Jockey Luke Currie knows what it takes to win feature two-year-old races and he is confident unbeaten colt Hanseatic can give him a second-straight Blue Diamond Stakes.
Currie has won two $2 million Magic Millions 2YO Classics at the Gold Coast on Sunlight (2018) and Away Game (2020) and took out last year’s Group One $1.5 million Blue Diamond at Caulfield on Lyre.
He was also placed aboard Sunlight and Lyre in the Golden Slipper.
The Anthony Freedman-trained colt Hanseatic is unbeaten in three starts and on Saturday could become the first two-year-old since Sepoy in 2011 to win a Blue Diamond Preview, Prelude and the Blue Diamond.
“It would be a good effort but he’s in the right barn and he probably needed the experience of having another run last time in the Prelude,” Currie said.
“So hopefully we can make it four in a row.
“He’s definitely the one to beat. I wouldn’t be swapping him for anything else.”
Like Lyre, Hanseatic is trained by Freedman and raced by global operation Godolphin.
Lyre won the fillies Prelude before her G1 Blue Diamond success but there is a difference for Currie this year because he has ridden Hanseatic in every start.
“I hadn’t ridden Lyre so I didn’t really know her,” he said.
“That was my first time on her.
“So from what Hanseatic has done I’m more confident this time than last time.”
Currie has had a high opinion of Hanseatic since riding him in a Cranbourne trial before his debut win in the Listed Merson Cooper Stakes at Sandown in November,
Hanseatic resumed from a break with a convincing win in the Listed colts and geldings Preview (1000m) on January 25 then chased down Blue Diamond second favourite Rulership for a narrow-but-impressive victory in the Prelude (1100m).
“The last couple of runs he hasn’t really been in the right spot and he’s still been able to win,” Currie said.
“Hopefully he draws middle of the row and can have a nice clear run and he’ll be pretty hard to beat.”
Ahead of acceptances and the barrier draw on Tuesday, Hanseatic was the $2.30 favourite on Monday with Rulership next at $6.
