Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
Pinjarra trainer-reinsman Shane Young admits that super filly Wonderful To Fly has a tricky draw to contend with, but he is still confident that she will emerge triumphant in the $100,000 TABtouch Westbred Classic for three-year-old fillies at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Wonderful To Fly will start from the inside of the back line in the 12-horse field, leaving Young with the task of getting her off the pegs and into the clear to enable her to display her brilliance which has enabled her to win at 20 of her 30 starts, including victories at her past nine appearances.
“I have no set plan, but obviously I’d like to get off the rail (as soon as possible), and do that within the rules,” he said. “We’ll just have to let things play out. The draw makes it a bit tricky. However, she can draw there and still be a good chance of winning.
“If she wasn’t as good as she is, she would be staying three back on the fence and hoping for luck. She is the best filly, but the draw equals us out a bit.”
Wonderful To Fly also started from the inside of the back line in the group 2 Diamond Classic four starts ago (on May 20) when Young eased her back just before the mobile sent the field on its way. Wonderful To Fly settled in last position and she quickly moved into the one-wide line before dashing to the front after 700m.
She then set a solid pace and sprinted over the final quarters in 28.4sec. and 27.9sec. to win from Sovrana and Little Darling.
Little Darling, trained by Barry Howlett and driven by Chris Lewis, followed that third placing with convincing victories at Narrogin and Gloucester Park before being sent for a spell. She will be having her first start for 14 weeks when she begins from the No. 5 barrier on Friday night.
Little Darling, Sovrana (barrier six), Free Wheeling (two) and Taking The Miki (eight) are smart fillies who are capable of figuring in the finish.
Owner-trainer Craig Abercromby is looking forward to having his filly, Free Wheeling, contesting a group 1 feature event from a favourable barrier with Aldo Cortopassi in the sulky.
“We will be attempting to lead,” he said. “She has been working well and seems good in herself. She led from barrier three in a 2150m trial at Byford on Sunday morning and won well.”
Driven by Abercromby’s son, Rob, Free Wheeling beat the highly-regarded New Zealand-bred filly Montana Glory by a half-length, rating 2.0.7, with final 400m sections of 29.4sec. and 28.8sec.