After Sunland Oaks win, Flying Connection full speed ahead for Kentucky Oaks
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Flying Connection has emerged from her win in the $300,000 Sunland Park Oaks in excellent condition and is being pointed for the Kentucky Oaks, trainer Todd Fincher said Thursday.
Fincher said Flying Connection would ship to Churchill Downs in about 10 days. She is currently stabled at Sunland, which is in New Mexico, just across the border from El Paso, Texas.
Flying Connection earned 50 points for the Kentucky Oaks for her win in the Sunland Oaks. She set a pressured pace in the 1 1/16-mile race, with Southern California shipper Doinitthehardway pushing her through fractions of 22.89 seconds for the opening quarter, 46.09 for the half-mile, and 1:11.14 for six furlongs. Flying Connection won by 2 1/4 lengths on a fast track, and covered the distance in 1:43.90.
“To take that much heat and keep going was pretty impressive,” said Fincher.
Flying Connection earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 85. The win was her third in a stakes, and her second at two turns. In her first route start she won the $75,000 Island Fashion at Sunland.
Flying Connection is a daughter of Nyquist and the mare Free Flying Soul, a four-time stakes winner who earned $423,177. Flying Connection was a $250,000 yearling purchase at Keeneland September in 2021. She races for the partnership of Brad King, Randy Andrews, Chris G. Coleman, Jim Cone, Suzanne Kirby, and Robert L. Lewis.
Alfredo Juarez Jr. was aboard for the win in the Sunland Oaks.
Flying Connection has now won 4 of 7 starts for earnings of $294,700.
Fincher has another 3-year-old filly seeking Kentucky Oaks points on Saturday. Olivia Twist, a stakes winner, starts in the Grade 3 Fantasy at Oaklawn.
* Fincher said Henry Q, who was third in the Grade 3, $600,000 Sunland Park Derby, has shipped back to trainer Doug O’Neill in Southern California. O’Neill had sent the horse to Fincher for some of the 3-year-old stakes at Sunland, with the horse winning the $100,000 Mine That Bird Derby. Henry Q was a late nominee to the Triple Crown on Monday at a cost of $6,000.
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