Group I Goal for Fastnet Colt

There are Group I plans ahead for the Gerald Ryan trained colt Flying Achilles (3c Fastnet Rock  x Queen of Troy, by Storm Cat), who thundered home to win at Warwick Farm on Wednesday. A last start third at Newcastle when he over-raced in the lead wearing blinkers, Flying Achilles proved more tractable this time around for Kerrin McEvoy with blinkers removed. He settled back in the field and warmed to the task over the final furlong to run down Astro Sun and snatch a narrow win in the 1400 metre maiden. Entered for the Group I ATC Spring Champion Stakes (2000m) on October 10 and Group II MRC Caulfield Classic (2000m) on October 17, Flying Achilles will be given the chance to step up in distance as his preparation unfolds. “He’s a gross horse as you can see and will take a lot of benefit from today,” said Ryan. “I’ve always thought he might end up in the Spring Champion Stakes, so we’ll be looking to step him up in distance now and have a look at a race like the Newcastle Spring Stakes (1600m).” A $225,000 Inglis Easter purchase for his trainer from the Coolmore draft, Flying Achilles runs in the colours of his co-breeder Paul Fleming, whose father, the late Jim Fleming, owned his grand-mother Warrior Queen. A stakes-winning daughter of Quiet American, Warrior Queen was bought by the late Mr Fleming for $US2million at the 2002 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale and went on to produce a number of expensive yearlings by champion sires. Her first foal, a colt by AP Indy made $US1.3 million at Keeneland September and went on to be the Group II winner AP Warrior, while her second, a filly by Storm Cat sold for a whopping $US3.8 million in 2005. Her third foal, another filly by Storm Cat, also made a fortune fetching $US2.2 million at the 2006 Keeneland September Yearling Sale and while neither filly was able to win a race, Egyptian Queen, the more expensive of the two is the dam of Group II winner Global View. Warrior Queen went back to Storm Cat in 2006 producing another filly Queen of Troy, which was retained to race and is the dam of Flying Achilles, who is her first living foal.