Thursday's Australia Day card at Caulfield featured a pair of G3 Blue Diamond previews–with a division each for males and for fillies with an eye towards the G1 Blue Diamond S. on Feb. 25. The Helmet (Aus) filly Limestone (Aus) prevailed in the fillies' division for trainer Darren Weir and owner David Moodie, while Property (Aus) (Starcraft {NZ}) took the colts' and geldings' division.
Sent off the co-favourite with the Coolmore partners' 'TDN Rising Star' Tulip (Aus) (Pierro {Aus}), Limestone bided her time in the second half of the field under Damian Lane. Getting up on Tulip's heels coming off the turn, Limestone moved to the inside to split runners nearing the 100 metre mark as Tulip ground down the outside of the track. Limestone hit the wire a head to the better of Tulip, who held off a fast-finishing Chateau Griffo (Aus) (Sebring {Aus}) for second. The time of :56.88 slightly edged the colts' time of :56.94.
Third on debut at Moonee Valley in September, Limestone broke her maiden at Flemington on New Year's Day over a field that included Oscietra (Aus) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}), the first foal out of world champion sprinter Black Caviar (Aus) (Bel Esprit {Aus}), and was making her black-type debut here.
The colts and geldings division of the Blue Diamond Preview was won in more clear-cut fashion by Price Bloodstock Management's Property (Aus) (Starcraft {NZ}), who was breaking his maiden at second asking. Stalking the pace off the rail, Property moved out four-wide off the bend. Set to a drive by Craig Williams at the 200 metre mark, Property hit the lead in the dying strides and won by 1 3/4 lengths under wraps from Azazel (Aus) (Snitzel {Aus}). Purchased by Aquanita Racing for A$130,000 at last year's Inglis Classic Sale, Property was set to be sold to Hong Kong but failed his veterinary examination five weeks ago. While owners David Price and Jenny Chapman are now in the fortunate position to have a G1 Blue Diamond S. contender on their hands, as a result of the colt's expected sale he is not nominated to the race.
“We thought it would be a done deal so as a result, we're not paid up for the big races in Australia because we didn't think the horse would be racing there to be honest,'' Price said. “He had a radiographic issue with a knee which caused him to fail the vet so obviously we had to keep him to race in Australia. Given the situation, it's exciting in one sense to win a race like the Blue Diamond Preview, but it's also a bit disappointing in another sense because it's a A$55,000 late entry fee if we were to go down that path.”
Trainer Robert Smerdon said Property would likely take in the Blue Diamond Prelude on Feb. 11 before a decision on supplementing is made.
“It's really too early to call because with 2-year-olds, you can have them one day and lose them the next,'' Smerdon said. “His knee issue obviously cost him the Hong Kong trip but as long as we manage things, and we are at the moment, then he'll keep going. He's a very nice horse and he's shown that in both career runs.”
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