V86® (multi jackpot): Stefan's new promise from USA - "A very nice filly"
She started her racing career at the Meadowlands this past summer and had only been in Stefan P Pettersson's training for three weeks when she made her racing debut on Swedish soil.
That ended with an impressive victory for Kitty Hawk – and now the promising two-year-old filly comes out as the favorite in a leg of the Breeders Crown´ series on this multi jackpot V86® card.
"She is a very nice filly and it was fantastic that she could win after being flown in from another continent just three weeks before that" says Stefan P Pettersson.
A multi jackpot is in play on Wednesday and at the time of writing this, there is SEK 24 million in the pool for all eight winners picked. That number can increase after Monday and Tuesday night, should there be another jackpot.
Åby and Solvalla co-host this multi-jackpot and one of the featured races is the Breeders Crown leg for two-year-olds. That will be raced at Solvalla as the second V86 leg and the favorite is Kitty Hawk, a two-year-old filly now trained by Stefan P Pettersson and she will be driven by Torbjörn Jansson. The filly started her career this past summer by making three starts at the Meadowlands. She was trained by Marcus Melander and after finishing third in 1:12.8, she was flown over to Sweden. Stefan P Pettersson was asked to train the filly by owner Stall Courant and Kitty Hawk had only been in his care for three weeks when she made her first start on Swedish soil. It ended in an impressive front-end victory together with Kevin Oscarsson in a Breeders Crown leg at Åby, in 1:14.3/1,640 meters.
"2 Kitty Hawk (V86-2) came to me three weeks before the start at Åby and she had raced decent, but wasn't good enough to compete with the best fillies in the States. The owner then decided to take her home since was born in Sweden" says Stefan P Pettersson.
"She is a very nice filly, gorgeous and long-legged for an American two-year-old. She is very laid back, has a nice gait, and feels strong and set in her gait. She is just a very nice filly".
"Had changed continents, stables, paddocks, and training schedule"
What do you think of her first start for you?
"She left well, Kevin played it a bit safe the first 50 meters out of the gate but then she went to the lead and she got pressured a bit down the backside. Maybe she relaxed a bit at the end when she was alone, but it was also a very quick last 500 meters and Daniel Wäjersten's nice filly came charging fast at the end. But our filly kept her speed up and won easily" says Stefan P Pettersson.
"You have to say that it's fantastic that a filly who has changed continents, stables, paddocks, and training schedule can deliver like that after only three weeks. It takes a very confident and stable horse, which she is. I had only trained her slow a few times and she got one slow heat at Mantorp racetrack before that start".
How did Kitty Hawk come out of that start and how has she looked in training after that?
"It's only been two weeks since she raced so we have just trained her nice and slow. We have a deep straight track and an uphill track which she is not used to and she has trained together with our other two-year-olds. It's basically just maintenance and to keep her sound and smooth. She eats and is feeling good, so it didn't take much out of her".
"Middle distance for the first time - difficult to assess"
What do you think of this start at Solvalla, with post two behind the gate?
"She will probably be the betting favorite and maybe she should be, but you need to remember that she is only two years old and she will now race on the middle distance for the very first time. She has only raced one lap and 1,600 meters over there and this time she will go two laps. It's difficult to assess, even for us".
"But I have no complaints whatsoever and I'm as happy as I can be with her. Like I said, she feels very good and I hope that she will be good enough again. She feels like a fantastic filly and we are not changing anything. Shoes all around, open-eye blind bridle and a regular style sulky again" says Stefan P Pettersson.