Wonderful Filly Ready For Take Off
She was the star of the show in the first half of 2022 at Gloucester Park and now Wonderful To Fly is coming back for more feature race success in the remaining six months of the year.
The star filly won eight of her 11 starts between January and May, with the $50,000 Diamond Classic (2130m) the most recent of her wins.
The daughter of Fly Like An Eagle also took out the APG Sales Classic (2130m) in February and the APG Gold Bullion (1730m) in April.
Wonderful To Fly looks well placed to add another feature win on her return to the track in Friday’s Westsired Pace (2130m) for the three-year-old fillies.
Trainer and driver Shane Young said he was happy with how his stable star was progressing towards her return to the track.
“She had a good hit out on Saturday morning and I think she’s on track,” he told The Trots WA.
“She had three weeks off after the Diamond and she would’ve been back in four weeks from the break by the time she races.
“It’s hard to know exactly where she’s at but she did well in those three weeks off and seems to have grown up a little bit more.
“Her work says she definitely hasn’t gone backwards.”
The Westbred Classic has been moved back to September in 2022, while the WA Oaks will be run in October.
Young said he had plenty of options with Wonderful To Fly and would have to place her carefully to have her primed for the Group 1 features.
“She will have a couple of runs over the next few weeks, then we may look to give her another week or 10 days off,” he said.
“We will target the Country Oaks at Bunbury, which is a good race for her, then look to the Westbred.”
Young said he wouldn’t be afraid to take on the colts and geldings in November’s WA Derby (2536m) if her form warranted it.
“I actually think with a soft run off the pace in the WA Derby against the boys we could see the best of her,” he said.
“If she’s holding her form through the Westbred and the WA Oaks then it would be a bit of a free hit in the Derby.
“I’m not frightened of taking on the colts and geldings, because there probably isn’t any Lavra Joe types or Mighty Ronaldo types this year.”
Meanwhile, Lavra Joe, Jumpingjackmac, Chicago Bull and Magnificent Storm could all clash in this week’s Free-For-All at Gloucester Park.
Tim Walker
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