Flying Agent (NZ) (Raise The Flag) already looked the horse to beat in next month’s Thackeray Steeplechase (3450m) and now he’ll likely start a short-priced favourite after turning heads with a dominant flat win over 2200m at Bendigo on Sunday.
In an ominous warning to his jumping rivals, the Brierly Steeplechase (3450m) winner made light work of his opposition in the 0-58 handicap over a distance well short of his best and on a firmer track than what he’s traditionally excelled on.
Trainer Amy McDonald, who has taken a cautious approach with the son of Raise The Flag because she believed he could become one of jumps racing’s biggest stars, said the eight-year-old was in career-best shape and improving all the time.
“He’s so good to me and I’m grateful that the owners gave me a chance with a horse like this,” McDonald said.
“To many people, he’s just a 58-rater but to us he can change everything.
“You cannot take for granted the maturing of the Raise The Flag progeny, we’ve seen it with Ablaze and we’ll see it with plenty of others that come across the Tasman, they just keep getting better as they get older.
“We won’t change too much with him, we’ll just keep chipping away between now and then (Thackeray).”
McDonald said a decision on who rides Flying Agent in the Thackeray and, if he continues to please connections, the Grand National Steeplechase (4500m) at Ballarat later in the season had not been made.
Regular rider Lee Horner has been side-lined since March as a result of a broken leg but is set to return to the saddle at Murray Bridge on Wednesday, potentially paving the way for him to reunite with Flying Agent.
His brother Darryl Horner rode Flying Agent to victory in the Brierly Steeplechase during the May Racing Carnival at Warrnambool.
Bred and raised at White Robe Lodge by Brian and Lorraine Anderton, Flying Agent was sold for $24,000 at the 2014 New Zealand Bloodstock South Island Yearling Sale, where he was purchased by Dean Lawrence.
Initially trained in New Zealand by Brian and Shane Anderton, for whom he won two of his 14 starts, fellow White Robe Lodge stud clients Diana Duff-Staniland and Paul Duffus also share in the ownership.
