The 500 plus Blue Diamond Stakes 2012 first acceptors have all received an automatic entry into Victoria’s newest race, a $250,000 feature to have its inauguration on 2012 Caulfield Guineas Day during next year’s Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival.
2011 Blue Diamond Stakes winner Sepoy
One of the premier juvenile races of the year, the next edition of the $1 million Group 1 Patinack Farm Blue Diamond Stakes (1200m) is scheduled for February 25, 2012 at Caulfield Racecourse.
First declarations for the iconic feature were taken this week, 536 two-year-olds still chasing a start in the Melbourne Autumn Racing Carnival showdown that was won this year by Darley’s supreme colt Sepoy.
Race sponsors Patinack Farm boast the largest number of entries of any stable with 41 nominees, followed by Peter Snowden’s employers and reigning title holders Darley Racing with 31.
The 2012 Blue Diamond Stakes is the crowning event of a special three-race series during the autumn that kicks off on January 26 with the $100,000 Listed Blue Diamond Previews, one for fillies and a separate race for the and colts and geldings, and the $125,000 Group 3 Blue Diamond Preludes on February 11.
A $1 million bonus is on offer to any horse that can win all three of the Blue Diamond Triple Crown events.
This was a prize Sepoy missed out on this year despite going through the series undefeated winning the trio of races by an accumulated 11.5 lengths.
A clause in the conditions of the Blue Diamond Stakes bonus stated that to be eligible the races needed to have a minimum number of starters, meaning the nine-horse field for the Blue Diamond Preview did not count for Sepoy.
His Blue Diamond Series clean sweep was still a remarkable achievement, Sepoy becoming just the fourth horse in the 41-year history of the Blue Diamond to score the triple joining Rancher, Midnight Fever and Bel Esprit.
The Melbourne Racing Club has also given an automatic entry into the newest race on the 2012-13 Australian Racing Calendar for all of the 2012 Blue Diamond hopefuls.
The $250,00 The Blue Sapphire (1200m) for three-year-olds is a non-black-type, but still very lucrative feature to run for the first time on Caulfield Guineas Day 2012 in October next year.
Originally The Blue Sapphire was a mid-year race for two-year-olds, but was rescheduled and reconditioned as part of a new look Caulfield Spring Carnival for 2012.
Stay up-to-date with all the latest racing news and Blue Diamond Stakes updates by bookmarking us here at Races.com.au.
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