Wet tracks in Queensland this year have washed away the chances of any number of horses as the State clocks up record annual rainfall, but not the Joe Pride prepared Southern visitor, IN FLIGHT!
The genuine little mare notched up her 6th career victory and first stakes honour in Saturday’s Listed Bright Shadow at Doomben, relishing the heavy conditions to unleash a sharp sprint (35.93s, slickest last 600m of the day) and outclass her female rivals by just under 2 lengths.
Beautifully handled by Jason Collett, the 4yo overcame some minor traffic issues early in the straight which later resulted in Collett receiving a severe reprimand.
“I was so confident on the turn, bumped one out of the way and geez it was easy, she was going to win from anywhere today,” Collett confessed post-race.
When quizzed by Joe as to whether IN FLIGHT could run 1200m, his response was immediate.
“Fine, she came back on the bridle then travelled into the race, I don’t see why she wouldn’t get it. She doesn’t overdo it and if we keep getting tracks like these…”
Two #WorldPool races and global punters are right on the mark 🎯
IN FLIGHT lands the Listed @mmsnippets Bright Shadow Quality for @PrideRacing, Jason Collett and @ProvenTbreds at $2.75 🌏pic.twitter.com/WozzMtWO4P
— World Pool (@WorldPool) May 17, 2025
Provided the waterlogged Queensland tracks don’t dry out over the winter, there are several other feature races over the winter carnival that IN FLIGHT could contest. Otherwise, she’ll compete in Sydney or even Melbourne with the Pride approach being, “we’ll go wherever it’s wet!”
IN FLIGHT, a $220,000 yearling from the Magic Millions Adelaide Sale, becomes the 10th individual stakes winner for her sire FLYING ARTIE and is yet another successful product of Kerrie Tibbey’s Goodwood Farm of PRIVATE EYE, FLYING ARTIE, REBEL DANE, MANAWANUI and DANCE HERO fame.
Less than an hour after IN FLIGHT’s triumph, the Matt Hoysted-trained ZATANNA completed a Proven double when dispatching her BM58 at the Gold Coast on the Polytrack.
The speedy daughter of our former stakes placed and multiple city winning performer BROOK MAGIC, showed all her mother’s customary speed in the 1050m dash. After flying the lids under stable apprentice Fiona Sandkuhl, the 3yo sustained a strong gallop to win by a comfortable 1.8 length margin.
ZATANNA has now banked a tick over $100,000 in prizemoney from seven career starts after being purchased by Proven for $95,000 at the 2023 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
Saturday’s double lifted our seasonal winner tally to 46 which will hopefully be boosted in coming weeks with the likes of PRIVATE EYE, ACCREDITED, FLYING BANDIT, TERMAGANT and ELIVINA all a chance of making appearances during the remainder of the carnival.