Progressive gelding FLYING BANDIT gave the track record a nudge in winning at Hawkesbury on Thursday.
A slick last 600m of 34.22 seconds contributed to an overall time of 2:01.80 which was just 0.02 seconds outside the 2000m record set in 2017. Incredibly the last 600m of the 1100m BM64 handicap later in the meeting was only 0.04 seconds quicker than the staying event.
FLYING BANDIT, trained by Kerry Parker, settled third on the fence with barrier one looking like his main obstacle.
“Off his rating he should just beat these but there’s no real leader and we’ve drawn gate one, so the risk is that he gets caught up in traffic,” times analyst Nic Ashman said in his preview.
“But he’s got at least 3 or 4 lengths on them so we should be ok.”
On the point of the corner rider Jay Ford was able to extricate away from the inside as eventual third placegetter and stablemate SO SLEEK began to drop off.
The leader SEETHING SEB gave a good kick but class prevailed as FLYING BANDIT ($1.70) pulled clear to record a decisive 1.7L victory over SEETHING SEB ($7) with SO SLEEK ($4.40) 4.5L away in third.
“The big bad bandit!” Loved the call @MarlowLuke 👌 #flyingbandit pic.twitter.com/aKnFtFbmIL
— PR🟢VEN Thoroughbreds (@ProvenTbreds) October 24, 2024
Clearly, he relished the step up in trip and both trainer and jockey believe the son of TRAPEZE ARTIST will get even further in time.
“I assume that was very easy to watch because it was a very easy ride,” Ford said.
“It was just a matter of getting off the fence at the right time and he rounded them up comfortably.
“He’ll get further. It’s just whether we try him this prep or wait until next time in when he’s more seasoned.”
Earlier in the program, Proven and Joe Pride took the covers off PRIVATE EYE’s younger half-brother KING’S SECRET. The 3YO gelding started second favourite in the 1000m Inglis boosted Maiden off the back of some encouraging barrier trials but was held up for a run at a crucial point before rattling home to beat all bar BENZOU.
Short of winning, KING’S SECRET could not have done more on debut and looks to have a promising future. If he turns out to be half as good as his brother, we are going to have some fun with him!
FLYING BANDIT was a bargain buy at $20,000 from the Widden Stud draft of the 2022 Adelaide Magic Millions Sale. He was our 49th winner for 2024.
