Maiden Stakes win comes at an opportune time for Chairman’s Sale entry.
Kimochi's owner Leo To is sticking to his plan to sell the classy filly at this year's Inglis Chairman's Sale despite her win in Saturday's Group 2 Light Fingers Stakes at Randwick.
In fact, the 1200-metre win has only heightened To's desire to sell the daughter of Brave Smash, whom he bought for $21,000 as a weanling.
The Light Fingers Stakes success was Kimochi's first at Stakes level, which To considered an endorsement of his plan to offer the Gary Portelli-trained filly.
"The decision to sell her was one we made just after the Spring when she was at the top of her game because I wanted to let the marketplace know what my intentions were early," To said.
"I didn't want people to think we were selling her because she was going poorly or anything like that.
"I wanted to come out early and announce it and what today showed again is that she is an elite filly because those other horses in that race today were the best three-year-old fillies around and I have the utmost respect for all of them but my filly proved too strong and showed she is in for a big Autumn Carnival ahead of the Chairman's Sale.
"That was a very good field today so she'll come back in two weeks for the Surround Stakes at Group 1 level and race most of them again and hopefully she can win that and more Group 1s before the Chairman's Sale."
Saturday's win was just Kimochi's second win from 10 starts, but she is yet to finish outside the top three and has Group 1 placings in the Flight Stakes (1600m) and Thousand Guineas (1600m).
She will be one of the big-ticket items at this year's Chairman's Sale, which is headlined by She's Extreme and has recently landed Group 1 winner Startantes and Melbourne Cup placegetter High Emocean as entries for the sale.
The 2024 Chairman's Sale will be held at Inglis's Riverside complex in Sydney on May 9.
