This week Racing Victoria took first acceptances for the Ladbrokes Blue Diamond Stakes 2017 leaving 686 youngsters vying for a spot in the final field next autumn.

Khan is a key 2017 Blue Diamond Stakes entry for Peter & Paul Snowden. Photo: Steve Hart.

One of the standout feature races of the Melbourne Autumn Racing Carnival, this season’s $1.5 million Group 1 Ladbrokes Blue Diamond Stakes (1200m) is set to run at Caulfield Racecourse on Saturday February 25, 2017.

The richest race for two-year-olds held in Victoria each year, the Blue Diamond Stakes entries for 2017 are dominated numbers-wise by local horseman Mick Price and are up from 618 at the same stage last season.

Price has 55 first Blue Diamond Stakes acceptors as he chases a third title in the classic following recent wins with Samaready (2012) and Extreme Choice (2016).

He not only prepared the 2016 Blue Diamond Stakes winner but ran the quinella with Extreme Choice’s stablemate Flying Artie finishing second.

The second highest number of Blue Diamond Stakes declarations in the opening round comes from the Lindsay Park stable with David & Ben Hayes and Tom Dabernig paying first acceptance fees for 46 youngsters.

Co-trainer David Hayes has an outstanding record in the now Ladbrokes.com.au sponsored race with five previous Blue Diamond Stakes victories (since 1983): Mahassin (1990) Canonise (1991), Nadeem (2006), Sleek Chassis (2007) and Reaan (2008).

One of the key chances for the team this coming autumn shapes up as Madeenaty, an Exceed And Excel filly who won on debut at Flemington in Black-Type company before a third on Melbourne Cup Day in the Group 3 Ottawa Stakes (1000m).

Also high up the list of nominators are Aquanita Racing (45) and the powerhouse Godolphin stable (43).

Peter & Paul Snowden won the race two years ago with Pride Of Dubai (2015), co-trainer Peter Snowden also preparing Earthquake (2014) and Sepoy (2011) for their successes as the head trainer for Darley Australia (now Godolphin).

Team Snowden have a number of key hopefuls in contention for 2017 including Exceed And Excel colt Khan who won the Listed Breeders’ Plate (1000m) at Randwick this October on debut.

Khan also currently heads all-in betting for the world’s richest race for two-year-olds – the $3.5 million Group 1 Golden Slipper Stakes (1200m) to run at Sydney’s Rosehill Gardens on March 18.

There were also two late 2017 Blue Diamond Stakes acceptors at first declarations with trainer Tony McEvoy’s Maribyrnong Plate winner Aspect taking his hopefuls to 31 and John Price paying up for the unraced Battle Storm.

The first round of official lead-up races to the Group 1 start on January 26 with the Blue Diamond Previews (1000m) followed by the $200,000 Group status Blue Diamond Preludes (1100m) on February 11.

The 2017 Blue Diamond Stakes second acceptances will be taken by the Melbourne Racing Club (MRC) on Tuesday January 10, 2017.

View the full 2017 Blue Diamond First Acceptances here.

The race sponsor Ladbrokes.com.au are set to open futures Blue Diamond Stakes betting shortly so make sure you’ve got an account open and ready to go.