Debut winner Pariah shot to the top of the betting for the Ladbrokes Blue Diamond Stakes with an upset win in the Group 3 $150,000 Canonbury Stakes (1100m) at Rosehill last Saturday.
Pariah, above winning the Canonbuty Stakes at Rosehill, is equal favourite for the Ladbrokes Blue Diamond Stakes at Caulfield. Photo by Steve Hart.
The Peter and Paul Snowden trained Pariah joined Catchy as the $8 equal favourite at Ladbrokes.com.au for the glamour Victorian two year old race, the Group 1 $1.5m Ladbrokes Blue Diamond Stakes (1200m) at Caulfield on February 25.
Pariah ($5.50) lived up to his recent impressive Rosehill barrier trial win when he beat the odds on favourite Menari ($1.80) in the Canonbury Stakes and Peter Snowden said that there is still plenty of improvement to come from the Redoute’s Choice colt.
“Pariah has been a really nice horse from day one, he just has good ‘smarts’ about him,’’ Snowden told The Sunday Telegraph.
“He has always been well above his year with everything he has done so far.
“This colt has good ability, he still does a few things wrong but this was his first start and he should improve in spades.”
In the small six horse field Kerrin McEvoy eased Pariah into behind the speed while the favourite Menari settled on the leaders heels on the fence.
Coming to the home turn McEvoy started to move forward around the field on Pariah while Menari was boxed in on the fence with Josh Parr desperately looking for the way clear.
McEvoy took advantage of Parr’s dire situation and set his colt alight down the middle of the track to establish his winning break while Menari didn’t see daylight until the 250m mark and rattled home to get to within a length of Pariah to claim the runner’s up prize.
“Our intention was to be handy but Kerrin (McEvoy) did the maths pretty quickly and realised he was going to be three deep so he asked the colt to come back,” Snowden said.
“In one stride Pariah came back and settled in behind them really well. Then when Kerrin asked him to quicken, he did so in one stride and although he wanted to lay in a touch, he won quite well.”
Snowden admitted that the favourite was very unlucky to be beaten but he still had plenty of praise for Pariah who is likely to have his next start in the Group 3 $200,000 Ladbrokes Blue Diamond Prelude (C&G) (1100m) at Caulfield on February 11.
“The favourite (Menari) didn’t have much luck so we won’t get too carried away but this horse has so much upside,’’ Snowden said.
“There is a big chance we might send Pariah to Melbourne for the Blue Diamond Prelude.’’
Early market order for the Ladbrokes Blue Diamond Stakes at Ladbrokes.com.au: $8 Pariah, Catchy, $9 Limestone, $13 Jukebox, Property, Menari, $15 Azazel, Chateau Griffo, Jorda, $17 Formality, Tulip, Roomooz, $21 Aspect, Cao Cao, Domination, Khan, $26 Blondie, Overshare, Eden Roc, Eshtiraak, Sheer Madness, Spoils, Veranillo, Madeenaty, $34 or better the rest.
