Gimme A Nother makes her US debut

Star racer Gimme a Nother makes her North American debut in Saturday’s Grade 2 $US225,000 Hillsborough Stakes over 1800m at Tampa Bay Downs in Florida.

The Daily Racing Form reported: “Gimme A Nother, formerly trained by Mike de Kock, hasn’t raced since last April, taking the Group 1 Tab Empress Club Stakes in South Africa for her second career Grade 1 victory. In September, she began a two-month quarantine period during which she was permitted to train. She came to the U.S. in late November and has been working steadily at the Palm Meadows training center in South Florida since early January.

“On Feb. 10, Gimme a Nother outworked the South African-bred Beach Bomb, who won last Saturday’s The Very One Stakes at Gulfstream Park. On Feb. 23, Gimme a Nother worked in company with last year’s Hillsborough winner, Sparkle Blue, who is in the race again this year, and the pair were basically heads apart at the wire.

“‘She’s done everything I’ve asked her to do,” trainer Graham Motion said. ‘She was breezing with Beach Bomb and she breezed the last two weeks with Sparkle Blue. It’s going to be a tough enough spot to get her started in, but she’s 7 for 7.’”

Motion has won the Hillsborough twice, including last year with Sparkle Blue, and he has engaged champion jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. to ride the South African bred.