Road to the Blue Diamond intensifies as favourites prepare to face next challenge in the Prelude

Cover image courtesy of The Image is Everything

The road to the G1 Blue Diamond Stakes narrows on Saturday with the second leg of lead-up races running at Caulfield. The two hot favourites for the grand finale are the headline acts in the G2 Blue Diamond Prelude (fillies) and the G3 Blue Diamond Prelude (colts & geldings), where their trainers hope they will demonstrate their ability to claim the big prize.

My Gladiola (I Am Invincible) and Aleppo Pine (Blue Point {Ire}) jostle for favouritism ahead of the big day, with boom Wootton Bassett (GB) colt Wodeton the only other juvenile to be in single figures.

Favourites have a chequered past in the Blue Diamond; the last time a favourite won the race was in 2018 with Written By, and Extreme Choice before him in 2016. Last year’s winner Hayasugi (Royal Meeting {Ire}) left the barriers at $16, despite having won both the G3 Blue Diamond Preview (fillies) and the Prelude.

Only three fillies - none of which were favourites - have won over the last 10 editions of the race, versus seven colts. Those colts are almost guaranteed a position at stud - the last Blue Diamond winner to end his career as a gelding was Kusi (Desert Prince {Ire}), who was victorious in 2003.

On the contrary, the Preview and the Prelude in particular continue to be good predictors of Blue Diamond success.

Of the last 10 winners, only two did not come through one of the two lead-up races; Extreme Choice won the G2 Chairman’s Stakes three weeks before the Diamond, and his fellow Newgate Farm resident Artorius had only won a 2-year-old handicap (by 4.5l) before his maiden Group 1 win.

Five won at least one of the lead-ups - four won the Prelude, whereas Daumier won the Listed Blue Diamond Preview (colts & geldings) - and two ran in the placings. Yulong sire Tagaloa, the Blue Diamond victor in 2020, finished the furthest back in the field in his Prelude when fourth.

The Prelude threatens to shake up the standings ahead of the grand finale, but James Cummings and John McArdle remain confident that their charges can deliver.

An ideal setup for Godolphin’s star colt

Aleppo Pine has warmed into second favouritism for the main event after a rousing 2.5l victory on debut over Neverenoughlego (Ole Kirk) at Ballarat back in December. Born and bred from one of Godolphin’s younger blueblood families, the colt was an impressive jump-out winner prior to debut and has repeated the formula for his second start, again winning his most recent jump-out at the end of January.

Trainer James Cummings has been pleased with the colt’s progress between runs and believes he is ready to lay claim to the G3 Blue Diamond Prelude (colts & geldings).

“I’m delighted with the way that the horse has freshened up since his impressive debut win,” he said on Thursday, speaking on Giddy Up With Gareth Hall. “He’s a very talented colt and I think the set-up here is ideal.

“His preparation for this has been ideal, he’s formed a really good base of fitness, and I’d say that he’ll be an improved horse from having such a positive experience on debut last year.”

Aleppo Pine’s immediate pedigree suggests the colt has it all before him. His granddam Star Shiraz (Sequalo) was a $1.125 million broodmare acquisition from Eureka Stud at the Magic Millions Gold Coast National Broodmare Sale in 2007 after a glittering track career, in which she claimed the G1 Sires' Produce Stakes among her six victories and was twice placed at the top level.

Her daughter Retsina (Redoute’s Choice) performed more modestly for Godolphin, winning once and narrowly missing the placings in the Listed Streets Ice Cream Stakes, but she has performed far better in her career at stud.

The great Redoute’s Choice continues to leave an indelible mark on the breed as the damsire of 169 stakeswinners to date - three of which are half-siblings to Aleppo Pine. Of Retsina’s first four foals to the track, three have come away stakes winners, led by Group 2 winners Savatiano (Street Cry {Ire}) and Vilana (Hallowed Crown).

They are joined by Athiri (Lonhro), who captured two Listed contests among five wins. Retsina’s fifth foal to race, Rakomelo (Lonhro) finished second in the G3 Canonbury Stakes to Coolmore’s young stallion Best Of Bordeaux at only his second start.

Early starts are normal in this family.

Savatiano, who would bow out of her career with seven stakes victories out of 12 wins to her name, was eighth in the G3 Widden Stakes on debut, but was only beaten 3l. Athiri was a pre-Christmas juvenile winner at Rosehill Gardens, before placing second in the fillies’ G2 Blue Diamond Prelude on her way to only missing out on the Blue Diamond by 1.3l, finishing fourth behind fellow Godolphin filly Lyre (Lonhro).

A critical weekend

“We intentionally had him quite forward and ready to go for the Prelude, given it’s been my intention to give him just one lead-in run to the (Blue) Diamond,” Cummings said. “He’s a promising colt and one of the key emerging chances for the Blue Diamond in two weeks’ time.”

This is a “critical weekend” for Aleppo Pine, whose name derives from the same origins as his dam. Retsina refers to a Greek white wine, which has been prepared for 2000 years. Originally amphorae, the traditional vessel for transporting and storing wine, would have been sealed with resin extracted from the Aleppo pine.

