Flight Stakes 2021

Ladbrokes Tip: The Tea Rose Stakes – Flight Stakes double is a popular one to take the bookies on with!

The Flight Stakes is a Royal Randwick Group 1 feature race run over the mile by three-year-old fillies on Epsom Handicap Day in late September or early October each Sydney Spring Racing Carnival. The 1600m classic has been held since 1947 making it one of the younger spring majors.

The set weights race is held on the same day as two other Group 1 events – the Epsom Handicap and The Metropolitan – and is worth $750,000 in total prize money as of 2021. Named in honour of Australian Hall of Fame mare Flight who won the Cox Plate in 1945 and 1946, it has held Group 1 status since 1985.

Notable Flight Stakes winners who took out the race during their three-year-old season include Global Glamour (2016), First Seal (2014), Streama (2011), More Joyous (2009), Samantha Miss (2008), Sunline (1998), Research (1988) and looking further back Wenona Girl (1960).

Following a run in the Flight Stakes, fillies may go on the quick ack-up into the following Saturday’s Group 1 Spring Champion Stakes (2000m) with Montefilia making history doing the double in 2020. Montefilia returned on the same day 12 months later to win the Group 1 Epsom Handicap as a four-year-old. 

The best fillies out of the Flight Stakes may also be part of the brand new, invitation-only event for fillies and mares – the $2 million The Invitation (1400m) to run at Randwick for the first time in 2021 on Bondi Stakes Day. 

In 2021 Gai Waterhouse celebrated her incredible 10th Flight Stakes win with Never Been Kissed (40/1). 

This season the Flight Stakes 2021 ran on Saturday October 2, 2021 and was won by Never Been Kissed ($41) in an upset. 

2021 Flight Stakes Results

The official Flight Stakes 2021 Results & Finishing Order will be provided below when the race is run and won on Saturday October 2, 2021.

• 1st: #13 Never Been Kissed
• 2nd: #7 Hinged
• 3rd: #5 Startantes

Never Been Kissed ($41) scored a shock win Flight Stakes 2021 win to hand co-trainer Gai Waterhouse her 10th victory in the fillies’ feature. 

Flight Stakes Race Info

• Date: 2021
• Track: Royal Randwick Racecourse
• Distance: 1600m
• Conditions: 3YO Fillies – Set Weights
• Status: Group 1
• Prize Money: $750,000
• First Run: 1947

Flight Stakes Odds

Flight Stakes betting odds are open well in advance of the field and are known as the all-in, ante-post or futures markets. While they offer nice value on the potential runners, there is a risk involved in backing a filly before she is confirmed to run. Once the field is out the odds firm and sitting top of the markets are three-year-olds that came via the Flight Stakes traditional lead-up, the Group 2 Tea Rose Stakes held at the same track in late September.

The Tea Rose Stakes has produced more Flight Stakes winners than any other lead-up race and the best out of the Group 2 dominate each season’s Flight Stakes odds online. Funstar (2019) and Alizee (2017) were the last fillies to complete the Tea Rose Stakes – Flight Stakes double.

2021 Flight Stakes Betting

The top Flight Stakes 2021 betting odds and links to our markets for you to back in your Flight Stakes predictions at the hottest spring racing odds will be available below once open.

Flight Stakes Tips

Flight Stakes tips on the fillies to back in the mile feature are dominated every spring by the Tea Rose Stakes graduates.

The favourites have an outstanding record in the Group 1 making them the best tip to take with five Flight Stakes favourites from 2013-21 saluting for the punters. Funstar ($1.75 in 2019) was the latest favourite to get the job done in the Flight Stakes results.

Note that in 2016 Global Glamour ($6) won the race after that year’s top fancy Yankee Rose ($2.05) was disqualified. In 2017 the Flight Stakes favourite Alizee saluted for the punters absolutely bolting home in the mile feature.

In 2021 there was a huge upset with the Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott-trained Never Been Kissed winning as a $41 outsider. 

Another excellent Flight Stakes betting tip is to back fillies to complete the Tea Rose Stakes – Flight Stakes double. Wide barriers were previously a disadvantage when it comes to Flight Stakes tips with the last filly to jump from double digits being Secret Admirer (11 in 2010), before the back-to-back victories by Alizee (10 in 2017) and Oohood (11 in 2018) from out wide.

