Undefeated Justify Filly wins $2milion Inglis Millennium
Triple Crown winner Justify has a genuine superstar in his first crop of Australian two year-olds with the Annabel Neasham trained filly Learning to Fly (2f Justify x Ennis Hill, by Fastnet Rock) scoring an outstanding win in the $2million Inglis Millennium (1100m) at Randwick on Saturday to cement her place as favourite for the Golden Slipper.
Learning to Fly made a winning debut in the Group III ATC Widden Stakes last month and made it two wins in as many starts when overcoming an outside gate to score a long neck win over Blanc de Blanc.
In contrast to her previous win when she was ridden forward, this time Chad Schofield allowed the glamour filly to settle back in the field and she let down with a powerful finish to zoom past her rivals and take the lucrative prize.
The race was marred by a nasty fall in the straight when Annabel Neasham’s other runner Dorothy Gail went down leaving her rider Tom Marquand with a broken collar bone.
Neasham had mixed emotions with the welfare of Marquand and Dorothy Gail coming ahead of any celebration for the winner.
"It's a funny moment, you win a race but your friend and rider (jockey Tom Marquand) is down on the track I hope he's OK," Neasham said.
"She is very special. I'll have to watch it again, my eyes were split. But she had a lot of work to do from the draw and probably the way the track was playing today, that horses were making up ground, it made me a little bit more confident.
"It's a shame when they draw wide and we made that call we'd ride her a little bit quieter, but she's got so much gate speed Chad had to restrain her back.
"But he was oozing confidence, Chad, before the race. He was very calm. He's done a lot of work with the filly and I'm just so grateful to be training a filly for Coolmore and their partners and Kia Ora. They're such great people and to entrust me with this filly that is so well bred is amazing and it's good to get the job done.
"I have to pinch myself a little bit. I'm almost speechless to win a big race like that in those colours, it's very special."
Chad Schofield is full of praise for Learning to Fly, having ridden her in both of her wins which have netted connections over $1.2million in prizemoney.
“She’s a filly I’ve loved since the first day I sat on her and I knew she was a top class horse,” said Scofield.
“Today we had a wide run and at the top of the straight I though we could run into third or fourth because I had so much work to do, but she just kept picking up and picking up. She’s got a dynamic turn of foot as we saw today.
“She’s a beautiful horse you can do anything with. The world is her oyster.”
Learning to Fly was a $900,000 Inglis Easter purchase for Kia Ora Stud from the Coolmore draft and runs for a partnership involving both Kia Ora and Coolmore.
Learning to Fly was foaled and raised at Coolmore and is the second foal and first winner from Fastnet Rock’s Group III winning daughter Ennis Hill, who was named by James Bester after British athlete Jessica Ennis Hill, winner of the gold medal in Heptathlon at the London Olympic Games.
Ennis Hill is a sister to Lake Geneva, who won the Listed MVRC William Crockett Stakes and placed in the Golden Slipper and Blue Diamond as well as Acrobat, who won the Inglis Nursery (RL) at his only start.
Acrobat retired to stand his first season at Coolmore last spring and covered 188 mares.
Ennis Hill has a Pierro filly in the Coolmore Stud draft at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale. (lot 117).