“It is amazing she remained alive!”

ON PAPER she is no superstar, but the fact Chirripo won six races and been among the placegetters 12 times from her first 45 starts suggests different.

Yes, that record doesn’t exactly scream champion, but given the circumstances, Chirripo has performed a lot better than she should have.

In fact, the daughter of Always B Miki probably shouldn’t be alive, let alone racing according to trainer Laura Wilson.

“Earlier this year she got very sick and she is lucky to be alive,” Wilson said. “I thought she had colic and this went on and on.

“A vet came out and kept treating her, but for days she hadn’t had a poo, so I took her to Bendigo and pretty much said goodbye to her as she was in terrible condition.

“Later that night, I got a call from the equine hospital saying they decided to operate on her and were shocked to find a lead rope stuck in her intestines.

“They believe it had been there pretty much all her life, so it is amazing she remained alive, let alone getting to the races and being as consistent as she was.”

Given plenty of time to recover, Chirripo returned to her consistent best with four placings from nine starts before finally completing a well-deserved victory in Shepparton last night.

With Wilson in the cart, Chirripo was pushed through from her second row draw to be two-back in the running line as Spirit Of Sahara led from gate two.

Four-deep around the home turn, Chirripo sprinted to an eye-catching four-and-a-half metre win from Katunga Express.

Keayang Omar was seven metres away third in 1:54.7 over 1690 metres.

“She’s been going well since she came back from her operation, but just hasn’t had any luck,” Wilson said. “A couple of times I felt she didn’t let down like I think she should’ve, but did last night and it showed.

“I am rapt with her run and even more so knowing what she has been through.

“She will be in the breeding barn by this time next year, so the plan is to simply try and win a few more while getting some nice times next to her name.”