaited clash with Coolmore Stud Stakes winner, Tentyris, in next month’s Lightning Stakes.
The pair were supposed to meet in the Champions Sprint but Tentyris was scratched at the barriers.
Tentyris is the $2.80 Lightning favourite as he attempts to emulate Home Affairs, who completed the Coolmore-Lightning double as a three-year-old.
