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It’s the stuff dreams are made of: a $9,000 yearling purchase wins the $1 million AAMI Blue Diamond Stakes-G1, part-owned by one of Victoria’s most prominent sports figures, ridden by a jockey who many considered was ‘past it’ and trained by a former ‘struggler’ from Seymour.
A comprehensive summary of the Blue Diamond appears in the full version of Inside Racing Online, but suffice to say this was racing theatre at its best.
The sight of Wayne Treloar’s head bobbing wildly as he drove Bel Esprit to the line made us smile, but who but Treloar could know the determination it takes to get back on top after years in the wilderness? "Smokey" was once Tommy Smith’s Melbourne jockey and he rode Tristarc to victory in the 1985 Caulfield Cup, but the ‘champs’ have been few and far between for the last 20 years.
And what about John Symons, now with 200 horses under his care at Macedon Lodge? There was a time when he was ‘afraid’ to come to town, losing three of his best horses through injury following trips to Melbourne from his Seymour base. Now an ‘overnight success’, it’s highly unlikely Symons will ever forget Blue Diamond Day 2002.
Essendon Football Club’s premiership-winning coach, Kevin Sheedy, who bought into Bel Esprit for just $1,500, is now sharing in the $941,000 prizemoney — some might say his eye for human talent is now only exceeded by his astuteness for horseflesh.
But let’s not forget the real hero, Bel Esprit. Some thought he might get a ‘stitch’ if placed under real pressure but, while the Blue Diamond’s tight finish was nowhere near as emphatic as his previous four wins, all you have to do is win — and win he did.
Where to from here? The Golden Slipper? Connections were still weighing up their options, but the $2.5 million stake would certainly be tantalising and the pressure to prove he really is the best two-year-old of his generation may tilt the scales in favour of a Slipper start.
But wait a minute; no horse has won the Blue Diamond–Slipper double since Courtza in 1989. Yeah, and no favourite had won the Blue Diamond for the past seven years either.
Good horses don’t fall victim to history — they write it!
Inside
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