Dam of debutante Perth winner had brush with death
By Peter Wharton
Ideal Flybye, the dam of the sensational debutante Gloucester Park three-year-old winner Flybye Lou (by Sweet Lou), is lucky is be alive.
“As a three-year-old Ideal Flybye showed a lot of promise for Pukekohe horseman Tony Grayling,” Hawera dry stock cattle farmer and hobby harness breeder Don Bublitz said.
“She won two from not many starts but she got colic and was lucky to survive. It was a fairly big operation.
Don and Anne Bublitz with Ideal Flybye
“She went back to racing and went on to win some good races.”
In all, the American Ideal mare chalked up 10 successes with four placings from 31 starts for $62,468 in stakes.
Flybye Lou is the fourth foal and third winner out of Ideal Flybye.
“We qualified her with Andre Poutama at Pukekohe. She was impressive right through….she was just so quick,” Bublitz, who bred the filly with his wife Anne and his late parents Ivan and Joyce, said.
“Andre only gave her three preparations and she won three workouts as a two-year-old and we got an offer and sold her.”
Lining up for her first outing at Gloucester Park on June 28, Flybye Lou broke as a result of contacting the arm of the mobile barrier and gave the leaders 25 metres start.
With 1200 metres to run she was still 20 metres from the leaders, and her chance could have been written off. But Flybye Lou joined the field approaching the bell, circled her rivals field in the space of 100 metres and proceeded to blitz her opposition.
She won easing down by almost 25 metres!
Flybye Lou returns to the winners circle at Gloucester Park
Photo (c) RWWA
Flybye Lou ranks as a half-sister to the NSW Oaks heat winner and Group/Listed NZ placegetter Kahlua Flybye 1:52.9 ($197,739) and Ideal Sports Girl (1:56.2), a winner of four races in NZ and NSW.
“I think that Kahlua Flybye is the best of the breed but if Flybye Lou can get her act together she could be anything,” Don stated.
Since producing Flybye Lou in 2020, Ideal Flybye has left a two-year-old colt in Miki Flybye (by Always B Miki), who has qualified and been turned out, and a weanling filly Bettor Flybye (by Bettor’s Delight). She is now safely in foal to Sweet Lou.
The Flybye Lou story actually began in early 1970’s when Don’s father Ivan Bublitz attended a sale of the stock of prominent horseman Doug Grantham.
“My father bought Namu Lady as a broodmare. She was a fairy handy racemare who won six races,” Don said.
“He bred one out of her called Bye Bye Cathy (by Able Bye Bye). She was a very talented racemare but only had a few starts and won a couple.
“Then he bred the Caprock mare Cathy’s Flybye and that’s when my wife and I got involved.”
Cathy’s Flybye left seven winners – all inside 2:00 – including the Manawatu Cup winner Ivana Flybye ($220,653), who took a record of 1:49.8 in America, the Winton Cup victor Beach Flybye (1:55.7), the Globe Derby Park winner Flyin Tommy (1:56.8), the Victorian provincial winner Wild Card (1:58.2) and Ideal Flybye, the dam of Flybye Lou.