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By Ray Hickson

There’s nothing in the Joe Pride rule book that says his in-form filly In Flight can’t continue on her winning way at Rosehill on Saturday but at the same time he can’t find a precedent, at least in his own stable, for what he’s asking her to do this winter.

Joe Pride (Pic: Steve Hart)

It’s fair to say Pride didn’t think In Flight would be one of his most talked about horses but in quick time she’s built a record of five wins from nine starts, including a hat-trick in town, and lands in open company in the Schweppes Handicap (1100m).

Just over a month ago she won a Benchmark 72 at Rosehill with 53.5kg, two weeks later she repeated it with 56.5kg and last week she lumped 60kg to another dominant win in the same grade.

With Pride making use of the true weight allowance, the three-year-old will plummet to 52.5kg.

“The interesting thing this weekend is I usually have a pretty good idea of what’s next for a horse and how well they’re placed,’’ Pride said.

“For this filly to come out of three 72 races and go into an open handicap is pretty rare. It’s a little bit hard to line her up but the market’s telling me she’s in a winnable race.

“Last week there was a lot of talk that she wasn’t going to be able to carry the weight but she did it easily. So where’s the ceiling on a horse like this, it’s hard to say.”

An early scratching boosted Pride’s confidence in his filly’s chances, aside from her being installed the shortest price of her career to date at her toughest test, and he sees the featherweight as an important asset.

In Flight was $2.30 with TAB on Friday for her first attempt outside her age group and she’ll jump from near the outside in the nine horse field, though that’s not a concern to the trainer.

“We will have to go forward and make use of the fact we have a light weight,’’ Pride said.

“She’s very quick, we don’t always use her speed, and I would say she will be right up there on the speed. It wouldn’t worry me if she had to lead.

“When Kazou came out I thought that was a big positive because that was a horse that was probably going to control her, now she might get the right kind of run.”

Pride hasn’t closed the door on continuing In Flight’s preparation beyond Saturday if she happened to win again but it’s clear she’s closer to the end of a breakthrough campaign.

He sees the filly as more a summer and autumn prospect than the fast approaching spring.

“It’s unbelievable, she’s very tough. She’s not an overly big filly but she’s mentally and physically very resilient,’’ he said.

“With The Black Cloud, and that’s probably the best one to compare, what I did was deliberately pull up stumps before she’d had enough.

“She didn’t like the wet tracks but this filly seems to thrive on it, so why would you tip her out. So we look like we’re going to get right to the bottom of her then give her a break.”

It’s unusual that the decision to add blinkers to a horse backfires on Pride but that’s what he feels happened with Testator Silens a week ago so they’re coming off for the Listed $200,000 Toyota Forklifts Winter Challenge (1500m).

The gelding started $4 and finished fifth behind War Eternal, who also backs up on Saturday, but was slowly away and didn’t seem himself to Pride.

“I like to think I don’t make too many mistakes with them,’’ he said.

“He’d had them on previously and I think maybe that fact, and he’d won races in them too, just triggered something in his mind.

“He wasn’t a happy horse, he was playing around in the gates and in the enclosure so I’ve pulled them off. From a decent draw around this track, he loves Rosehill, he’ll get the right kind of run.”

Some untimely bad luck potentially cost stablemate King Of The Castle his winning chance in the Winter Stakes, running third behind Tamerlane, two weeks ago.

Pride said he’ll have every chance to turn the tables on the Godolphin galloper with a 1.5kg swing in his favour.

In Flight wins at Randwick on July 13

“It just looks like an ideal target for him. He loves those low draws, a lot of his best runs are when he’s drawn low like that,’’ he said.

“He just gets that nice little camp just off the speed and he’s got that good acceleration so he will be hard to beat.”

Joe Pride on Headley Grange (race 4): “He’s a nice horse and has a pretty good turn of foot on him. He’s stretched it out from 1200m out to a mile, coming back to 1500m shouldn’t be a problem. He doesn’t race on speed which is probably a downside for him but he’s pretty handy.”

On Wild Botanica (race 5): “She doesn’t like heavy tracks and I knew that coming into the prep. She’s an on top of the ground horse and finally gets something half decent on Saturday. She’ll be very hard to beat.”

All the fields, form and replays for Saturday's Rosehill meeting