By Joshua Smith, Harness News Desk
Christmas came early for Nicky Chilcott on Thursday, with the Cambridge trainer recording a winning treble at her home track.
With a bumper 12 race card, local trainers were asked to gear up their horses in their own barns, and Chilcott said it worked wonders for two of her team.
“Madeakillin and Ivegotbills are brothers and they both are really cool horses, but they just get quite anxious when they go to the races,” Chilcott said.
“Because there were so many races, they (Cambridge Raceway) asked the local trainers if they could gear up at their own barns. My two thought they were going out for a training run and I think it helped both of them.”
Madeakillin was the first on the board for Chilcott when taking out the $20 Steak, chips, & A Drink @ The Clubhouse On Fridays Trot (2200m).
“I thought he was really brave,” Chilcott said. “He got monstered in the middle and they ran a pretty good time.
“He gets quite wound up before the races. He is good enough to race at Auckland, but he gets really upset on the trip up.
“It worked in our favour being able to gear up from the barn today.”
Three races later Ivegotbills doubled Chilcott’s tally when winning the Agrowquip | John Deere Cambridge Trot (2200m) by 3-1/4 lengths over Demolition Man.
“Ivegotbills has just taken a bit of time,” Chilcott said. “I have had a lot of juniors come through my stable and because he is my own horse, and he has good manners, I have used him to teach my kids how to drive.
“Hence why he was six before he has even got to the races.”
Chilcott wasn’t finished heading to the winner’s circle, with Phoebe Imperial securing a stable treble when comfortably taking out the Cambridge Homes Handicap Trot (2200m) after sitting parked throughout.
What made the gelding’s win more impressive was his ongoing respiratory issues.
“He is a very good horse, but he has a major lung disease,” Chilcott said. “If he didn’t have that he would be a seriously competitive open grade horse.
“It was a bit of a relief today. I thought he was really good at Auckland (last start), he loomed into it like he was going to win, but just blew out the last little bit.”
Chilcott said she wasn’t overly perturbed that Phoebe Imperial sat parked throughout.
“It didn’t worry me that he was sitting parked. He can race anywhere and he has got speed,” she said.
“If he ends up outside them he just drops the bit. He is a really good racehorse, it’s just a shame he can’t breathe.
“He lives on the nebuliser and inhalers. It is very hard because all the medications we give him have got big withholding times on them. We can treat him while he is working, but when he gets up close to racing we have got to knock all of that off.”
Chilcott was pleased with the treble and said it was a much needed boost for her and her team.
“It tripled my number of winners for the season. It has been a challenging beginning to the season,” she said.
“It was nice for the whole team. We haven’t had the rub of the green lately, so it was good.”
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