Eight years after retiring dual Group 1 placegetter Spieth to stud, trainer Bryce Heys has celebrated a special moment at Rosehill with one of the stallion’s daughters.

Flying For Fun returned from a Melbourne campaign to claim the Listed Starlight Stakes (1100m), a result Heys said carried extra significance given her bloodlines.

The mare is by Spieth, who famously went down narrowly in the 2016 Darley Classic (1200m) and 2017 Lightning Stakes (1000m), and out of Sebring mare Vol Prive — another Heys-trained runner.

“It’s funny how racing throws up good stories, and she is a good story,” Heys said.
“We bought her father. We bought her mother off the same farm with a view to sending her to her father… and this is the result.”

Flying For Fun had already notched black type placings in the Begonia Belle Stakes and wasn’t disgraced behind Giga Kick in the Champions Sprint.

Heys said the Starlight had long been a target.
“Good horses capitalise on good set-ups, and that’s what she did.”

With only 13 horses in work, Heys said a Saturday stakes win in Sydney was significant.
Options now include the Razor Sharp Handicap (1200m) at Randwick in a fortnight.