Post by creativecause on Mar 22, 2015 11:07:23 GMT -5
TAKE FLIGHT: DATE WITH DESTINY
From the day we saw this guy we knew we had to have him, and we almost didn’t buy him. Fly was apart of a rehoming sale held by Valkyrie Stables when they had to leave at the beginning of the summer. Blue Cross Estates had expressed interest in him first, but after they thought more about it they decided not to purchase the talented son of Merry Bay King, thus he came to Grayson Meadows. Everyone was excited to see him walk through those doors with, Allouette Divine, Phantasm Frost, and Dare To Impress. At that time he had three wins to his name and he was somewhat behind everyone in experience. The son of Flying Loose was going to be flying under the radar. He rattled off a win almost instantly for us and we were excited to see just exactly how good he was. Well over the course of the year he accumulated 9 wins, two of them horse of the year races, one of them the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf. Going into this season we remained completely open minded. Fly had a few blunders in his two year old season in races he really shouldn’t have so we were just hoping for the best. Well he started off the year with two solid 4th and 5th place finishes that weren’t exactly what we would like to all ideal for a horse who was supposed to be one of the favorites on the Turf Triple Crown trail. It didn’t help that the majority of these prep races were nine furlongs either, Fly had won far more races over the 10-12 furlong distance and really was a horse that performed best the longer the distances got.
The 5th place finish in the American Derby was disheartening, and it posed a lot of questions, like if maybe it was in his best interest if we sold him because something wasn’t working. Well, we pressed on and then the following TTC prep Fly flew down the stretch to nab the West Virginia Derby a nine furlong race that showed his heart and guts when he came in with his nose down on the wire in first. He followed that up with a gutsy victory in the Coronation Cup at one of his more comfortable distances, twelve furlongs. Along with that he ran two very nice seconds in the Palm Beach Stakes and Prince Cup. This week, Fly outran the best of his crop again in the Derby Stakes at Green Horse Fields.
The colt now sits with a record of 28-12-5-5, and just looking at the start of this season, it looks like this year is going to be killer for this colt. One win from grade one, its a wonder exactly how good he really will be.
“We’re trying to keep a neutral thought process here for the Turf Triple Crown. He’s great; he really is, and he just keeps getting better. It is something we want to see leading into the Turf Triple Crown too. Fly’s been so focused and determined, it’s like he knows it’s his destiny to try and take that crown.” Tanner Grayson had nothing but good things to say about the vastly improving colt.
No one has won the TTC since Bella Luna back in Y13. To date, Bella Luna is the only Turf Triple Crown champion too, and Dare To Impress just missed winning it last year. If there is one common pattern for the TTC it’s that fillies dominate it.
Only two of the winners of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf have won the Kentucky Open. Only one has won the Preakness Champion and one the Belmont Turf Classic. It’s rare, but not impossible.
Take Flight is a special animal that we expect will do big things as his career progresses, while I wouldn’t say that he will with the Turf Triple Crown, he’ll definitely be in the mix.
The question is still on everyone's mind though, just how good is this colt? He was bred to be a serious contender in the TTC and with how he’s currently running, he’s more than a threat to everyone. He’s the horse to beat it seems. And his date with destiny is fast approaching, so will this star colt win a leg of the Turf Triple Crown? Or be crowned the champion of the series? Only time will tell.
