The Ladbrokes Blue Diamond Stakes 2017 steals the show in Melbourne on Saturday, a detailed form guide analysis on the two-year-old contenders and betting preview on the Caulfield classic found below.

Jukebox is the only previous winner at the Ladbrokes Blue Diamond Stakes track and distance heading into the Group 1 on Saturday. Photo: Ultimate Racing Photos.

A full field of 16 youngsters take to the Caulfield track in Race 7 at 4:10pm (AEDT) for this season’s $1.5 million Group 1 Ladbrokes Blue Diamond Stakes (1200m) including the sole emergency Sheer Madness coming in for the scratched Spoils.

It is an even playing field in Ladbrokes Blue Diamond Stakes betting this autumn at Ladbrokes.com.au with six single-figure fancies fighting for favouritism.

Current top pick in the Ladbrokes Blue Diamond Stakes odds at a firm $5 is the undefeated Lindsay Park-trained filly Catchy who comes off a Prelude win at the track a fortnight back.

Catchy has work to do from her wide barrier 13 Blue Diamond Stakes barrier however, which opens up the race for an upset.

The punters are coming for the fellow Lindsay Park-trained Tulip ($6.50) in a nice gate eight draw as well as co-trainer David Hayes’ other best chance at a sixth Blue Diamond Stakes trophy Formality ($7.50).

The Blue Diamond Colts & Geldings Prelude winner Property ($7) represents Robert Smerdon who is after his first win in over 30 years, Pariah ($6.50) is right in the mix for Team Snowden coming off a second in the same lead-up and no chances are being taken on Ciaron Maher’s proven 1200m horse Jukebox ($7.50).

That’s the story being told by the bookies but what about the Ladbrokes Blue Diamond Stakes form guide, betting history and statistics on the juveniles’ feature?

2017 Blue Diamond Stakes Form Facts & Betting Stats

• Last year’s Blue Diamond Stakes winner was the Mick Price-trained Extreme Choice (2016) who came off a win in the Group 3 Chairman’s Stakes and saluted for the punters as the 7/4 favourite from barrier 11 (of 16) with Craig Newitt aboard
• Last year’s winning trainer Mick Price (13-2-3-2) chases his third win and back-to-back victories this season with #7 Cao Cao ($51)
• The other previous Blue Diamond Stakes winning trainers with a runner on the weekend are: Robert Smerdon (6-1-0-0) with #1 Property; John Salanitri (2-1-0-0) with #17 Sheer Madness; Peter Snowden (11-3-0-0) with #4 Pariah and #8 Taking Aim; and David Hayes (46-5-6-4) with #5 Wait For No One, #9 Muraahib, #10 Will’s Bid, #11 Catchy, #12 Formality and #13 Tulip
• Last year’s winning jockey Craig Newitt (8-2-0-0) is after a third victory and successive wins this season aboard #8 Taking Aim ($19)
• The other previous Blue Diamond Stakes winning jockeys with a ride on the weekend are: Kerrin McEvoy (7-2-1-0) on #2 Azazel; Luke Nolen (7-1-1-1) on #3 Jukebox; Damien Oliver (18-1-6-2) on #13 Tulip; and Dwayne Dunn (10-4-0-3) on #15 Roomooz

• #12 Formality ($7.50) chases the Chairman’s Stakes – Blue Diamond Stakes double achieved by Extreme Choice last year
• The most successful Blue Diamond Stakes lead-up races are the Blue Diamond Preludes producing five of the past six winners
• The Fillies Prelude – Blue Diamond double was last achieved by Earthquake (2014); this year #11 Catchy ($5) is out to be the next
• The Colts & Geldings Prelude – Blue Diamond double was last achieved by Sepoy (2011); this year #1 Property ($7) is out to be the next
• The other filly out of the Blue Diamond Prelude is #15 Roomooz (4^th)
• The other colts and geldings out of the Blue Diamond Prelude are: Pariah (2^nd), Wait For No One (3^rd) Azazel (4^th), Cao Cao (6^th), Sheer Madness (9^th) and Will’s Bid (10^th)

• Aside from the Prelude champs the other last start winners in the Ladbrokes Blue Diamond Stakes 2017 field are: #3 Jukebox (Inglis Premier, 1200m, Caulfield, 04/02/2017); #9 Muraahib (2YO Hcp, 1200m, Sale, 05/02/2017), the aforementioned Chairman’s Stakes winner #12 Formality and #16 Blondie (2YO NMW-SW, 1000m, Moonee Valley, 27/01/2017)
• Last year’s winning barrier (11) has produced just the one Blue Diamond Stakes winner (since 1983) and belongs this year to #4 Pariah ($6.50)
• The most successful Blue Diamond Stakes barriers in that time producing five and four winners respectively are gates 4 and 5; those barriers belong on Saturday to #3 Jukebox (4) and #15 Roomooz (5)

• No Blue Diamond Stakes winner has finished worse than second in their lead-up run since Nadeem (Blue Diamond Prelude 6^th in 2006)
• This year that rules out: #2 Azazel, #5 Wait For No One, #6 Aspect, #7 Cao Cao, #10 Will’s Bid, #15 Roomooz and #17 Sheer Madness from the win
• Blue Diamond Stakes Favourites have enjoyed five wins in the past six years; #11 Catchy ($5) is the current 2017 favourite

• Fillies have enjoyed four wins in the past decade most recently Earthquake (2014); the fillies in the mix this year are: #11 Catchy, #12 Formality, #13 Tulip, #15 Roomooz and #16 Blondie
• At the track (Caulfield) the previous winners are: #1 Property (3-2-1-0), #11 Catchy (2-2-0-0), #3 Jukebox (1-1-0-0), #12 Formality (1-1-0-0) and #5 Wait For No One (3-1-0-1)
• The only runners previous tested at the Blue Diamond Stakes distance (1200m) are #3 Jukebox (1-1-0-0) and #9 Muraahib (1-1-0-0)
• The undefeated runners with a perfect 100% Win Rate to date are: #3 Jukebox, #9 Muraahib, #11 Catchy, #12 Formality and #16 Blondie

Stay tuned for our insider Ladbrokes Blue Diamond Stakes 2017 betting tips, checking out the full form below before heading to Ladbrokes.com.au to place your bets.