There is always a temptation to compare horses from different generations, but Kerry Parker says two of the most talented staying fillies he has trained are chalk and cheese.
Parker will saddle up Hope In Your Heart in the Vinery Stud Stakes (2000m) at Rosehill on Saturday, a decade after Aliyana Tilde finished third behind Mosheen and Streama in the corresponding race.
Aliyana Tilde almost staged a major boilover a start later when she just failed to down $1.40 favourite Streama in the ATC Australian Oaks and while Hope In Your Heart finds herself on a similar journey 10 years later, the parallels between the Parker pair stop there.
“The other filly was very quiet and anybody could handle her, where this filly, you bring her out of the box and she is a hundred miles an hour,” Parker said.
“Little Hope In Your Heart, you’d love to go in there and just turn the idling screw down a few notches. She is just a handful all the time.
“It doesn’t matter where she’s going, she can be going somewhere and she has no idea where she’s going, but she’s going.
“She is a very hot, energetic filly, which has always been the trick with her, trying to hold her together.”
Parker is managing to do a good job of that so far.
After opening her campaign with a brace of minor placings against older horses, Hope In Your Heart was tested against the best of her age group in the Group 1 Surround Stakes (1400m), finishing an eye-catching sixth to Vinery fancy Hinged.
She was again strong to the line when defeating all but Pretty Amazing in the Kembla Grange Classic (1600m) at Goulburn, a race Aliyana Tilde also placed in when it was known as the Keith Nolan Classic.
Like Aliyana Tilde, Hope In Your Heart is on an Australian Oaks path but firstly needs to pass her first test over a middle-distance at Rosehill.
“She did hit the line really strongly in the Kembla Grange Classic at Goulburn the other day so off that, you’ve got to give her a shot at 2000 (metres),” Parker said.
“It’s not an easy task, it’s a hard race and there are some very good fillies in it but let’s hope she’s not far away from them.”