On Sunday 7 April, 3YO I’m Airborne ticked off his maiden in the Marshman Painting Maiden Highweight Plate at Ballarat.
The win came after being the $1.50 favourite at an abandoned Edenhope meeting the month prior, and featuring heavily in the stewards’ report on his first-up run for the preparation at Geelong.
I’m Airborne was initially nominated for a 1600M maiden at Hamilton, but the meeting was transferred to Ballarat’s synthetic track over 1400M following a lot of rain. Unsure whether the synthetic would suit him, we dual accepted for another maiden at Avoca, but he drew an average gate.
As soon as the Ballarat fields were published, where we would head was a no-brainer — he was scratched from Avoca shortly after. We were quite confident it would be his race to lose, and couldn’t help but laugh when he opened as the $1.14 favourite.
He jumped well from barrier 1, cruised along, and was only slightly niggled along with 250M to go. He won with ease, leading from pillar to post.
I’m Airborne gave a fantastic effort, carrying 69KG over an unsuitable trip and still getting the job done as he did. It’s onwards and upwards from here!
Congratulations to his connections!
