Fortune favours the form: who has what it takes to win the Blue Diamond?

Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything

The final field for the 2026 G1 Blue Diamond Stakes has been unveiled and a full field of juveniles have locked in Saturday in the hopes of claiming the first 2-year-old Group 1 of the year. More than one trainer has called it a wide open race this year, and part of that comes from the mixture of horses that make up the field.

Last year, Devil Night (Extreme Choice) broke through as the first maiden to win the race since Pride Of Dubai in 2015, making them the only two maidens to win a Diamond since the 90s.

Since 2000, 11 winners of the Diamond have been unbeaten prior to their Group 1 debut, and there was a remarkable streak of success for unbeaten chances between 2010 and 2018 - split in the middle by Pride Of Dubai - where eight Diamond winners went into the event as unbeaten winners of at least two starts.

With 20 acceptors this year, including the four emergencies, eight fillies face off against 12 colts, and the number of unbeaten acceptors (four) is outweighed by the number of maidens (six) taking a swing at the Group 1.

No bigger tick of approval

Despite the fact no unbeaten runner has won since Written By in 2018, the unbeaten brigade can take confidence from the fact that history favours a horse who has already proven their ability. More recently, Hayasugi (Royal Meeting {Ire}) was beaten in her pre-Christmas starts, but went untouched in her Blue Diamond preparation, sweeping both of the key lead-up races.

Three of the four winners of the Preview and Prelude races have made the final field. Listed Blue Diamond Preview (colts & geldings) winner Alibaba (Alabama Express) is joined by G3 Blue Diamond Prelude (colts & geldings) winner Closer To Free (Street Boss {USA}) and the G2 Blue Diamond Prelude (fillies) victress Streisand (Magnus).

Closer To Free arrives unbeaten at his only start, and history suggests trainer Danny O’Brien is right to be confident; 14 of the last 20 Blue Diamond winners have competed in the Prelude, where seven won.

“There’s not a bigger tick of approval a horse can be given than to win one of the major lead-up races,” he said. “Two-year-olds aren't having anywhere near as many starts as they used to have leading into these grand final races like Slippers and Diamonds. As an industry, certainly over the last 20 years, the number of starts for the horses that are running in those races have gotten less and less. So it's not uncommon now for horses to get there with one or two starts.”

O’Brien started the chain reaction of unbeaten Diamond winners in 2010 with Star Witness, who won both of his prior starts, including the Listed Talindert Stakes three weeks before. For Closer To Free, he draws a comparison instead to Devil Night, who ran second in the Prelude at his only start before the Diamond.

“This horse is trying to do it off one start, which is exactly what happened last year with Devil Night,” O’Brien said. “We wouldn’t change this horse’s preparation at all. It’s been perfect. He went to the Caulfield track for a nice strong trial before the Prelude, and he trialled very well. He then turned up in the Prelude and he was really impressive winning that.

“In the two weeks since that, he's really improved. Most 2-year-olds, if they stay sound and comfortable out of that first up run, generally go better the second time they go to the races.”

The only horse this century aside from Devil Night to arrive at the Diamond off of one start was Kusi (Desert Prince {Ire}), who won a Sydney metropolitan handicap before his Diamond tilt. No sense in not pulling the trigger.

Big Sky (Bivouac) and Unit Five (Supido) are other main field acceptors to be unbeaten, both bouncing through two wins en route to the Diamond, plus Tony and Calvin McEvoy have Tough Romance (All Too Hard), a Pakenham maiden winner, in amongst the emergencies.

Big Sky’s co-trainer Mick Price seems to favour stablemate Guest House (Home Affairs) over the Bivouac colt, but it isn’t hard to draw a through-line to a previous Price-trained winner, Extreme Choice. Both he and Big Sky emphatically won the G3 Chairman’s Stakes before heading to the Diamond.

Jordan Childs takes the reins on Big Sky on Saturday, and he told racenet.com.au on Tuesday how he felt confident that the colt had come on in leaps and bounds in his two starts.

“Big Sky's a horse in form and going extremely well,” he said. “From his first to second start, he improved a lot naturally, so hopefully he can improve again.”

The top seed

Ciaron Maher, trainer of Unit Five, has three acceptors for the race, but he has to admit that the unbeaten Supido colt is probably the top seed from his operation.

“He’s unbeaten and he looked impressive doing it, so you would think he’s still on the up,” Maher said on Tuesday morning. “For a horse having his second start, to get to where he got to around the Gold Coast, you would think it would be race over, but he found a way to win.”

Unit Five arrives with a more than four-week gap between runs, having ticked over since his R. Listed Magic Millions Gold Coast 2YO Classic win with a single jump-out last Monday, where he cruised home for third.

“I love the gap between runs (for him),” said Maher. There had been the temptation of the Victorian lead-up races, but Maher saw a bigger benefit in keeping the colt fresh. It’s an unusual deviation from what seems to have worked for winners of the past, sure, but could it work?

“For him to go up, do what he did at his second start, come back and be in the sort of condition and form that he’s in, I’m very happy with him. He likes to be fresh. It worked well for him at the Gold Coast and I can't see why he wouldn’t run very well again.”

