Eight years after dual Group One placegetter Spieth retired to stud, his former trainer Bryce Heys has enjoyed a special stakes success, with Spieth’s daughter Flying For Fun scoring in the Listed Starlight Stakes (1100m) at Rosehill.
Fresh off a two-run Melbourne campaign, the four-year-old returned home to deliver a meaningful win for Heys, who also trained her dam, the Sebring mare Vol Prive.
Vol Prive never won from 10 starts but showed talent, and Heys purchased her specifically to send to Spieth — a stallion he guided to narrow seconds in the 2016 Darley Classic (1200m) and 2017 Lightning Stakes (1000m).
“It’s funny how racing throws up good stories, and she is a good story,” Heys said.
“We bought her father. We bought her mother off the same farm with a view to sending her to her father.
“Her mum had a lot of ability at home . . . and this is the result.”
Flying For Fun entered the race off strong form, having placed in two black type events during autumn and finishing well behind Giga Kick in the Champions Sprint (1200m).
Heys always viewed the Starlight Stakes as the right race and was pleased to see her nail it.
“She’s been racing well. Things haven’t gone our way at any start, really,” he said.
“Good horses capitalise on good set-ups, and that’s what she did.”
With just 13 horses in work at Warwick Farm, Heys said a Saturday stakes win in Sydney means a great deal.
He will assess plans from here, with the Razor Sharp Handicap (1200m) at Randwick in two weeks among the next-step options.