The Blue Diamond is always a lottery, but worth having a go at because the place dividends are so good. I saw them all in the parade ring with the mounting yard being too hard and three deep! Long Leaf had the winkers and twisted neck, Written By was gaping, dumping, shitty behind, and stallion chain, Run Naan was calling out and head up, Prairie Fire was swishing, Encryption a clean sheet, Plague Stone cross-over noseband, Grand Symphony two strappers, gaping, teeth and dumping, Enbihaar clean sheet, Kinky Boom nose roll, two strappers and stallion chain, Lady Horseowner gaping and twisted neck, Ennis Hill dumping, two strappers and grabbed by the clerk, Crossing The Abbey two hands, head up, ear muffs, and illegible comment, Qafila twisted neck, two strappers, Oohood head down, earmuffs, winkers two strappers, two hands, flared nostrils?, Aristocrastic Miss two strappers, changing gait, resisting the jockey, More Than Exceed two hands.
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- Written by
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- Enbihaar
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- Oohood
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- Encryption
Although dumping and shitty behind are positive variables I take a negative attitude to them in two-year-old races so I ruled out the favourite. My selection was Encryption ahead of Enbihaar. Both clean sheets. I pulled the wrong rein. There was a moment there when it looked like Encryption would surge into third but he died on his run. Enbihaar, at $7.50 for the place, should have been the one!
The best horse I saw all day was Gailo Chop, too short at $1.30.
In Sydney, Cellarman in R2 (relaxed, head down) won strongly at $1.80 the place on BF. Trekking in R4 (prancing) weakened to 4th in a close finish (the first four finished within half a length) after the jockey had to stop riding at the 200m, according to stewards. In Melbourne, Flippant in R5 looked relaxed and alert on TV but ran poorly for no apparent reason (‘no obvious abnormality’ according to stewards). There’s always the possibility I read the horse wrongly. Happens often. I stayed away from the Blue Diamond and Oakleigh Plate. Big fields are difficult on TV because the second half of the field is often shown on the track on the way to the barrier and all you see are their backsides. Geoffrey’s comments on the Blue Diamond field are informative, despite the limited views on my Foxtel recording. I couldn’t see a stallion chain on Written By and Kinky Boom, at least not one that looks like the photos on p113 in WMR. Maybe they were removed at a later stage in the ring? A losing day, but always interesting.
I noted the stallion chains from the gear list. I assume they were applied at the barrier.