Promising mare Give Giggles extended her perfect record at Ballarat to four-from-four with an emphatic win in Saturday’s A$80,000 A Grade Sheds Handicap (1100m).
Trained locally by Tony and Calvin McEvoy, the New Zealand-bred had previously collected three consecutive Ballarat victories, starting with a maiden win in her final three-year-old appearance in March. She resumed in the spring and picked up where she left off, winning again on September 22 and October 15.
Give Giggles was unplaced at Flemington on November 11, but bounced back impressively on Saturday in the hands of jockey Harry Coffey. She jumped well from gate one and sat in third along the inside, then dashed through a narrow gap one off the rail in the straight. The result was in little doubt from there as Give Giggles bounded away to win by three and a half lengths.
“That was the best feel she’s given me so far,” Coffey said. “She had a nice turn of foot in that soft ground today and felt really nice underneath me when she let go.
“We had a nice run and it all went her way, but I thought it was a pretty good win. Once that gap came, the way she quickened, she was always going to be hard to beat.”
Give Giggles has now had six starts for four wins, a second placing and A$104,940 in stakes for owners Peachester Lodge. The four-year-old has won three of her four starts this spring, and Tony McEvoy considers her unlucky not to have an even better record.
“That Flemington result wasn’t her fault,” he said. “I made a call on the day that we didn’t think we could get out to the spot on the track that you needed to get to that day, so we stayed in and it really backfired on us. It wasn’t her fault at all.
“We’ve just kept her fresh since then and she’s done a bit of dressage work. It’s such an advantage just to be able to walk over the road to the races, and she’s unbeaten here. She was fabulous today.
“I’d probably like to stop and wait with her now. She’s owned in Queensland, and she might be a filly that could go to Queensland next winter. Either way, she’s a handy filly and could come up a bit more yet.”
Give Giggles was bred by Inglewood Stud and is one of four winners in Australia this season for in-form Inglewood stallion War Decree. That list is headed by the three-year-old Warmonger, who won the Listed TAB Trophy (1800m) on Melbourne Cup Day at Flemington.
The dam of Give Giggles is the Domesday mare Giggly, a winning half-sister to the Group winners Crack Me Up and Hoofit. Give Giggles was offered by Inglewood Stud in Book 1 of Karaka 2021, where she was bought by Mulcaster Bloodstock for $85,000.
