Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Allendale East-based Connie Miller, still the only trainer in the long history of the Mount Gambier Cup to have won the event in consecutive years, was back among the winners at Sunday’s cup day meeting at Tara Raceway.

This time it was with Chilly Kiss, who came into the final of The Tankman 600 (600 m) feature grade five on the back of two 600 metre runs in the space of three days at the previous weekend’s meetings.

The three-year-old brindle bitch qualified for the final with a nine length third behind Big Rough in the Friday heats before fronting up again on the Sunday when running a 4¼ length second to Shiney Bling in a grade five bitches event.

And Chilly Kiss quickly dispelled any notions that the previous weekend could have taken the edge off her when flying the start from box eight in Sunday’s final, leading all the way to defeat Ernest Bale and Azumi Spice in a personal best time of 35.49 seconds.

The winner is raced by Miller’s 16-year-old Adelaide-based granddaughter Clarissa Miller who was unable to be on track to witness her dog’s second feature win at Tara Raceway this year.

Chilly Kiss, owned by young Miller since October, was successful last month in a feature grade five final over 512 metres when as a $34 chance she defeated Blazing Moment in 29.84 seconds.

By Spring Gun, Chilly Kiss is out of Chilly Babe, a Victorian city winner at Sandown Park and The Meadows. She was bred at Wagga Wagga by Matt Morris, also the breeder-owner of Sunday’s Mount Gambier Cup winner Xtreme Caution.

First-time sponsor, Allen Cram of tank cleaning business The Tankman, was on track for the presentation as was his Tankman truck, on display for promotional purposes.

Following the success of this year’s Tankman 600, the heat and final middle-distance series is now likely to be a part of the 2019 Mount Gambier Cup carnival.

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