Grahame Begg’s up-and-coming filly Secret Admirer has claimed an upset win in Race 5 at Randwick today, beating home a field full of stars in the $400,000 Group 1 Coolmore Flight Stakes (1600m), which was the first of four Group 1 races at the meeting.
Dubawi filly Secret Admirer was a $17 chance at Sportsbet, and after sitting last on the turn, displayed a stunning turn of foot to fly past the field up on the outside and beat home the favourites.
A perfectly timed ride by jockey Brenton Avdulla, who enjoyed his first Group 1 win today, saw Secret Admirer ($17) hit the line hard to win ahead of Gai Waterhouse’s More Strawberries ($2.70) with the other favourite Parables ($3.10) in a gallant third.
More Strawberries was fast from gate one to take an early lead, but was quickly overtaken by Slow The Flow who went to the front as More Strawberries was forced back.
On the straight More Strawberries, half sister to last year’s Flight Stakes winner More Joyous, was given every chance to win travelling up nicely while Parables was also closing in on the outside.
But it was Secret Admirer who was the dominant filly today with her giant strides over the final 50m pushing her to the line first after an unlucky third here last weekend.
Secret Admirer has now won two of her four career starts and will be sent for a well deserved spell before coming back in the autumn “bigger and better” according to Begg.
The next race at Randwick’s Epsom Super Saturday meeting is Race 6 – the $400,000 Group 1 Inglis Spring Champion Stakes (2000m) – set to jump at 2:50pm.
Retrieve will start the favourite and is our top pick in Race 6, so to back them at the best odds sign up with [sportsbet] now!
2010 Coolmore Flight Stakes Results
| Pos | Horse | Margin | Price | Barrier | Benchmark | Weight | Jockey | Trainer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | 8.SECRET ADMIRER | $17.00 | 11 | 69.00 | 56 | Brenton Avdulla (a1.5) | Grahame Begg | |
| 02 | 1.MORE STRAWBERRIES | 0.2 | $3.00F | 1 | 97.00 | 56 | Nash Rawiller | Gai Waterhouse |
| 03 | 3.PARABLES | 1 | $3.10 | 6 | 93.00 | 56 | Corey Brown | Peter Snowden |
| 04 | 6.SLOW THE FLOW | 1.5 | $61.00 | 10 | 73.00 | 56 | Jim Cassidy | Matthew Smith |
| 05 | 4.SASA | 1.6 | $8.00 | 3 | 88.00 | 56 | Glyn Schofield | Tim Martin |
| 06 | 2.YOSEI | 3.7 | $7.50 | 9 | 95.00 | 56 | Michelle Payne | Stuart Webb |
| 07 | 5.ZUTARA | 3.8 | $10.00 | 4 | 78.00 | 56 | Hugh Bowman | Gai Waterhouse |
| 08 | 9.FIBRILLATION | 4.1 | $61.00 | 7 | 68.00 | 56 | Tye Angland | Tim Martin |
| 09 | 11.HEARTSAREFORLOVE | 5.5 | $51.00 | 5 | 66.00 | 56 | Craig Williams | John P Thompson |
| 10 | 12.CRAFTY IRNA | 5.7 | $201.00 | 2 | 59.00 | 56 | Tim Clark | Ron Quinton |
| 11 | 7.CHULA VISTA | 11 | $101.00 | 8 | 71.00 | 56 | Jay Ford | Anthony Cummings |
| SC | 10.BRAZILIAN PULSE (NZ) | NA | 67.00 | 56 | Blake Shinn | Michael Moroney |
Flight Stakes Exotic Bet Payouts
| Bet | Horse Numbers | [iasbet] SuperPrice |
|---|---|---|
| Exacta | 1-6 | $14.44 |
| Quinella | 1-6 | $7.47 |
| Trifecta | 1-6-8 | $108.31 |
| First4 | 1-6-8-2 | $472.19 |
