Excitement is brewing among the connections of three-year-old filly Imperial Empress as she nears her raceday debut.

Jono Rayner is among the Go Racing Magic Carpet Syndicate, who own the filly, having won the LOVERACING.NZ ‘Share The Thrill’ ownership promotion which rewarded him and three friends (new to the Thoroughbred industry) with a 10 percent share in the daughter of Satono Aladdin.

She had her first trial at Te Awamutu last week for trainer Stephen Marsh and pleased both the Cambridge conditioner and Go Racing principal Albert Bosma with her fourth placed run in her 850m heat.

“She has come back ready to go as a spring three-year-old and her trial was enormous,” Bosma said. “She has a great stride on her and has loads of ability.

“She has got the right blood - Satono Aladdin, you couldn’t have bought into a better stallion, and she is a full-sister to a Group One performer (Japanese Emperor) in Australia already, so she has got a bit of residual value

“She is a lovely filly and it is all in front of her.”

Imperial Empress.  Photo credit: Trish Dunell

Bosma said she will now head north to Ruakaka next week where she will trial before heading to the races to make her much anticipated debut.

“We will send her up there on the Monday and have an overnight trip and be away from the stable, which will be great for her mental development,” he said.

“She will trial on the Tuesday and then she should be ready to go to the races.”

Bosma is excited for Rayner and said it has been an enjoyable experience going on the ride with the Share The Thrill promotion winner.

“We were approached to see if we wanted to be involved (in the Share The Thrill ownership promotion) and naturally we did,” Bosma said.

“We put our name in with a bunch of other syndicators and our name got drawn out of a hat (as the winning syndicator), which I think was a fair way for it to happen.

“We got allocated the people that won the Share The Thrill promotion and it came upon us to find the right horse for them within the budget.”

Bosma went to Karaka last year and thought Imperial Empress was the perfect fit and went to $85,000 to secure her out of Rich Hill Stud’s Booking 1 Yearling Sale draft.

“They (promotion winners) are a great bunch of people who have got involved, there are four of them,” Bosma said.

Three members of the winning team at Karaka 2022.

“When she had a few little issues as a two-year-old they were really patient and understood. They are probably the most excited and are texting after she trialled and are talking about her and are pretty pumped for it (debut).”

While she has yet to make it to the races, Bosma has big hopes for Imperial Empress.

“She is nominated for the 1000 Guineas (Gr.1, 1600m), but the TAB hasn’t been nice to us. She is unraced and they have her at $31 (in the futures market),” he said.

“But we think she has got a very bright future and we can’t wait to get her to the races.”

Catch up on Imperial Empress' journey from the sales ring to the parade ring here and keep an eye out for details on this season's Share the Thrill promotion.