It’s hard to be a diamond in a rhinestone world – Dolly Parton
Who is the authentic juvenile gem and who are the cut-glass pretenders in the 2026 G1 Blue Diamond Stakes field?
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All will be revealed on Saturday, as sixteen two year olds thunder around Caulfield in pursuit of the $2 million prize purse – but far more importantly, the rewards of a commercial stud career, and perhaps even a chance to see their beautiful Blue Diamond adorning a Slipper of gold, dance on the horizon.
Two unbeaten colts arrive at the big dance untarnished by defeat with the late scratching of Big Sky on Friday morning.
Ciaron Maher’s Magic Millions 2YO Classic hero Unit Five ( Supido) attempts to become the first horse in history to complete the Gold Coast Classic / Blue Diamond double.
A win would be one of the feelgood Diamond fairytales, as the lovely colt was named to honour the memory of a sadly missed member of the Widden family.
The second is the Prelude winner Closer To Free (Street Boss) who attempts to win the G1 second up. Last year’s hero Devil Night was runner up on debut in the Prelude – but he was the first to win at his second racetrack appearance in a long time.
Eleven winners have saluted to keep an undefeated record intact since 2000, but it hasn’t happened in the last few years – Written By was the last horse to arrive at Caulfield for the Diamond unbeaten and leave the same way.
While the Diamond / Slipper double is the rarest of jewels, quite a few Blue Diamond winners have placed in the Sydney G1 and it’s worked the other way too on the odd occasion – Canny Lad, Miss Finland (RIP) and Flying Spur placed in the Diamond before winning the Slipper – but they need to be something out of the box.
Let’s remember some of the legends to have won this race – not a rhinestone among them!
The ‘70s
John’s Hope beat Century in one of the great Blue Diamonds and went on to be the first to do the Diamond / Slipper double. The legend that was Manikato also achieved the feat a few years later – but since then it’s been one of the toughest tasks in racing!
Star colts New Gleam, Blazing Saddles and Star Shower took the prize as did flying filly Forina who would become the grand dam of the mighty sprinter Schillaci!
The ‘80s
What an era! It was dominated by two of the greatest fillies to grace the turf and they both won the Diamond and the Slipper. Bounding Away was the best filly Tommy Smith ever trained and is the only 2YO to be crowned Australian HOTY. She went on to win the G1 Champagne, Flight Stakes, AJC Oaks and Coolmore Classic.
Bounding Away by Biscay bore only two foals. but her line is extant through a daughter. Courtza (Pompeii Court) on the other hand, despite a chequered breeding career and a relatively early passing went on to become the dam of superstar sire O’Reilly – and left one precious daughter who has bred on successfully.
This was also the decade of the great speedsters Zeditave and Rancher
The ‘90s
Canonise, Lady Jakeo, Paint, Knowledge and Danelagh shone bright. The low flying Hurricane Sky set the race record of 1.08.1 which still stands.
The decade closed with the historic Diamond win by a close relation of Hurricane Sky – a Rick-Hore Lacey trained, J A Cassidy ridden colt named Redoute’s Choice.
Jimmy sat quiet aboard the big son of Danehill (second up – he had debuted just a week earlier) who had drawn a wide gate, letting him get into a rhythm – and then when it was time to push the go button the colt accelerated smoothly and literally cruised past the great Testa Rossa as casual as you like. It was the beginning of a legendary rivalry on the track and for Redoute’s, an unrivalled dynasty nobody could have imagined.
2000-2010
The brilliant little bulldog Bel Esprit defied the knockers and his dodgy legs to not only win ( he would also take the G1 Doomben 10,000) but forge a fine stud career in which he attained immortality as the sire of Black Caviar!
The son of Royal Academy passed away this week at the age of 26 – fittingly, on Blue Diamond eve.
RIP Bel Esprit – a gem of rare quality.
Everything went wrong for the great Alinghi in her Blue Diamond but she somehow found a way to be in front on the line.
Undoubtedly, Nadeem, Reward For Effort and the brilliant Star Witness, now a G1 sire and broodmare sire, saw the decade out.
2011 – 2020
Sepoy kicked things off with an almighty bang, going through the lead ups undefeated before unleashing a four and a half length demolition job in the G1 in blistering time. The son of Elusive Quality then beat the great filly Mosheen in the Slipper by two lengths ( the first Diamond winner since Courtza to do the double) He would return at three to win the G1 Manikato / Coolmore Stud Stakes.
It was a great decade for fillies with Samaready, Miracles Of Life, Earthquake and Lyre all saluting.
Written By, Pride Of Dubai and the freakish Extreme Choice took the Diamond this decade and in 2010 the Arrofield-bred, all-Japanese powered colt Tagaloa wrote an intriguing new chapter in Blue Diamond history.
2021 til now
Artorius would go on to fly the Aussie flag with distinction at the highest level in Europe and then beat the great mare Imperatriz to get his G1 on home soil.
Daumier and Little Brose have commenced their stud careers on either side of the Tasman. The racing world was devastated by the loss of the young Hayasugi who had swept the Preview / Prelude / Diamond (the first to do so since since Sepoy) before taking the G1 Manikato Stakes at three. She could have been anything.
Last year Devil Night got home ahead of future superstar Tentyris. Devil Night hasn’t yet won in three starts since, but regardless – the beautifully bred entire, a $1.4 million yearling and son of the fertility- challenged Extreme Choice is owned by Yulong and he will get his chance to shine in the breeding barn.
2026??
