SHIKI FULFILLS BOTT'S PROPHECY IN THE GOLD PEARL

By Graham Potter | Saturday, January 10, 2026

The Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott trained Shiki showed her true worth in no uncertain terms when slamming her opposition in the AQUIS Gold Pearl over 1110m at the Gold Coast, scoring every bit as easily as the two-length winning margin suggests.

And, without any fear of contradiction, after the race Adrian Bott could have said ‘I told you so,’ if he wanted to, because part of the reassurance he gave the connections of Shiki after the filly had finished fourth in her previous start, when expected to make it two in a row after her debut win, was the statement, delivered with some conviction, that Shiki ‘would be winning her next start.’

Bott had good reason to draw a line through that second run of Shiki.

The official stewards’ report for that race noted that there was blood present in Shiki’s mouth behind the barriers, necessitating a vet check. Once cleared to run things did not go any better with Shiki being awkwardly away, then shifting out abruptly making contact with another horse … and then she was off and gone, over-racing, tearing away in a lead that was far too keen for her to be able to sustain a competitive effort all of the way to the line.

That being the case, Shiki’s debut win in the Group 3 Gimcrack, and her two subsequent trial wins after that, offer a better basis on which to assess her capability … and, with the Gimcrack win coming in October, it would be fair to assume that Shiki has made further progress along the way since then.

Bott would have known where Shiki stood in the grand scheme of things and his prediction of her win in the Gold Pearl was spot on.

And, this time, it was an easy watch for Shiki’s connections.

Shiki, who was the $3.40 second favourite behind the main fancy, her stable companion By Choice, was away nicely enough without really being pushed along early, but Tim Clark then had the daughter of Too Darn Hot move up into fifth place … and closing … in the sweep to the home turn.

Cornering four to five wide, Clark and Shiki quickly put the matter to rest early in the home straight, sprinting into the lead as far out as the 300m mark and speeding away from all opposition to ultimately hold a race winning lead all the way sown the home straight.

Double Cool ($12) finished two lengths off the winner in second place, narrowly beating home the third favourite Tigroni ($4.60).

This was an important result for Double Cool whose runner-up finish earned her a place in the $3 million Magic Millions Two-Year-Old Classic at the same track next Saturday. Tigroni will also line up in the blockbuster.

The $2.70 favourite By Chance failed to flatter at any stage of the running with nothing going his way at all. His debut win in his previous run would suggest that the chestnut is a much better filly than she showed here.

“She did a few things wrong first-up. We know she’s explosive and has a good turn-of-foot, but we just had to harness it and do it the right way which is obviously important going into the big grand final next week,” said co-trainer Adrian Bott.

“She had a good couple of weeks and arrived really well. This week, she really started to relax and did what we wanted to see in her work. The draw and the set-up today, a lot of things have fallen her way. There was good speed in and round her and hopefully that sets her up for next week.

“We’ll do very little with her this week,” continued Bott. “We had this particular setup in mind for her which has been quite successful. We wanted her to have a look at the track here. She’ll potter around for the week and hopefully she’ll be nice and fresh for next week.

Jockey Tim Clark fully endorsed the level of progress Shiki has shown between runs.

“Credit to the team at home. To be able to turn her around in three weeks after she raced very fierce and to get her up here and race so tractably today … big kudos to the team for getting her to do that.

“She was a completely different horse to what we saw at Randwick. She presented a lot better and she’ll have more to come after today.

“She qualified by winning the Gimcrack so next week is when we want her to perform - not last time or today. It is all about getting her to peak up on the right day.”

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