Racing: True test for Chooks Minnie

Winning a fifth consecutive race in graded company is difficult enough at the best of times but to do it with a change of driver and in a capacity Alexandra Park field is something else again.

Nonetheless John Amoore, trainer of Chooks Minnie, is confident the horse he describes as 75 per cent pet and 25 per cent racehorse is up to the task.

"Even though she won last time she was a bit below par," said Amoore. "She'd been treated for a cold after her previous win and I'd done very little with her that week.

"She'd put on a bit of weight but she's improving all the time. She definitely won't be out of her depth."

Chooks Minnie, who has won five of her 12 starts to date, was the first horse that Amoore bought to train.

"I bought her because she was cute," said Amoore, "but I also liked her breeding and and the way she trotted in the paddock. As a two-year-old I thought she'd be about a six-win horse but I'm confident she'll go past that now."

Despite the presence of the classy mares Una Bromac and Shine On Alisha, and the Blanchard-trained pair Hide In Your Shell and Yummy Lace, Amoore does not consider tonight's race to be much more difficult than Chooks Minnie's most recent assignments.

"I don't see it that way," said Amoore. "When she won last time she went about a second faster than the tighter-class horses. She's not the fastest thing on four legs but her strong point is staying. She can go sub-3:30 if she has to and it doesn't matter if she has to work."

Chooks Minnie will tonight be driven by Logan Hollis, with regular driver Maurice McKendry opting to pilot Hide In Your Shell.

"It was a hard decision," said McKendry, "but Chooks Minnie has just got to this grade whereas Hide In Your Shell and Yummy Lace have already been there for a while.

"Last year I thought Hide In Your Shell would measure up to top company but he went to Christchurch and got crook. He's been trying to get back to it for a while and his last two runs have been good."

"Yummy Lace is a similar type of horse and there's not much between them. I just told Peter Blanchard to put me on one of them and I hope it's the right one."

McKendry considers Brooklyn Guy in the first race to be his best winning chance of the night but also gives a good chance to My Chavo, in the final leg of a $100,000 Pick 6.

My Chavo will be suited by the 2700m distance.

Starring at those same workouts was the Geoff Small-trained Awesome Armbro, who resumes in the first leg of Pick 6.

As a juvenile Awesome Armbro did many things wrong in his only two starts but looked forward when beating his 10 workout rivals despite sitting parked over the last lap.