Gai Waterhouse's domination of the Group 1 Flight Stakes has continued at Randwick with Speak Fondly rallying under pressure to score a gutsy and determined victory.
Speak Fondly wins the Gr1 Flight Stakes at Randwick
Gai Waterhouse declared Speak Fondly the benchmark filly in Australia after she gave the trainer
a record eighth Flight Stakes victory at Randwick.
But the three-year-old won't be seen again this spring and will head to the spelling paddock.
Ridden by
Tommy Berry, Speak Fondly raced outside leader and stablemate Flamboyant Lass and was under siege as the challengers came at her in the straight.
Berry thought his race was over but his filly's class kicked in and Speak Fondly rallied again to score a short half-head win over Honesta with Perignon the same margin away third.
There were no excuses for the beaten brigade as they all had their chances to go past Gai’s filly but Speak Fondly was just too strong.
"I was on a tough filly, the best filly, the classiest filly in the race and that's what won it," Berry said.
"She didn't run the mile out at all, I don't think. The last 200 (metres) she was a beaten horse but she was just too tough."
Speak Fondly's win in the Group 1 race gave her three of the four legs of the Princess series and she didn't contest the other, instead taking on the colts and geldings in the Golden Rose and finishing runner-up to Exosphere.
On Saturday at Randwick Gai anointed Speak Fondly as next year's Coolmore Classic winner.
"You can't take anything away from her, she's the best three-year-old filly in Australia," Waterhouse said.
"She'll come back for the autumn and she'll win the Coolmore Classic."
Leading into Saturday, Waterhouse shared the Flight Stakes training record of seven wins with her father, the legendary TJ Smith, but came away holding it outright after Speak Fondly's success.
That's 8
"Dad taught me well," she said.
During the race on Saturday, Gai said she was saying to herself “come on Tommy please go… go…GO!”
The gun jockey eventually pushed the button and Speak Fondly let down nicely.
Gai said “She found the front, but the mile is a big trip for these fillies at this time of year and it took what seemed like an eternity to get over the last 200m.
“The grey filly was bearing down on the outside while another talented filly was coming on the inside but in her normal tenacious manner, Speak Fondly
refused to lose.
Gai added “I like my horses to be rock hard fit when they resume with just a little bit left in the tank heading towards their Grand Finals.”
Speak Fondly has beaten all but just one of the boys in the Golden Rose and that particular colt (Exosphere) won impressively early on the card, so Gai’s confidence was very high that the form out of the Golden Rose was going to stand up.
“This filly reminds me so much of Sweet Idea. Like the recently retired gun sprinter, Speak Fondly is tough as teak and she has a will to win that we all wish all our horses possessed.
“Speak Fondly refused to be beaten and in doing so, she has achieved her crowning glory and I could not be happier.
“It takes weeks and months of planning to win a Group 1 race and there is nothing more thrilling and indeed satisfying than when a plan comes off.
"Speak Fondly may have only won by an inch or two, but she did her job, she did her connections proud and she did not let the punters down. She refused to lose and that is all we can really ask of any horse, let alone a three-year-old filly.
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