A capacity field of sixteen two-year-olds plus four emergencies make up the 2018 field for the Group 1 $1.5m Ladbrokes Blue Diamond Stakes (1200m) at Caulfield on Saturday.

Craig Williams will ride Kinky Boom, above, in the 2018 Ladbrokes Blue Diamond Stakes at Caulfield. Photo by Ultimate Racing Photos.

Craig Williams will ride Kinky Boom, above, in the 2018 Ladbrokes Blue Diamond Stakes at Caulfield. Photo by Ultimate Racing Photos.

The Lindsay Park Team of David and Ben Hayes and Tom Dabernig have qualified four youngsters for the $1.5m race, the undefeated pair of Long Leaf and Enbihaar plus Ennis Hill and Qafila.

Lindsay Park led in last year’s winner Catchy with Craig Williams in the saddle but the big race jockey has switched camps this year and will ride the Tony McEvoy trained Kinky Boom.

McEvoy will also have a busy day after qualifying three in the final sixteen plus the first and third emergencies Aristocratic Miss and Roobeena.

As well as Kinky Boom, McEvoy will saddle up Run Naan (Andrew Mallyon) and Oohood (Luke Currie).

Leading Victorian trainer Darren Weir will be having his first runner in the Ladbrokes Blue Diamond Stakes with Native Soldier who has won two of his five starts at Geelong and Moonee Valley and heads into Saturday’s contest on the back of a third behind Written By and Plague Stone in the Group 3 $200,000 Ladbrokes Blue Diamond Prelude (1100m) for the colts and geldings at Caulfield on February 10.

“We bought him to run in the Magic Millions,” Weir told AAP.

“He probably nearly would have snuck into the field but the owners were a bit keen to have a go at this. So it’s good.

“We never bought two-year-old types so he was sort of the start of trying to buy a bit better two-year-old types.

“I just reckon he deserves his spot in the race.”

Native Soldier will be clashing again with the Grahame Begg trained Written By and James Cummings’ Plague Stone who are also final acceptors for the Ladbrokes Blue Diamond Stakes.

Betting for the 2018 Ladbrokes Blue Diamond Stakes at Ladbrokes.com.au: $7 Kinky Boom, Plague Stone, $7.50 Written By, $8 Long Leaf, Oohood, $9 Prairie Fire, $11 Ennis Hill, $13 Native Soldier, $15 Enbihaar, $17 Run Naan, $21 Encryption, Lady Horseowner, Qafila, $31 Ollivander, $34 Crossing The Abbey, $41 More Than Exceed, $51 Grand Symphony, $101 Aristocratic, Roobeena, Melveen.

Final field for the 2018 Ladbrokes Blue Diamond Stakes (1200m)

# Last 10 Horse Trainer Jockey Weight
1 11×1 LONG LEAF David & B Hayes & T Dabernig Kerrin McEvoy 56.5kg
2 1×1 WRITTEN BY Grahame Begg Jordan Childs 56.5kg
3 11×35 RUN NAAN Tony McEvoy Andrew Mallyon 56.5kg
4 31 PRAIRIE FIRE Mick Price Mark Zahra 56.5kg
5 120 OLLIVANDER Mathew Ellerton & Simon Zahra Chris Symons 56.5kg
6 32×2 ENCRYPTION James Cummings 56.5kg
7 56113 NATIVE SOLDIER Darren Weir Brad Rawiller 56.5kg
8 2×2 PLAGUE STONE James Cummings 56.5kg
9 2 GRAND SYMPHONY Robbie Griffiths Jye McNeil 56.5kg
10 11 ENBIHAAR David & B Hayes & T Dabernig Cory Parish 54.5kg
11 1 KINKY BOOM Tony McEvoy Craig Williams 54.5kg
12 11 LADY HORSEOWNER Greg Eurell 54.5kg
13 41 ENNIS HILL David & B Hayes & T Dabernig Stephen Baster 54.5kg
14 4×126 CROSSING THE ABBEY Tim Hughes Luke Nolen 54.5kg
15 14x QAFILA David & B Hayes & T Dabernig Dwayne Dunn 54.5kg
16 2×32 OOHOOD Tony McEvoy Luke Currie 54.5kg
17e 3×332 ARISTOCRATIC MISS Tony McEvoy Jamie Kah 54.5kg
18e 2×1 MORE THAN EXCEED (NZ) Phillip Stokes Dom Tourneur 56.5kg
19e 2×65 ROOBEENA Tony McEvoy 54.5kg
20e 61 MELVEEN Henry Dwyer Damien Thornton 54.5kg

About The Author

Mark Mazzaglia

Mark is a passionate journalist with a life-time involvement in the racing industry. He spent many years as an analyst and form expert at the Courier Mail and also has hands-on experience working with some of Queensland’s top trainers.