Damien Oliver will get the chance to ride his sixth winner in the Black Caviar Lightning 2017 having secured the mount on the gun Mick Price-trained three-year-old Flying Artie.
Flying Artie will have Damien Oliver aboard first-up in the 2017 Black Caviar Lightning on February 18 at Flemington. Photo: Ultimate Racing Photos.
Last start winner of the Group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m) at Flemington Racecourse on Derby Day during the Melbourne Cup Carnival, Flying Artie is set to kick off his autumn prep on February 18 in the $750,000 Group 1 Black Caviar Lightning (1000m).
Formerly known as the Lightning Stakes, the short distance sprint is now named in honour of triple champion Black Caviar who won three editions of the race on the trot from 2011 – 2013.
Oliver meanwhile has ridden five previous Lightning Stakes winners, most recently the David Hayes-trained Nicconi (2010).
Of his four other successful rides, all but one were aboard three-year-olds and the other on Schillaci for his second as a four-year-old in 1993.
No three-year-old has beaten home the older sprinters in the Melbourne Autumn Racing Carnival feature however since Fastnet Rock (2005) giving Oliver an over decade long hoodoo to overcome this year aboard Flying Artie.
The Artie Schiller colt has had six starts to date for an impressive record of three wins, two seconds and a third.
The third came in the Group 1 Golden Slipper Stakes (1200m) last March at Rosehill and is his only Sydney start so far.
Oliver has ridden Flying Artie four times to date including the Golden Slipper placing and second to stablemate Extreme Choice the run prior in the Group 1 Ladbrokes Blue Diamond Stakes (1200m) at Caulfield.
Hugh Bowman rode the $1.26 million earner for his Group 1 win in late September and was also considered for the Black Caviar Lightning ride first-up.
Bowman however is engaged to ride rival Spieth in the race for Bryce Heys, the four-year-old Thorn Park stallion last seen finishing runner-up to Malaguerra in the Group 1 Darley Classic (1200m) in November.
“I’ve been doing a lot of work with him recently; he’s come back really well,” Oliver said of Flying Artie speaking to Racing Victoria.
“He’s on target for the first-up assignment in the Lightning Stakes.
“He’s fulfilling that potential he always showed as a young horse.
“He’s furnished out into a really nice three-year-old.
“I think the Coolmore Stud Stakes was a top-quality race with a lot of high-class three-year-olds in it, so we’re really looking forward to seeing how he comes back this autumn.
“I am really looking forward to teaming back up with him.
“He’s shown he really likes the straight course, so it looks like a nice option for him.”
Flying Artie’s Grand Final goal this campaign is the lucrative $2.5 million Group 1 Darley TJ Smith Stakes (1200m) at Royal Randwick on April 1 during ‘The Championships’.
All-in TJ Smith Stakes odds at Ladbrokes.com.au are led by the dual defending champion Chautauqua ($5).
The superstar Hawkes Racing-trained Encosta De Lago six-year-old has won over $6.5 million in career prize money and looked fresh in a Rosehill trial on Tuesday.
He ran third over 1000m in the hit-out ridden by Dwayne Dunn who had to restrain the great grey who looked keen early in the piece.
Flying Artie is rated a $9 hope in futures TJ Smith Stakes betting just longer than the aforementioned Spieth ($7) and the John O’Shea-trained Coolmore Stud Stakes runner-up Astern ($7).
To back your favourites in the upcoming autumn Group 1 races and to check out the best futures markets on the TJ Smith Stakes 2017 visit Ladbrokes.com.au now – home of Odds Boost (T&Cs apply).
