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By Ray Hickson

Exciting filly Aqua D’Ivina will miss the Sydney autumn, and possibly the rest of the season, after having surgery for a bout of colic.

A gutted trainer Matthew Smith revealed the three-year-old, impressive winner of her past two starts at Wyong and Randwick, is recovering well but will need a good break.

“She was showing signs of colic last week over a period of three days,’’ Smith said.

“It wasn’t a true colic, we knew that, we weren’t sure what it was. The decision was made to investigate and she had an inflamed cecum and it needed cleaning out.’’

Smart filly Aqua D'Ivina will miss the autumn carnival. (Pic: Steve Hart).

Aqua D’Ivina is rated by Smith as one of the most promising horses he’s trained and had her pegged as a stakes performer for the Sydney autumn.

The daughter of Pierro and former star mare Aqua D’Amore has only had four starts and Smith has long said the best would be seen of her once she reaches a mile or further.

He’s not completely ruling out a Brisbane winter campaign but the horse’s welfare will come first and he said he won’t be afraid to give her a longer break if needed.

“I’m very disappointed. She’s been such a challenging filly to train, it was good to get the result here (at Randwick) because it hasn’t been straightforward at all,’’ he said.

“Fate will take its course. What will be will be.

“She’s a good horse, it’s hard to find horses like her. She’s the best one we’ve found for a while so we will just have to wait and see how it pans out.’’

The Warwick Farm trainer will now be relying on another talented three-year-old filly Touch Of Mink to tackle some of the feature fillies races in the autumn.

She’s still a maiden after seven starts but was Group 2 placed in Melbourne at her last start in the spring.

Touch Of Mink will have her first trial in this preparation at Rosehill on Monday with the Group 1 Australian Oaks (2400m) her ultimate goal.

Check out the fields for Monday's barrier trials at Rosehill featuring Winx and Redzel