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A Closer Look – Previewing the Previews

A look at what sort of impact the Blue Diamond Previews have had on the Group 1 feature.

HAYASUGI winning the Sportsbet Blue Diamond Preview (F) in Caulfield, Australia.
HAYASUGI winning the Sportsbet Blue Diamond Preview (F) in Caulfield, Australia. Picture: Racing Photos

The Blue Diamond Previews have hit back in a big way the past few seasons.

Traditionally the start of the Blue Diamond series, the 1000-metre races are held on the Australia Day weekend and were inaugurated in the early 1980s to be a pathway to the Blue Diamond Preludes and then the Group 1 Blue Diamond Stakes (1200m).

That is precisely the path Midnight Fever, Courtza, Lady Jakeo, Knowledge, Bel Esprit, Reward For Effort and Sepoy all trod en route to victory in the Group 1 Diamond decider.

But there was a recent period where the Previews did not have much of an impact on the Blue Diamond.

Miracles Of Life won the 2013 Diamond straight out of the Preview – defeating Fast 'N' Rocking, who contested both the Preview and Prelude – but in the ensuing eight years only Cornrow (2014), Oohood (2018) and Hanseatic (2020) placed in the Diamond after contesting a Preview.

That's three Blue Diamond Stakes top-three finishers from 174 Blue Diamond Preview starters between 2014 and 2021.

But then came Daumier and, even more significantly, Hayasugi.

The latter won all three legs last year, becoming only the second filly to do so behind Midnight Fever 37 years earlier, and was the first to sweep the Diamond series since glamour colt Sepoy in 2011.

Two years earlier, Godolphin colt Daumier launched his career with victory in the Preview, ran a respectable third in the Prelude before winning the Diamond at $20.

High Octane emulated Daumier when he won last year's colts and geldings Preview on debut, a feat the boys have found easier than the girls over the years.

I Am Immortal, Burnstone, Dissident, Innocent Gamble and Reward For Effort are the other colts in the past 20 years to win the Preview on debut, but De Sonic Boom, Miss Roseiano and Malasun are the only fillies.

Debutants dominate this year's seven-horse colts and geldings Preview with Lindsay Park's Shining Smile the only acceptor to have raced.

It is a different story in the fillies' division, which has nine debutants but in a field of 16 plus one emergency but counts Merson Cooper Stakes winner Palm Angel, Debutant Stakes winner Miss Celine and dashing Cranbourne maiden winner Too Darn Crystal part of the field.

What connections of any horse engaged in a Preview should know is history suggests a prominent performance is required to be a winning chance on Diamond Day.

The seven colts to have won the Diamond out of a Preview all won both races and three of the five fillies to win the Diamond out of the Preview also completed the double.

The two who didn't, Courtza and Lady Jakeo, both ran second in the Preview.