Fletcher's ‘Fantastic' Dapto Maiden Assault

JASON Fletcher is hoping debutants Fantastic Axel and Fantastic Yankee can follow in the sizeable footsteps of their freakish mother, Fantastic Dotty, when they contest the heats of the Group 3 Beteasy Dapto Maiden on Thursday night.

But Fantastic Dotty, which won the 2015 Dapto Maiden in stunning fashion, is a very tough act for her offspring to follow.

Fantastic Dotty, a daughter of Goodesy and Jason Fletcher's wonderful producer Light Fantastic, also opened her career in the Dapto Maiden and she created instant headlines when sensationally breaking the 520m course record in her heat, clocking 29.43.

Amazingly, she then smashed her own record a week later, winning her semi-final in 29.34, a benchmark that still stands.
Fantastic Dotty completed a memorable clean sweep of the prestigious maiden when coming from an impossible position to win the final in 29.85, which earned her a berth in Dapto's Group 1 Megastar, where she started favourite at just her fourth start, finishing a close third to half-brother and kennelmate Fantastic Spiral.

Fletcher's ‘Fantastic' line enjoy a great affinity with Dapto with Fantastic Dotty's litter sister Fantastic Tail holding the 600m record.

Fantastic Dotty went on to win six of her 18 starts before the breeding barn beckoned, with her first litter, whelped in December '16 to American sire KC And All, including 2018 Dapto Maiden aspirants Fantastic Axel and Fantastic Yankee.

Five heats of the $25,000 to-the-winner feature will headline Thursday's Dapto meeting, with Fantastic Axel to exit box seven in the second heat, while Fantastic Yankee has drawn box four in the fifth run-off.

Fantastic Axel ran 26.49 in winning a 472m performance trial at Bulli, while Fantastic Yankee has won three performance trials, running 22.43 over 400m at Bulli, 26.56 over 472m at Bulli and then 30.19 at Dapto on August 2.

Fletcher will also have a third string to his Dapto Maiden bow in Fantastic Hope, a September '16 daughter of Fabregas and Light Fantastic, which has drawn box seven in the fourth qualifier.

Fantastic Hope has had a similar preparation to Fantastic Yankee, winning three performance trials at Bulli 400m in 22.63, Goulburn 440m in 25.17 and Dapto 520m in 30.14.

Not surprisingly, considering their bloodlines and impressive trial form, Fletcher's trio are all at the pointy end of Ladbrokes' heat markets, with Fantastic Hope and Fantastic Yankee favourites at $2.20 and $2.35 respectively, while Fantastic Axel is the $3.50 second elect.