Flight Stakes then Oaks for Legal Girl

Clarry Conners cannot put Legal Girl in the same class as Research but he does hope she can emulate the spring campaign of the champion filly.

The Conners-trained Research won the Flight Stakes in 1988 and went to Melbourne where she claimed the VRC Oaks.

Research went on to claim the AJC Oaks/Derby double in the autumn and was named Australian Horse of the Year

Conners has the same spring plan mapped out for Legal Girl who makes her Group One debut in the Flight Stakes (1600m) for three-year-old fillies at Randwick on Saturday.

“I’ve been setting her for the Oaks for eight months ,” Conners said.

“It’s a step up but I think she’s capable of doing it.”

Legal Girl ran second on debut last November at Kembla Grange, the scene of her recent win in a Class One Handicap (1500m) on September 17.

“She won very easy and she’s crying out for further. I’ve always told the owners she’s a deadset stayer and I have aspirations of winning an Oaks with her,” Conners said.

A $140,000 Magic Millions yearling, Legal Girl will be having the third start of her campaign in the Flight Stakes and is a $15 chance in early markets with Godolphin filly Alizee the $3 favourite.

“She’s come back a stronger, much better horse this prep. The plan’s going well,” Conners said.

He said Legal Girl would appreciate good tracks this time in after not finding wet ground over autumn to her liking, although she won her maiden at Kembla Grange on a heavy surface.

The trainer said Legal Girl was developing along the same lines as Arborea who claimed the 1993 Thousand Guineas-VRC Oaks double.

The VRC Oaks (2500m) is run at Flemington on November 9.