Flight Stakes

Winners and Past Results of the Flight Stakes.

The Flight Stakes is a popular Group 1 race held annually at Randwick Racecourse, Sydney, where three year old fillies trek a distance of 1600 metres.

The Flight Stakes is held under set weight conditions and is held annually in October during the Sydney Racing Carnival on the same day as the Epsom Handicap.

A fact to note here is that the Flight Stakes is the only Group 1 race held exclusively for 3 year old fillies during the Sydney spring racing carnival. The winner of this event takes home a purse of $500,000.

The Metropolitan Handicap and the Spring Champion Stakes are also held on the day's race card.

The Flight Stakes has a rich history with the first event run in 1947, won by a horse named Nizam's Ring. After the champion mare named Flight won the Cox Plate in both 1945 and 1946, this event has been held in her honour.

The Flight Stakes first started as a principal race and remained so during the period 1947 to 1978. In 1979, it was elevated to Group 2 and finally in 1984, the Flight Stakes was granted its current official status as a Group 1 event.

In 1996, there was a dead heat between Dash Eagle and Assertive Lass in the Flight Stake, taking punters completely by surprise. Similar to the Epsom Handicap, this event was not run in 2007 due to the spread of a disease named, Equine Influenza, in Australia.

Those fillies who show their mettle in events like Group 2 Furious Stakes or the Group 2 Tea Rose Stakes often participate in the Flight Stakes at Randwick Racecourse.

A survey over recent years has shown that the winners of the Tea Rose Stakes who also participated in the Flight Stakes produced more than 75% of the winners. Some of the horses like More Joyous, Samantha Miss, Cheeky Choice, Ha Ha and Unworldy have won both the Tea Rose Stakes and the Flight Stakes.

Some of the recent winners of this event are: Streama in 2011, Secret Admirer in 2010 and More Joyous in 2009. Other notable fillies to lift the title include the mighty Sunline, Assertive Lass, Triscay, and Bounding Away. Apart from Sunline in 1998, Danglissa and Unworldly won the Furious Stakes/Tea Rose Stakes/Flight Stakes treble in 1999 and 2000 respectively followed by Samantha Miss in 2008, and Streama in 2011.