In Flight won’t be at Randwick to defend her Bob Charley AO Stakes title with trainer Joe Pride confirming he will stick to his original plan and take her to Queensland for the Moreton Cup.
Pride said the Group 2 assignment in Brisbane was always his preference with Sydney a fallback if she drew wide at Eagle Farm.
“She was always going to go to Queensland as long as she could draw well,” Pride said.
“I just needed a back-up plan, which was accepting down here. But she has drawn perfectly up there so she will run up there.”
Craig Williams will partner In Flight in Saturday’s Group 2 Moreton Cup (1200m) where she has drawn barrier two.
The winner of the Sapphire Stakes (1200m) during the Sydney autumn carnival, the mare finished down the track after being dragged back from a wide draw in the Victory Stakes (1200m) last start.
Pride doesn’t believe that is the best way to ride her, and says a subsequent barrier trial win at her home track of Warwick Farm has her back on target for Saturday.
“I brought her home and trialled her up and she’s good,” he’s said.
“She is a really good mare. The best version of her is probably on soft tracks, which she’s unlikely to get up there, but she’s in good shape.”
Smart mare Manaal is an early $4.80 favourite for the Moreton Cup, with In Flight an $8 chance.
The winner of the race receives a ballot exemption from the Group1 Stradbroke Handicap (1400m) run seven days later at Eagle Farm.
Despite the defection of In Flight, Pride will still be strongly represented in the Bob Charley AO Stakes (1200m) at Randwick with Accredited, Dragonstone and The Black Cloud all slated to line up.
