Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
Pinjarra trainer Shane Young’s flying filly Wonderful To Fly is poised to extend her winning sequence to eleven by outclassing her rivals in the $50,000 Ride For Ahlia Daintys Daughter Classic at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Wonderful To Fly has been a dominant force as a three-year-old this year with 12 wins and three placings from 15 starts, and she will be a long odds-on favourite from the prized No. 1 barrier. She warmed up for this classic with an effortless victory over Little Darling in the group 1 Westbred Classic last Friday week.
Always An Angel went into last year’s Daintys Daughter Classic as the $1.90 favourite and boasting a winning sequence of six. She began from barrier three and was unsuccessful in a concerted bid for the early lead and then faced the breeze before wilting to finish fifth behind the pacemaker and $7.70 chance Rumour Has It, who started from the No. 1 barrier.
This was the first time since February 2014 that the filly who started from barrier No. 1 had been successful. The winner in 2014 was Majorly Foxy Styx, who started at 3/1 on and won by six lengths — the biggest winning margin in the history of the race — and it completed a hat-trick of wins by the filly starting from the No. 1 barrier, with Talk About Mach (11/2) scoring in 2012 and Gota Good Lookadda (8/1) also leading and winning in 2013.
Wonderful To Fly possess excellent gate speed and Young is likely to have a trouble-free run in the lead, with the Barry Howlett-trained Little Darling, from the inside of the back line having a firm guarantee of enjoying the perfect sit behind the pacemaker.
Little Darling, to be driven by Chris Lewis, started from barrier five and worked hard in the breeze when a 10m second to Wonderful To Fly in the Westbred Classic a fortnight ago.
Bunbury trainer Sarah Wall’s consistent Dontbesillychilli ran on from sixth at the bell to finish third in the Westbred Classic. Dontbesillychilli will start from the No. 2 barrier on Friday night, with Emily Suvaljko anxious to gain a sit in the one-wide line.
Trainer Ross Olivieri, who prepared Double Expresso for her win in the Daintys Daughter Classic in 2020, will be pinning his faith in Taking The Miki, who has raced 20 times for five wins, nine seconds and two thirds. But reinsman Chris Voak admitted that, from the outside barrier (No. 9) on the front line, Taking The Miki faced a monumental task.
Leading trainers Greg and Skye Bond and star reinsman Ryan Warwick will be looking for a stout-hearted effort from In The Spotlight, a winner at nine of her 16 starts, who will begin from the No. 3 barrier. They combined to win the race with the brilliant filly Dodolicious in 2016.
Astute Henley Brook trainer Mike Reed has won the classic with Sheer Royalty (2009) and Maczaffair (2017). He will be represented by Queeninthecorner, a winner of five races who faces a stern test from barrier six.