Idle Flyer on target for the Queen of the Turf Stakes

Trainer Matthew Smith maintains the best is yet to come from talented mare Idle Flyer after her impressive win in the Group 2 $300,000 Emancipation Stakes (1500m) at Rosehill Gardens on Saturday.

“Idel Flyer is a big mare and was only second-up today,” Smith said.

“She had a little setback earlier in his preparation which just held us up a bit but she is fine now.”There’s more improvement come from her and she will be at her peak in two weeks.”

Smith has set Idle Flyer for the Group 1 $1 million Queen of the Turf Stakes (1600m) at Royal Randwick on Day Two of The Championships, April 11, and her Rosehill effort shows she is going to be one of the mares to beat in the big race.

Idle Flyer, heavily backed into $1.90 favouritism, continued star jockey Zac Lloyd’s memorable Golden Slipper carnival when she showed a brilliant burst of acceleration to reel in Blindedbythelight ($26) and win by three-quarters of a length with Firestorm ($19) just over a length away third.

Lloyd, who rode a treble last week including the Golden Slipper on Guest House, rode another three winners at Rosehill on Saturday including the Group 1 Vinery Stud Stakes on Belle Cheval. He was seen at his brilliant best on Idle Flyer.

“I was worried at the 500m, she just dropped the bit,” Lloyd said.”But she was in a very tight position the whole race, horses aren’t the happiest in that position.

“I knew had a lapful of horse and she was just starting to go through her gears. I just needed the horse in front of me to quicken another 25 metres and just allow that horse on the outside to drop off.

“For her to still quicken through there, find a gap and be strong late is a real credit to her.”

Lloyd’s win on Idle Flyer was the second successive race he had relegated Billy Egan, rider of Blindedbythelight, to the runner-up stall.

In the previous race, Lloyd survived a protest to win the Vinery Stakes on Belle Cheval from Egan’s mount, After Summer.

“When I got outside Billy I said ‘you must hate me today,'” Lloyd said after his win on Idle Flyer.

A daughter of Arrowfield Stud’s champion sire Dundeel, Idle Flyer was purchased by Smith for just $70,000 at the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale. Her Emancipation Stakes win was her seventh success in 14 starts and took her prizemoney to more than $570,000.

“It’s great to have a good horse like her in the stable,” Smith said. “She’s an outstanding mare, you just don’t get them like this very often.