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The Year 22 Louisville Derby
Original article written by Chelsey Craig posted 15 years 4 weeks agoWith the Louisville Derby still playing over and over in everyone’s minds, High Flyer is the high roller in the horse world. The beautiful bay filly stands only 15 hands tall, but on August 8th, she proved mightier than any other horse in the $2 million Grade 1 Louisville Derby. She ran the 1 ¼ mile distance over the slippery, sloppy track in an ultra-impressive time of 1:59.31. The 3-year-old daughter of 5-time Grade 1 winner Loki Dynasty (Conduit) from the mare Was It Worth It (Fighting With Wit) added to her already huge bankroll Friday night, now being the earner of $1,954,000 for her owner Ali LaDuke. She has the boys in her sights and will likely challenge them again in the future.
From an early age, High Flyer showed that she was going to be a successful racing filly. She broke her maiden in a $20,000 mile maiden event and returned only 3 weeks later to take down the $100,000 Grade 3 Henderson Debutante with authority, galloping away to win by 7 lengths under a hand ride. The gorgeous filly only took off 2 weeks this time before returning to capture more hearts in her next race, the $200,000 Grade 1 Long Island Matron Stakes. High Flyer showed she had heart and class when she stumbled at the start but regained her stride beautifully to win with mild encouragement by jockey Cadence Black by over 2 lengths.
By now, it was obvious that the $1,500,000 paid by Ali LaDuke to purchase High Flyer was going to end up worthwhile. The plucky filly returned 3 weeks later in her last race of the year; the $1,500,000 Grade 1 Steward’s Cup Juvenile Fillies. Once again, she won with style and aplomb by 2 ½ lengths. The wonderful filly was voted North American Champion 2-Year-Old Filly for her undefeated season.
During her 2-year-old year, no filly was in the same area code as High Flyer. So why not try to find some competition with the boys? She decided to run in the $200,000 Grade 1 Sunshine Park Derby next, to prove she could keep pace with the boys. She had to take on Grade 1 winner Gabriel, the brilliant son of Giacomo, and unfortunately, experienced her first and only loss at his hands. She was game in defeat but proved she was ready to combat him again, and her good run in the Sunshine Park Derby convinced her owner to run her in the Louisville Derby.
The rest, as they say, is history. High Flyer got her revenge on Gabriel and also conquered a field of 18 other talented 3-year-olds, running away on the sloppy track to win by 1 ½ lengths. What will be next for the petite, beautiful, and amazing filly? Will she go to the $1,000,000 Grade 1 Baltimore Crown at Baltimore Race Course? Gabriel has already signed up to run the 1 3/16 mile race, and the sparks will fly if those 2 match strides again, as neither of the well-bred and captivating athletes will back down. The interesting part will be to see what the next week holds as far as how the wonderful filly will come out of her gutsy win and whether she’ll want to add to her legacy by having another showdown with Gabriel and the other boys.