2021 Flight Stakes Tips

Our Ladbrokes’ insider Flight Stakes 2021 betting tips and Group 1 Randwick racing selections will be detailed below the week of the race so stay tuned for the fillies to back and sack in the event this season.

• To Win: #2 Mallory ($6 at time of publish) 

She’s been our value bet the whole way through the Princess Series running very good placings and gets the chance to get the job done in the Grand Final on Saturday. Progressive type, gets the run of the race from the barrier (5) with Hugh Bowman coming aboard for the ride. So close when runner-up in the Tea Rose and think she’ll run out a strong mile. 

Flight Stakes Field

The Flight Stakes field often runs under capacity and attracted under 10 runners from 2012 – 2014. The last time the field was run near its maximum was in 2006 when 19 fillies lined up and Cheeky Choice won for Gai Waterhouse. Waterhouse has prepared a record 10 Flight Stakes winners over the years, most recently Speak Fondly (2015), Global Glamour (2016) and Never Been Kissed (2021). 

2021 Flight Stakes Field

The official Flight Stakes 2021 Final Field & Barriers will be announced by Racing NSW on the Wednesday of race week and listed in full below so stay tuned to see what three-year-old fillies will face off in the Group 1 mile clash.

The 2021 Flight Stakes field features 16 hopeful fillies chasing the Group 1 win over the mile led in betting by Rob Heathcote’s late entry Startantes coming off a Group 1 Golden Rose sixth from last weekend. 

• Scratched: #10 Yearning (15)

2021 Flight Stakes Nominations

The Flight Stakes nominations for 2021 are announced on the Monday of Epsom Handicap week.

Fifty-nine fillies make-up the 2021 Flight Stakes nominations including Group 2 Furious Stakes winner Jamaea and the all-in favourite Four Moves Ahead who ran fourth in the autumn’s Group 1 Golden Slipper and Inglis Sires’ races. 

Table Credit: Racing Australia.

Flight Stakes winner Global Glamour (2016) went on to win Melbourne’s Thousand Guineas that spring. Photo Credit: Steve Hart.

Flight Stakes Form Guide

The Flight Stakes form guide has all the information on the starting fillies including their saddlecloth numbers, barrier positions, jockeys and trainers.

Hugh Bowman has ridden four Flight Stakes winners since 2006 and his name is always one to watch out for in the form guide. Other things to look for are fillies who had their final lead-up run at Randwick and those with experience over the mile.

The Flight Stakes form often holds up in later Group 1 races. In recent years the form on the Flight Stakes winner was franked when in 2017 Alizee went on to run third in the Thousand Guineas next race before later elite level wins in the 2018 Queen Of The Turf Stakes and 2019 Futurity Stakes. The following year the 2018 Flight Stakes winner Oohood backed-up with a third behind The Autumn Sun in the Caulfield Guineas.

In 2020 Montefilia completed the Flight Stakes – Spring Champion Stakes double and further franked the Flight Stakes form when third in Melbourne’s VRC Oaks trifecta that spring. 

Flight Stakes Form Facts

• Trainer Gai Waterhouse has prepared a record 10 Flight Stakes winners including Speak Fondly (2015), Global Glamour (2016) and Never Been Kissed (2021) in recent years
• The favourites in Flight Stakes betting have an excellent recent strike rate with the last to salute being Funstar (2019)
• The Tea Rose Stakes is the best Flight Stakes form race to follow from the past 30 years
• No Flight Stakes winner has taken out the race off a non-Sydney lead-up since Bounding Away (1986)

2021 Flight Stakes Form

A link to our comprehensive Flight Stakes 2021 Form Guide will be provided for punters below the week of the race.

Flight Stakes Results

The Flight Stakes results and finishing order of all the fillies that line-up in the classic on Epsom Handicap Day are known when it runs as one of three Group 1 events on the program. As well as revealing the Flight Stakes winner the results show the quinella, trifecta and first four past the post for the exotic bets as well as the winning margin and the starting price of all the fillies.

Fillies short in the Flight Stakes odds have dominated the Group 1 mile results in the past decade and notable recent Flight Stakes winners include Funstar (2019), Alizee (2017), Global Glamour (2016), First Seal (2014), Streama (2011) and More Joyous (2009).

Flight Stakes Winners