Sporting the Eureka Stud colours carried to stakes success by his sire and dam, Simply Fly lived up to his heritage with a dominant performance in Saturday’s Listed Chief De Beers Stakes at Doomben.
Ridden by Tegan Harrison for Rex Lipp and Nicholas Hahn, the 4yo son of Spirit Of Boom powered home to defeat the tiring Centrefire (Shooting To Win) by one and a half lengths with a further half-length back to Winside (Sidestep) in third.
With his maiden stakes success, Simply Fly advances his record to seven wins and five seconds from 24 starts with earnings of $712,900.
“It’s about time somebody got him out of the barriers and Tegan’s done it today,” Lipp said.
“She rode him beautifully. I said to her, ``If he wants to over-race, let him roll a little bit. She did everything right and I said whatever you do, don’t go looking for runs.
“Another thing I said was, ‘ride him ugly’.
“He’s a horse you have to get to the outside eventually and he can roll off a nice 600m, especially the last 400.”
It was 69 weeks between wins for Simply Fly and Tegan Harrison was thankful that she was on him for the first time.
“He’s had a few little quirks along the way but I’ve probably got on him at the right time,” she said.
“He’s all grown up now and certainly a dream ride today. I’m happy to be on him when it counted.
“It’s so nice when you ride for someone like Rex, and I’ve always had good support from the McAlpine’s. They told me before the race to give him a trot around behind the gates because he can be so terribly tardy away, but it seemed to do the trick. The credit goes back to them.”
A three-quarter brother to Group II Spirit Of Boom Classic and Group III Gold Coast Guineas winner Prince Of Boom, Simply Fly is the best of four winner from six to race out of the Group II Queensland Guineas winner Express Air (Piccolo).
That total should soon be five with Express Air’s talented 2yo Winning Rupert gelding Billionair Baby finishing second in his two career starts at Doomben and the Sunshine Coast.
Express Air has a weanling filly by Encryption and revisited Spirit Of Boom last spring.
Simply Fly is the 18th stakes-winner for Eureka Stud’s high-flying Spirit Of Boom.
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