Waiting on Diamond start

Connections of Blue Diamond S. second favourite Rulership (I Am Invincible) face an anxious wait to see if the colt makes the final field for Victoria's premier 2-year-old race.

A winner on debut at Randwick before finishing second to Hanseatic (Street Boss {USA}) in the Blue Diamond Prelude for colts and geldings at Caulfield on February 8, Rulership is 20th in the ballot order for Saturday's Group 1 race at Caulfield. The final field of 16, plus four emergencies, will be announced on Tuesday.

Peter Snowden, who trains in partnership with his son Paul, said he did not realise Rulership was so far down the entry order.

"We'll have an anxious few days to find out if we make the field," Snowden said.

"Rulership has made improvement out of that second run. He's definitely a better horse ridden back off the speed and you can imagine, a Blue Diamond field of 16 runners, there would be good speed. Sitting back off them, I'm sure he'll make his presence felt."

Bivouac on song for Oakleigh

Trainer James Cummings is confident Bivouac (Exceed And Excel) is on song for his bid to continue a proud recent record for 3-year-olds in the G1 Oakleigh Plate at Caulfield on Saturday.

The G1 Golden Rose-winning colt pleased his trainer in a jump-out at Flemington on Friday in preparation for his return this weekend.

Five 3-year-olds have won the Oakleigh Plate this century, most recently Starspangledbanner in 2010. Bivouac, to be ridden by Craig Williams, is the early $2.80 favourite for this year’s race.

“What I like is that he is still mentally switched on but very willing," Cummings said.

“He's got an excellent mind and he is focused on his training, which gives me every indication he is going to do the same once we saddle him up. From that perspective we're excited to see him return."

Options open for Orr winner

Alabama Express (Redoute’s Choice) will be nominated for the G1 Futurity S., but trainer Mike Moroney is still undecided which path the colt will take.

Alabama Express upstaged the older horses to win the weight-for-age G1 CF Orr S. at Caulfield last Saturday week, and Saturday's Futurity is run under the same conditions over the same 1400-metre course.

There is also the option to step him up to 1600 metres in the G1 Australian Guineas against his own age on Saturday week at Flemington or drop him back to 1200 metres in the Newmarket H.

If he runs in the Guineas, he would clash with Alligator Blood (All Too Hard) and Catalyst (NZ) (Darci Brahma {NZ}), who battled out Saturday's CS Hayes S.

"He's certainly bred to be able to go further, but we're sort of studying the races and the horses that we'll be racing against and those two 3-year-olds looked pretty smart yesterday," Moroney said.

"We think a lot of our horse too, so it's just a matter of whether we go to the mile or what we do. I'm happy with the horse, but it's just a matter of getting through the next three days and I'll give him a gallop and see how he handles it and then we'll take it from there."

Sydney or Melbourne for Fierce Impact

A track gallop at Warwick Farm will determine immediate plans for Fierce Impact (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) as trainer Matt Smith weighs up Group 1 options in Sydney and Melbourne.

The horse resumed with a second to 3-year-old Alabama Express in the G1 CF Orr S. at Caulfield on February 8, signalling he was in for another lucrative campaign.

Smith has brought Fierce Impact home to Sydney and is keen to see how he shapes up in a trackwork test on Monday before deciding his next move.

“It will either be the Futurity or the Chipping Norton," Smith said.

"It really depends how sharp he works. If he worked nice and sharp on Monday, then we will go to Melbourne. If he works like he's looking for the mile, like the edge is off him a little bit, we will wait and go to the Chipping Norton."

Freedman delighted with Chenier

While Alligator Blood and Catalyst (NZ) staged a thrilling duel in the CS Hayes S., the comeback performance of Chenier (Medaglia D’Oro {USA}) to finish just behind them has his connections upbeat.

It was the first start in 10 months for the Anthony Freedman-trained, Godolphin-owned Chenier. He worked home well to finish third, a length behind Alligator Blood and Catalyst.

"I couldn't be happier," Freedman said. "He was first-up for nearly a year. There's obviously going to be really good improvement there and he was very strong late.

"I think he'll run very well in the Guineas. They are obviously two very good horses and they're obviously going to be hard to beat, but he should be improved a lot, and he's only got to make up a length."

Free-to-air TV interested in Queensland

The three free-to-air television networks have shown interest in televising Queensland racing.

The Queensland media rights, which are currently held by Sky Channel, are up for renewal with a decision likely to be made by April. Sky is again a bidder while Racing.com, which has rights in Victoria and South Australia, is also an interested party.

Queensland officials have three major options to award exclusive rights to either Sky or Racing.com or give joint rights to both or to have a mixture of free-to-air and a subscription network. Seven Network, Network 10 and the Nine Network have all shown interest.

Racing Queensland chief executive Brendan Parnell said he could not reveal details of any of the bids for Queensland rights because of privacy clauses.

"But I can confirm there has been interest from the three free-to-air networks," he said.

Waddell opts for Dragon Leap

Leading New Zealand jockey Jason Waddell has confirmed that he will ride favourite Dragon Leap (Pierro) in the G1 New Zealand Derby at Ellerslie on February 29.

Waddell missed Saturday’s G2 Avondale Guineas because of illness, but he subsequently had the choice of Derby mounts between impressive winner Dragon Leap and his regular mount Scorpz (NZ) (Charm Spirit {Ire}), who finished second.

“It was a very difficult decision to make – I didn’t want to let anybody down,” Waddell said on Sunday.

“On one hand you get the chance to ride the clear favourite for the race who could be a truly freakish talent, and on the other was a horse I have a lot of belief in, and from a stable that has shown a lot of faith in me in the past.

“I put a lot of thought into the decision and even after I made it, I was still feeling a little hollow afterwards.”