The Danny O’Brien trained colt Closer To Free announced his arrival on the racing scene with an ‘as good as it gets’ win in the Blue Diamond Prelude for colts and geldings, striking at double figure odds to lower the colours of the much vaunted $2.20 race favourite Guest House by a neat length.
The chestnut son of Street Boss will be one of three runners going into Group 1 Blue Diamond Stakes at Caulfield on Saturday with a perfect record as he steps up the distance test from 1110m to 1200m for his second start.
The two other unbeaten runners set to face the starter … Unit Five and Big Sky … have both already successfully transitioned beyond ticking the debut victory box with both also saluting in their respective second career outings and doing so with some aplomb.
Unit Five has the added plus on his resume in that he has already won over 1200m. That win came in his second start when winning in smart fashion in the $3 million Magic Millions Two-Year-Old Classic.
It should be noted, without prejudice, that both of Unit Five’s wins have been in Magic Millions restricted races. Not that the opposition was any less daunting there than elsewhere, just noting the restricted race status.
Big Sky, for his part, has yet to race beyond 1000m, but his three length victory romp in the Group 3 Chairman’s Stakes in his second start might have already have marked him as something special.
Importantly, all three of these unbeaten runners have already run and won at Caulfield.
While Closer To Free is technically down one run in terms of race experience with Unit Five and Big Sky, trainer Danny O’Brien could not be happier with Closer To Free’s situation going into the big race.
“The win in The Prelude was super really. Not many horses do that first time out,” O’Brien told Racing.com.
“He just did everything right. He was good from the gate. He mustered quickly … took a position outside the leader and kicked strongly in the straight.
“For a horse having his first start to be so race-craft ready and to put it all together like that was really impressive.
“Look, we are confident the horse is going to run really well, and, albeit, we have only had the horse for three or four weeks, we probably wouldn’t change anything about the way his preparation has gone.
“He had the good strong trial on the Heath circuit. He had a good blowout in The Prelude and he’ll be getting to the Blue Diamond in as good a shape as he could be.”
