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By Julieanne Horsman

Promising All American filly, Velocano, is set to make her debut at Canterbury tomorrow.

The two-year-old will line up in the Casino Prince @ Vinery Plate and trainer Marc Conners is confident she will be competitive.

“It’s never easy to win in the city first start but I think she will run well,” he said.

Velocano was due to race at Wyong on 8th June but the meeting was abandoned due to wet and wild weather.

She was instead trialled at Warwick Farm on 15th, finishing strongly for third without much persuasion.

“It was a nice trial,” Conners said. “It kept her ticking over for tomorrow.” Kathy O’Hara has ridden Velocano in three of her four trials and has the mount at Canterbury.

“After her trial the other day Kathy told me she is getting smarter with every trial,” Conners said.

“She is definitely more race aware and is ready to go.

“The heavy track is the query but she trialled on a soft track and seemed to handle it.

“The gate (9) isn’t ideal but she has enough tactical speed for Kathy to put her where she needs to be.”

Velocano has endured a bit of bad luck which delayed her debut. She won a 2YO fillies open trial at Warwick Farm in January, filling her connections with optimism. But while the horse that came second in the trial, Teaspoon, went on to win the Group 3 Widden Stakes a few days later, Velcano went shin sore and had to be spelled.

“We were patient and gave her the time she needed to recover and grow and she has come back a lot stronger,” Conners said.

Velocano was bred by Andrew Rose who owns her dam, Novita Flash. He thought she had potential and decided to retain and race her.

“Andrew has been a client of mine for a while and I was very happy when he gave me the horse,” Conners said.

“She’s a nice filly with a bit of an attitude and I’m looking forward to seeing race tomorrow.”

View the fields and form (including race replays) for Canterbury's Wednesday meeting here.