Devil Night paves the way for maidens

Five maiden runners make the final official field with a sixth amongst the emergencies, and after Devil Night’s win in 2025, they have the right to take the chance. Most of them have had two or more starts - only Chayan (I Am Invincible), trained by Annabel and Rob Archibald, arrives off of the back of one start, but it is a second placing in the fillies’ Prelude, which made connections push on to the final.

“I thought she ran exceptionally well in the Prelude,” said Rob Archibald. “She got back and ran home in pretty good time against mostly more experienced horses, so I thought it was a run full of merit.

“It was difficult to make up ground on the day, yet she made up plenty of ground. She seems to have come through the run well, and we just felt like she deserved to take her chance. Unfortunately, we haven't been blessed with the easiest of draws, but we feel, based off of that first run, that she certainly deserves to take her place.”

Little Brose, two years before, also ran second in the Prelude ahead of his Diamond win, as did both Pride Of Dubai and Reward For Effort in their respective years.

“This year particularly seems to be a pretty open year,” Archibald added. Chayan’s connections are doubtless not the only ones emboldened by a lack of a dominant juvenile on the scene.

“There is no obvious horse just yet. It's a race at the right time. It's hard to discount the chance to run in a Group 1, particularly when you have run so well in a lead-up race coming into it. We're really happy with her - we would have liked a slightly better draw for the weekend, but I think she can run really well.”

Also from the fillies' Prelude comes third placegetter I Am Aria (I Am Invincible), trained by Mark Walker at Te Akau Racing’s Cranbourne base. The filly debuted in the fillies’ Preview where she was second to Rubi’s Choice (Rubick), who has gone to the paddock. That is form that is hard to pass up.

Speaking at the barrier draw on Tuesday morning, Te Akau’s Ben Gleeson conveyed that all the pieces had fallen into place to push on to the Diamond.

“We couldn’t be happier (with how she has come through the lead-ups), she’s really done well,” he said. “She goes down to the waterwalker after her runs and chills out, and she licked the bowl clean after her races and her work. I Am Invincibles sometimes need a bit of patience and time, and aren’t always early, but she has kept stepping up. She’s just taken it all in her stride.”

Ghana’s Akan (Street Boss {USA}) is one of the most experienced runners with three starts under her belt, and two smart second placings - the latter in the R. Listed Inglis Millennium, where she was 14th with 400 metres left to run - has Maher happy to take her to the Diamond.

“She has improved every start,” he said. “She travelled back down (from Sydney) and seems bright. She’s been busy, but she seems very bright and well. I wouldn’t see why she wouldn’t improve again.”

Neither maiden to win the Diamond this century has had more than two starts, but the filly might just be the one to buck the trend.

Worthy of being there

The remaining 10 runners have all had at least two starts, where they have won only one of them. Streisand is the only member of the group to win her most recent start, whereas Alibaba rerouted to Sydney post-Preview where he was third in the Inglis Millennium to G1 Golden Slipper Stakes hopeful Fireball (Snitzel).

“We just needed him to finish off in the top five in Sydney, like he did, just to prove to everyone that he’s worthy of being here on Saturday,” said Alibaba’s co-trainer Kasey Keys at the barrier draw. The Millennium was run on the same day as the Prelude, and the Keyses are happy with how the experience across the border has improved the colt before his Diamond tilt.

Little Brose, Tagaloa, and Lyre (Lonhro) are all recent winners with three starts en route to the final, and Tagaloa was notably fourth in his run before the Diamond. All three of the Diamond winners trained by David Hayes between 2006 and 2008 - Nadeem, Sleek Chassis (Flying Spur), and Reaan - had three lead-up runs, posting a single win each.

“He’s come on from Sydney, and we couldn’t be happier with his work,” Keys said. “It was his first trip away, so we wanted to tick all the boxes and make sure he was 100% ready.”

Milsons Point (Blue Point {Ire}), the final feature in Maher’s trifecta of entries, chased Alibaba home in the Preview and has since won a jump-out over Unit Five. In his trainer’s opinion, his second placing is indicative of a desire for more ground - an extra furlong in the Diamond should suit him well.

Tagaloa was similarly found wanting in his Prelude run before his Diamond win in 2020, whereas Artorius the following year was actually dropping back 100 metres from a prior metropolitan win when securing victory.

“(He has had) two runs over a thousand metres, he won one and then (at his) second one here, he was very good still,” Maher said. “He just wasn’t quite sharp enough for the thousand metres (again), (but) I think the 1200 metres will be completely different and the high pressure will suit him as well.”

Guest House’s second placing last start in the Prelude was, for Price, against all odds - given the colt gave away the start - which means he has full confidence that the colt is worthy of making the field on Saturday.

“In all my time watching races, if something duffs the start, locks onto the bridle, pulls double, sits there deep, exposed and working, they run second last," Price said. “He ran second, I couldn't believe he ran second. I thought that's indicative of his capacity at only his second start, so I thought it was a huge effort.”

Guest House had to work from near last to be third at the 400-metre mark and was only beaten a length by Closer To Free, whose trip was much cushier.

“If he gets it right, if he bounces good and gets his sectionals right, and he's allowed to make his best sectional the last 300 metres, then he's going to be hard to beat,” Price said. “Off of his times, and how effortlessly he does everything, I’m going to say he’s the better chance - I might be wrong, with due respect to Big Sky.”