By Michael Guerin
A desire to teach Monkey Selfie to settle was enough for trainer Nicky Chilcott to put the talented trotting mare in a less than perfect race at Cambridge on Sunday.
But that doesn’t mean she can’t win.
Monkey Selfie returns as one of the star attractions as the small twilight meeting on Sunday, with Chilcott having two in the race on a busy afternoon for her stable.
The five-year-old daughter of Monkey Bones has won six races and would have captured even more had it not been for wanting to get on with the job too early sometimes, seeing her over-race and prove hard to rate.
Her two Alexandra Park wins last autumn confirmed her talent and she will work her way to open class if she can learn to harness herspeed, which is why Chilcott is racing her at home this Sunday.
“It isn’t the ideal race being 2700m but I really wanted to drive her myself for her first couple of starts at least and that meant I couldn’t send her to Alexandra Park because I can’t be there,” says Chilcott.
“So while the 2700m isn’t ideal fresh up I will drive her cold and attempt to get her to settle and if she does that she will still be hard to beat because she has so much speed.”
Chilcott, who is happy training a team of between 15 and 20 these days, also has Phoebe Imperial in the race, the trotting highlight of the programme.
“He is a horse who could have got through to open class but he has got a lung issue.
“Because of that the 2700m isn’t ideal for him but he did run third over this trip three starts ago so he is not the worst.”
Chilcott suggests Ideal Tomado (race one) isn’t far from needing a spell while Reign (race five) is an each way chance at best.
She has plenty of time though for well bred three-year-old Del Shannon, who has his second start in the last race, a 2200m mobile trot.
“He is a really nice horse and it has almost come a bit too easy for him so he hasn’t really learned anything yet,” she explains.
“He is bred to be a good trotter and he will be so he can definitely win.”
The battle between juvenile Classy Operator and handy intermediate grade pacer Pull The Other Leg in race six will add some pacing class to the programme.