Cummings has employed the services of Jamie Melham to ride his star colt - last year Melham partnered the late Hayasugi to victory in all three legs of the Blue Diamond series, and has taken out two of the last four editions of the Prelude (colts & geldings), aboard General Beau in 2021 and the formerly Cummings-trained Barber (Exceed And Excel) in 2023.

The colt has drawn barrier two, which puts him in prime position, particularly given that four of the last eight winners of the Prelude have jumped from barriers one to three.

“From a perfect draw with Jamie Melham ready to let him loose, he gets an opportunity to set himself up perfectly for (the Blue Diamond in) two weeks’ time,” Cummings said. “But from an ideal (draw) with a colt who has some pace, I think we need to approach the race with an open mind and avoid being prohibitive (with instructions) at this stage.

“The map looks good, put it that way.”

It’s fair to say that Cummings is feeling bullish about the colt’s chances.

“I think we’ve probably said enough,” he concluded. “It’s time for the horse to do the talking.”

A filly built for sprinting

Trainer John McArdle was taken immediately with the tall I Am Invincible filly out of Villa Verde (Not A Single Doubt) when she was offered at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale last year, and for good reason.

The seventh foal from a G2 Challenge Stakes winner who was placed several times at the top level - and was a $1.1 million broodmare purchase for James Bester Bloodstock and the Deep Field Syndicate in 2015 - appeared to be very much a perfect combination of her parents.

“Obviously, she was a very good type,” McArdle told The Thoroughbred Report. “She's out of a very good race mare. She's big and powerful. She’s by a champion stallion - she's very typical of Vinnie, but she also looks a lot like her mother. She was strong and had a great hindquarter on her, and she just looked like a good sprint horse.”

McArdle - who bought the filly who would be named My Gladiola for $550,000 under his and Brent Clayton’s Redgum Racing banner - always had the feeling that she would be an early type. Villa Verde was victorious in the Listed Inglis Debutants Stakes in October of her juvenile year, and swiftly followed it up with a win in the Listed Ottowa at Flemington. An autumn campaign yielded a second in the G2 Reisling Stakes, before she finished 4.9l behind Overreach (Exceed And Excel) in the G1 Golden Slipper Stakes.

Villa Verde comes from a precocious family as well, being a half-sister to G3 Lowland Stakes-placed - and fourth in the G1 New Zealand Oaks - Miss Sharapova (NZ) (Ustinov), dam of G2 Danehill Stakes-winning stallion Doubtland and Listed-winning Pretty Fast (Not A Single Doubt). Doubtland was unbeaten in two starts as a juvenile, dashing away to win the G3 Kindergarten Stakes by 4l at his second start. Pretty Fast was third on debut as a 2-year-old, but she strung four wins together in the following spring, culminating in a slashing 2.8l victory in the Listed Mode Plate.

As a broodmare, Villa Verde now sits at five winners from seven runners, with My Gladiola being her first stakes winner. The win was a fantastic pedigree update for My Gladiola’s half-sister by Pierro, Lot 759 in the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale Catalogue - and there could be another on the horizon.

Unlike Aleppo Pine, My Gladiola’s name has nothing to do with her breeding. Her main owner Paul Johnson had always wanted to name a racehorse after his grandmother Gladys, and he picked a particularly fine filly to grace with the name.

Impressive from the start

“The Vinnies get better as they get older, but her mother was a very good 2-year-old,” McArdle said. “We never pushed her, but she's always shown us very good ability. So we were pretty confident that we could get her to these types of races, and then obviously she impressed on debut.”

And impress she did, flying home at Sandown two weeks ago to overtake Price Tag (Zoustar) to win by 1.5l. She had given her connections confidence with two stylish jump-out wins beforehand, but, as McArdle puts it, they still have to deliver on race day.

He feels confident ahead of Saturday’s Prelude, given how My Gladiola has coped in the fortnight since her debut.

“She had a really good week after the run,” he said. “She did a bit of evens work on Saturday, and then Tuesday morning, she had a nice gallop on the course proper at home.

“Jamie Mott came down and rode her, and he knows her very well. He thought she'd come on from the run, and all the data that we collected suggested that she has. I'm very happy with that.”

It’s all systems go for Saturday, despite a somewhat awkward draw from barrier 12. It’s not an impossible task though - last year Hayasugi won from barrier 11, and four of the previous nine runnings have been won from barrier nine.

“We'll probably ride her just back off the speed,” is McArdle’s intent for Saturday. “Jamie will come out on her and (try to) slide across where he gets some cover. If Caulfield is playing against her or the barrier is too much - just as long as she hits the line hard and she comes through the run, we'll look towards the Diamond.”

My Gladiola’s performance is what’s most important to McArdle.

“The juveniles are here one minute and gone the next. She's got to do it again, run well on Saturday and come through that - but it’s nice to be the favourite.”