Paying a late entry fee into a feature race is always a bit of a gamble, but with a winner’s purse of $1.2 million up for grabs in the Blue Diamond Stakes, it’s a risk worth taking.
Trainers Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young, alongside the owners of Field Of Play, decided to invest $55,000 to have the horse compete in Victoria’s top two-year-old race at Caulfield on Saturday.
Field Of Play enters the race as one of two unbeaten two-year-olds, having won his debut at Moonee Valley over 1200m, followed by victory in the Blue Diamond Prelude for colts and geldings at Caulfield on February 8, over 1100m.
With nearly $300,000 in earnings from these two wins, Busuttin said the late entry fee was an easy decision, particularly since the gelding had originally been intended for a Hong Kong campaign and wasn’t entered in the Group 1 race when entries were taken last year.
Busuttin noted that the preparation leading up to Saturday has been flawless since the Caulfield victory, and while the race features 16 runners, he is confident that Field Of Play will rise to the occasion.
“He sat just outside the leader last time, and they weren’t taking it easy,” Busuttin said.
“He’s got great natural speed and is a very talented horse.”
“I had a conversation with Blake Shinn on Tuesday morning, and we went over our plan. I mentioned that if we draw wide, we’ll go back, and we’ll still be good enough to be competitive.”
He responded, ‘No matter where we draw, we’ll be pushing forward,’ so we’re happy with the barrier draw.”
Field Of Play will start from barrier five, with Shinn aiming to claim his first win in the iconic event, while Busuttin and Young are hoping for their second victory after their success with Tagaloa in 2020.
Tagaloa ran the second-fastest time in the past quarter-century, just 0.01 seconds behind Sepoy’s 2011 record, and remains one of only four two-year-olds to break 1:09.00 during that period.
“I believe we drew three and four the year we won,” Busuttin recalled.
“Letzbeglam (from three) was outside the lead, and Tagaloa was three deep without cover.”
“There was a lot of talk about track bias that day, with some saying that Hanseatic, who drew barrier one, should have won, but Hanseatic had every chance.”
“Not many horses win a Blue Diamond sitting three deep without cover, and I’m hoping that won’t be the case with Field Of Play.”
“In an ideal world, he’ll be in the one-one position, but Blake will figure that out.”
One thing Busuttin knows for sure is that the 1200m distance won’t be an issue for Field Of Play.
“Everyone claims their horse will improve, which they naturally will,” Busuttin said.
“The second horse (Devil Night) ran a great race to finish second on debut, and with a good draw, I think he’s the main contender, while the fillies also pose a challenge, and it’s a wide-open race.”
“But I think our horse is the one to beat. He hasn’t been overly dominant, but I wouldn’t swap him with any other runner.”
