The Golden Slipper favourite and unbeaten three-year-old filly Learning To Fly has taken out the Group 2 Reisling Stakes in a strong showing after he led and was challenged by Facile for most of the 1200m event.
After jumping well from barrier one, the daughter of Justify chose to take up the lead and let the Gerald Ryan & Sterling Alexiou-trained runner-up settle outside of her, before they both battled it out down the length of the Randwick straight, with only a half-head separating the two on the line.
The Annabel Neasham-trained filly has continued her unbeaten run to three starts now and after a tough win in the traditional lead-up to the Golden Slipper for the fillies, she will undoubtedly start as the race favourite with online bookmakers in the two-year-old Group 1 feature in two weeks' time.
2023 Reisling Stakes Replay – Learning To Fly
Annabel Neasham may only have one runner going to the Golden Slipper this year, but she looks to have the top seed and she spoke post-race about her fillies win in the Reisling Stakes.
“She's very tactical, she's very versatile, she's very professional,” Neasham said of her star filly.
“So exciting having a filly like this going into a (Golden) Slipper.
“I was a bit nervous watching that first 100m I thought Facile was going to cross, the worst place we wanted to be was locked away.
““Chad (Schofield) just said she was very relaxed in front, I don't think it's necessarily her preferred place.
“I don't think she's a natural leader, but the nice thing with her is she's got really good gate speed.”
Chad Schofield has now sewn up his Golden Slipper ride, where he will be shooting for four-in-a-row on Learning To Fly to begin her career.
“She relaxed well and she always just had a nose on Facile and she was never going to win by a big margin, but luckily she did enough to win,” Schofield said.
“Small field is always complicated but I didn't really want to lead just because of the nature of this filly, she's very laid back and with nothing to chase down she's quite lazy.
“If I didn't lead I was going to be in the box seat and that's the last place I wanted to be in a small field, so we kicked up and held the lead.
“We drew 18 here the other day and today we drew one so something in the middle would be nice.”
Learning To Fly is still the Golden Slipper favourite at $4 with online betting sites after her strong win in the Reisling Stakes.