Mick Price & Michael Kent Jnr now have the first and second favourite for the Group 1 Blue Diamond Stakes (1200m), courtesy of Big Sky’s debut win at Flemington.
The Bivouac colt proved far too good for his rivals in the TAB We’re On (1000m) under jockey Jordan Childs, who was a late call up after leading hoop Mark Zahra fractured his tibia during the week.
Slightly easy in betting to jump a $2.90 equal favourite, Big Sky drew widest down the straight but pushed forward under Childs, who got the colt to settle and sprint away for a 2-3/4 length victory over Mirador ($2.90 equal fav), with ¾ of a length further back to Boridi ($5) in third.
Sitting at $15 in some Blue Diamond markets before the win, Big Sky was quickly wound in and now sits on the second line of betting at $6 behind stablemate Guest House, with Michael Kent Jnr full of praise after the win.
“It worked out pretty well, really,” Kent Jnr said.
“He did a lot wrong in the first part of the race but I thought Jordy (Childs) rode him perfectly.
“The plan was ride the horse first and race second, just keep it smooth.
“He got across relatively easily, the horse has got natural speed, and I suppose the impressive part was the way he travelled deep into the race and then the acceleration was instant when he went for it and he really ran right past the line.”
While the stable aren’t in the habit of ranking their Blue Diamond contenders, it appears likely that Big Sky and Guest House could clash in the Blue Diamond Prelude (1100m) on February 7.
“We haven’t matched them up,” Kent Jnr said of the pair.
“We don’t let them off the bridle until they go race day, and all you can do is go and win like that.
“He’s won very impressively but it’s only going to get harder from here.
“If you didn’t go to the 1100 (metre) Prelude, you’d go to the Chairman’s Stakes, but the 1100 is a nice stepping stone to the 1200 metres of a Blue Diamond.”
