Hoop Damien Oliver selected Saturday's G3 Blue Diamond Prelude-C &G hero Flying Artie (Aus) (Artie Schiller) over undefeated favored stablemate Extreme Choice (Aus) (Not A Single Doubt {Aus}) as his G1 Blue Diamond S. mount reported Racing.com. Oliver booted home both Mick Price-trained colts in successive weekends at Caulfield, with the latter landing the 1000-metre G3 Chairman's S. Feb. 6 by an impressive 4 1/2 lengths. Mark Van Triet, manager for Oliver, confirmed the champion jockey's choice, which was made Sunday afternoon.
“He said there was not much at all between them, but he just thought that Flying Artie had scope for a bit more improvement and that he'd be best suited of the two over the 1200 metres of the Blue Diamond,” Van Triet told Racing.com.
If Oliver is successful, it would be his second Blue Diamond victory, after winning the 2004 edition with champion filly Alinghi (Aus) (Encosta De Lago {Aus}).
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