There will be mixed emotions for trainer Ross Pecora if Winta Chiller can win at Flemington on Saturday.
Winta Chiller, who went agonisingly close to giving the part-time trainer his first stakes win two weeks ago, is out of Pecora's mare Tina's Way who had to be euthanised this week after she broke her leg in a paddock.
Pecora only has two horses in work - Winta Chiller and her elder half-brother Octavanus - and he says the three-year-old filly is the best he's had "by ten lengths".
He juggles training his two horses with running a cheese business at the Dandenong Market.
Winta Chiller, a daughter of Artie Shiller, provided Pecora with his first city win at Caulfield in February after the trainer had experienced a few near misses.
She will be out for another metropolitan success in the Bruce Gadsden Handicap (1200m).
"This would be bittersweet if it happened," Pecora said.
Winta Chiller returned from a spell at Flemington two weeks ago and hit the line strongly in the 1200m Listed event to be beaten narrowly by She Can Skate and Spending.
"She's yet to put in a bad run and I thought with a bit of luck she might have won that race the other day," Pecora said.
Winta Chiller will have her runs spaced through winter with the plan to have a crack at another stakes race early next season.
But which event she is aimed at hasn't been decided.
"This is the first time I've had a horse good enough to worry about things like that," Pecora said.