BLUE DIAMOND STAKES
1200m, Caulfield, $1,500,000, Two-year-olds
HISTORY
* First run in 1971 when won by Tolerance
NOTABLE WINNERS
* Manikato (1978); Rancher (1982); Bounding Away (1986); Midnight Fever (1987); Zeditave (1988); Redoute’s Choice (1999); Bel Esprit (2002); Alinghi (2004); Star Witness (2010); Sepoy (2011); Miracles Of Life (2013); Extreme Choice (2016); Catchy (2017); Written By (2018)
TALKING POINTS
* The only two-year-old Group One race in Melbourne
* Trainer David Hayes is chasing a seventh win and his second with co-trainers, son Ben and nephew Tom Dabernig. They have two runners, fillies Lankan Star and Andrassy Avenue. Previous winners: Canonise (1991); Principality (1995); Nadeem (2006); Sleek Chassis (2007); Reaan (2008) and Catchy (2017). Lindsay Park patriarch, Colin Hayes, won with Out Of Danger (1976), Midnight Fever (1987) and Mahaasin (1990)
* Dwayne Dunn, who rides Catch Me, is the leading rider with wins on Undoubtedly (2005); Nadeem (2006); Sleek Chassis (2007); Reaan (2008)
* Colt I Am Immortal will attempt to join Rancher (1982); Midnight Fever (1987); Bel Esprit (2002) and Sepoy (2011) to win the Preview, Prelude and Blue Diamond treble. Midnight Fever is the only filly to achieve the feat
* Catch Me is attempting to become the fourth filly to win the Preview-Blue Diamond double. Miracles Of Life (2013) was the last. Sepoy was the last to complete the double in 2011 for the colts
* Lyre aiming to become the ninth filly to win the Prelude-Blue Diamond double with Catchy completing the double in 2017. Written By became the fifth colt to succeed last year
WHAT THE KEY PLAYERS ARE SAYING:
“She’s right where we need her now. We trained her to have that first-up run in the Prelude to bring her to a peak and not do it on the training track. We’ll know if it’s worked on Saturday” – Brooklyn Hustle’s trainer Jason Warren
“He’s a pretty good colt and will probably be better off in the Sires’ over 1400 metres, but he’s not the worst horse in this race, I can tell you” – Game Keeper’s trainer Tony McEvoy
“It’s very hard to split them. They are two lovely chances and we wouldn’t want to put a saddle on anything else in the race” – Anthony Freedman’s racing manager, Brad Taylor, on stablemates I Am Immortal and Lyre
“If she brings her ‘A’ game, we know she’s good enough” – Catch Me’s rider Dwayne Dunn
Credit: AAP