Ottilie out to make a winning return at Hawkesbury after move north

Nearly seven months since she last raced, exciting mare Ottilie returns to the track at Hawkesbury on Thursday ready to pick up where she left off in autumn.

The lightly raced four-year-old is now in the stable of Newcastle’s Jason Deamer, transferred from the Randwick base of Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott where she never finished further back than second in four starts.

But it’s been a relocation north, and something of a waiting game for connections, since this US-sired galloper put two dominant wins together as a three-year-old earlier this year, both times leading all the way with plenty in hand at Hawkesbury and Canberra.

Ottilie returns for a crack at much better gallopers in a strong Benchmark 64 Hcp over 1100m, and further tested by being drawn wide.

Yet she’s a mare blessed with natural speed, and a quickfire change of gear, and if she jumps cleanly at Hawkesbury, must loom as the one to beat.

Ottilie is by renowned American sprint sire Air Force Blue, who captured the Group 1 Dewhurst at Newmarket in the UK seven years ago, and out of capable Barathea mare Angora who raced up to Listed level in Victoria.

The race will also give connections a chance to dispel any theories that Ottilie is a wet tracker. Both her wins last prep came on Soft 7 ground, and a recent smart trial win at Gosford was run in Heavy-rated going.

Meanwhile, one race later in the featured Listed Ladies Day Cup over a mile, high-class six-year-old Kirwan’s Lane will be out to snap a winless streak that stretches back to the Group 3 Hawkesbury Gold Cup in April.

That said, Kirwan’s Lane still has a near 30 percent winning strike rate from 36 starts, and shapes as the real class runner in this battle.