James Cummings watched as the Royal Blue colours of Godolphin were carried to victory by Bivouac in last year’s Group 1 Newmarket Handicap and is hoping that colt’s stablemate Flit can achieve the same result at Flemington on Saturday.
Bivouac was entered to repeat his victory of 12 months ago, but handicapped with 58.5kg the Godolphin team felt the task too great.
And with equal topweight Nature Strip also not accepting, weights were raised 2kg which has allowed Damien Oliver to ride Flit.
To give Godolphin a little more confidence, the four-year-old daughter of Medaglia D’Oro may have drawn ideally, barrier 17, in the 18-horse field, with the outside rail being advantageous in recent meetings.
Flit was tried as a middle-distance galloper early in her three-year-old season, being successful in the Group 1 Thousand Guineas (1600m) before running fourth in the Group 2 Wakeful Stakes (2000m).
More recently though Cummings has kept Flit to short-course racing and importantly the mare has been successful over Saturday’s course and distance, winning the Group 3 Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes in March 2019.
“She won the Thousand Guineas as a three-year-old, but her best results have been in shorter races, including her defeat of Alligator Blood in the Silver Eagle last spring,” Cummings said.
“She has also won down the straight at Flemington as a two-year-old and she had excuses when resuming behind Savatiano in the Expressway.”
Flit’s sole outing this campaign was on a soft track at Randwick finishing fifth behind her stablemate Savatiano in the Group 2 Expressway Stakes (1200m) at Randwick on January 30.
In a TAB market dominated by the Chris Waller-trained September Run, who is the $2.15 favourite ahead of Swats That at $7.50, Flit is rated an $18 chance in latest markets.
Market 💰: View the Odds for the Newmarket Handicap
Written by Craig Brennan
