Pride Of Dubai remains at Blue Diamond Stakes odds of $6 on the second line of betting and co-trainer Paul Snowden is happy with the promising colt heading into the Group 1 event at Caulfield on Saturday.
Pride Of Dubai was narrowly denied a maiden race win by Of The Brave in the 2015 Blue Diamond Prelude. Photo by: Adrienne Bicknell
Pride Of Dubai made his racing debut with a credible third place finish behind Golden Slipper hopeful Ottoman in the Place Multi Plate (1100m) at Rosehill Gardens on December 20 before he returned to racing with a fast-finishing second behind Of The Brave in the Group 3 Blue Diamond Prelude (1100m) at Caulfield on February 14.
The Street Cry colt’s performance in the Blue Diamond Stakes Prelude was enough to encourage connections to pay the $55,000 late entry fee to get him into the 2015 Blue Diamond Stakes field and Snowden told Racing Ahead that the two-year-old had taken plenty of benefit out of his first start in Melbourne.
“He has really progressed well,” Snowden said.
“The main concern wasn’t his ability, but just to adjust to that way of going and it was really pleasing to see how well he did that.
“We just missed it, but hopefully we can get a score on the board on Saturday.
“He is one of those horses that are just going to get better with racing and having that look around Caulfield before tomorrow is certainly going to help him.”
Pride Of Dubai was settled towards the tail of the field in the early stages of the Blue Diamond Stakes and he was ridden patiently by jockey Damien Browne before he exploded in the final 200 metres to run his final sectional in 11.27 seconds.
Snowden is hopeful that Browne will be able to settle Pride Of Dubai a little bit closer to the speed in the early stages of the Blue Diamond Stakes this weekend and he is confident that the step-up to 1200 metres will suit the talented maiden.
“It is a completely different race over 1200 metres to what it was the other day as well,” Snowden said.
“It is probably going to be a different tempo and they have to run 1200.
“We know that this bloke is going to be strong through the line.”
Team Snowden are chasing their first win in the Blue Diamond Stakes since they formed their own stable last year after previously winning the race with Sepoy in 2011 and Earthquake in 2014 with Darley.
Fontiton ($2.30) remains a clear favourite in the 2015 Blue Diamond Stakes betting market with Ladbrokes from Lake Geneva ($11), Sampeah ($12), Stoker ($13) and Of The Brave ($13).
