Property will be given his chance to win the Blue Diamond Stakes
Property will be given his chance to achieve a rare feat in the Group One Blue Diamond Stakes but connections of Limestone have decided not to pay a late entry fee to run the filly in the $1.5 millon race.
The owners of the Robert Smerdon-trained Property have paid the $55,000 late entry fee to put him in the Blue Diamond Stakes field.
Smerdon confirmed it was all systems go for the two-year-old to run.
“We had until today and we had to be happy and we were,” Smerdon said.
Property has already won the colts and geldings’ divisions of the Blue Diamond Preview and Prelude and can become just the fifth horse to make a clean sweep of the respective Blue Diamond series races.
Sepoy (2011) is the most recent while Bel Esprit (2002), Midnight Fever (1987) and Rancher (1982) also achieved the feat.
“He had to win the Prelude to warrant going on and he has done that so he earned his chance,” Smerdon said.
“And that’s what we’re doing, rolling the dice.
“Barriers and run of the race are going to separate a lot of these horses. There’s not much between half a dozen of them, so we need a barrier and we need a good run.”
The Darren Weir-trained Limestone won the fillies’ Preview and was runner-up in the Prelude to Catchy but connections decided against paying up.
Ahead of final acceptances on Tuesday morning and the barrier draw, Property is on the third line of TAB fixed odds betting at $7.
The unbeaten filly Catchy is at $5 ahead of the Peter and Paul Snowden-trained colt Pariah ($6).
Formality, Jukebox and Tulip are at $8.
Craig Williams rode Property in the Preview and Prelude but elected to stick with Catchy so champion Hong Kong jockey Joao Moreira is flying in on Friday to take the ride on Property who will gallop on the Caulfield course proper on Tuesday.
He unleashed an impressive turn of foot in the Prelude and Smerdon doesn’t see the rise from 1100m to 1200m as a concern.
“Nothing I have seen of him suggests that he lacks strength,” Smerdon said.
He said he didn’t believe the gelding had improvement from the Prelude but it was just a matter of keeping him ticking over for the Diamond.
Smerdon has won the Blue Diamond once, with Let’s Get Physical 32 years ago.
