When Flight was sold at auction for the bargain price of 60 guineas, owner Brian Crowley remarked: "She may not win one in the city but she could probably pick up a couple in the bush". In fact none of her 24 wins came in the bush!

Biography

TRAINER: Frank Nowlan

OWNERS: Sir Brian Crowley

RACE RECORD/STAKE MONEY: 65 starts: 24 wins, 19 seconds, 9 thirds/$31,429

Major Wins 

  • W.S. Cox Plate (twice)
  • Craven Plate (twice)
  • L.K.S. Mackinnon Stakes
  • C.F. Orr Stakes
  • Adrian Knox Stakes
  • Colin Stephen Stakes

About

Flight was one of the most versatile and most courageous mares to race in Australia. Said Jockey Jack Thompson:” There were many times she had plenty of reasons to die in my arms, but she'd pick herself up and pull something out of the fire when she was attacked". Although only a small horse at 15.2 hands, she had a huge girth of 73 1/2 inches, bigger by 1 1/2 inches than that of her contemporary Bernborough who stood over 17 hands.

A top juvenile, Flight won five of her eight two-year-old races in 1943, including the Champagne Stakes at Randwick. As a three-year-old in the spring she won the Hobartville Stakes, ran third In the Rosehill Guineas, won the Craven Plate and ran a creditable second In the AJC Derby. In the autumn of 1944 she took out the Adrian Knox Stakes before running a gallant second in the Doncaster, and in the spring won the Warwick Stakes and Colin Stephen Stakes.

1945 was notable for her second win in the Craven Plate, and a victory over Tranquil Star in the W.S. Cox Plate. In 1946 she repeated her triumph in the W.S. Cox Plate, defeating her rivals by 3 1/2 lengths, and won the Mackinnon Stakes at Flemington (the race in which Bernborough broke down).

Flight was retired in 1947, and died prematurely in 1953 when giving birth to her fifth foal.

Flight was inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame in 2006.

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