Trainer Mick Price tightened his strangehold on the Feb. 27 G1 Blue Diamond S. Saturday when his Flying Artie (Aus) (Artie Schiller) lived up to his name to take the colts' and geldings' division of the G3 Blue Diamond Prelude. Away a step slowly from the extreme outside barrier 13, the dark bay traveled midpack down the backstretch and was about five-wide coming off the turn. Despite those inconveniences, he used the length of the stretch to grind his way to the lead and nailed Star Turn (Aus) (Star Witness {Aus}) by a neck on the wire, with China Dream (Aus) (Snitzel {Aus}) a further two lengths back in third (replay). Damien Oliver is also the regular pilot of Price's G3 Chairman's S. winner Extreme Choice (Aus) (Not A Single Doubt {Aus})–the $2.50 Blue Diamond favorite compared to Flying Artie's $4.80 price–and now has to choose between the two colts. Craig Newitt will ride the one Oliver chooses against.
“I'm going to let the dust settle; I'm not going to make it on the spur of the moment,” Oliver told Racing.com. “I'll speak to Mick and analyse it a bit closer and see how we go.”
“They're both great rides, as I always thought,” he added. “They're two different types of horses. The other bloke has got great speed but this bloke has got the potential to get over further–he's going to be strong at the end of it.”
Flying Artie was breaking his maiden Saturday, having finished a narrow second on debut in the G3 Maribyrnong Plate over 1000 metres Nov. 7. The 1100 metres was run in 1:03.04, slightly faster than the 1:03.11 is took the fillies to run their division a race earlier. Victorious there was the Philip Stokes-trained Samara Dancer (NZ) (Hinchinbrook {Aus}), who was making it two straight following a three-length debut win at Morphettville in South Australia Nov. 28. Racing midpack down the backstretch, the dark bay went wide for running room in the lane and burst to the front passing the 200 metre mark. She found the wire in time to hold off a fast-finishing Concealer (Aus) (Nicconi {Aus}) by a length, with Miss Nymeria (Aus) (Stryker {Aus}) checking in third (replay).
“She's pretty good–she's shown us plenty at home but she had to measure up to this lot and she's definitely done that,” Stokes told Racing.com, revealing he'd worked the filly with Group 1 winner Hucklebuck (Aus) (Elvstroem {Aus}). “She'd done everything right at home–she galloped with a horse called Hucklebuck on Tuesday and went with him so I thought that was good enough. She'll only get better.”
Samara Dancer is now at $8.50 for the Blue Diamond, and Concealer is at $11.00.
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