Mystery two-year-old in Giga Kick colours unleashed at Doomben on Saturday

It is a mystery even to her connections how two-year-old filly Not Surprised will fare when she steps up to Stakes company at Doomben on Saturday.

Punters didn’t miss Anthony Freedman and Sam Freedman-trained two-year Not Surprised when romping to victory on debut on the Sunshine Coast synthetic track, but connections say it’s a mystery whether the filly will measure up in the big league on Saturday.

Although officially easing in betting from $2.35 to $2.90, as much as $8 had earlier been available prior to Not Surprised sitting on-pace and winning easily by almost three lengths in a 1000m scamper on the Sunday Sunshine Coast meeting on May 5.

Not Surprised, a young son of Puissance De Lune, is one of more than a dozen Freedman horses in Queensland for the winter carnival, with Anthony Freedman having a temporary six-month lease on stables on the Sunshine Coast.

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Trainer Anthony Freedman. Picture: Getty Images.

Not Surprised wears the same colours as star sprinter Giga Kick with both owned by powerful racing identity, Jonathan Munz.

Not Surprised takes a big leap up in class on Saturday at Doomben, taking on Stakes company in the Listed Bill Carter Stakes (1200m) where the $2.15 favourite is $2.6m filly Clean Energy, trained by Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott.

Rod “Rocket” Douglas, the racing manager for Munz, says Not Surprised has plenty of ability but it is hard to get a gauge on her chances on Saturday in a race where she is rated an $11 chance after firming from $16.

“This filly trialled really well a couple of times before she raced,” Douglas said.

“The form out of those trials has ended up looking pretty good. She is a filly who has shown us a fair bit of promise but we have certainly dropped her in the deep end at Doomben on Saturday.

“I think she win run really well, whether she can measure up to some of these I don’t know so we will have to wait and see. It’s probably a bit of a mystery how she will go on Saturday, but she has worked really well and we are happy with the way she is going.”

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Not Surprised will be ridden by Melbourne Cup winning jockey Mark Zahra on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Douglas feels that Giga Kick’s little brother Pantoja has a promising future despite being beaten into third when making his debut at Bendigo on Wednesday.

“He got a bit lost when he came off the bit,” Douglas said of Pantoja.

“I think he will be a nice horse, without necessarily being a superstar.”

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Giga Kick, who has been off the scene recovering from injury since last spring, is potentially only six or seven weeks away from being at the trial or jumpout stage as long as he keeps progressing.

The camp is likely to bring him to Sydney or Brisbane to ramp up his work, getting some sun on his back and trialling him away from the cold Victorian winter.

Not Surprised continues the theme of Munz having horses named after themes from the UFC.

Pantoja is named after UFC competitor Alexandre Pantoja, while Not Surprised is named after what Nate Diaz said when he shocked the world as he defeated Conor McGregor.

Originally published as Mystery two-year-old in Giga Kick colours unleashed at Doomben on Saturday