An engaging tale lies behind Blue Door’s name, the talented debutant who conquered the Group 3 $250,000 Kindergarten Stakes (1100m) at Royal Randwick on Saturday.
Blue Door, a filly by Stay Inside out of Notting Hill, owes her title to a revelation from owner John Singleton.
“My daughter, Jess, was living at Notting Hill in London and I went to visit here last year,” Singleton told Racing And Sports.
“I noticed all the doors in her street were painted blue and when Jess went out, I thought why not paint her door red.
“But when Jess came home, she wasn’t happy and suspected it was me. So, I had to have the door painted blue again.”
At $4.40, Blue Door, raced alongside Singleton’s daughter, prevailed in a battle by half a neck against the fast-closing but unfortunate The Next Episode ($2.80 favourite), followed a length adrift by Under Focus ($5.50) in third.
The preparation by trainer Bjorn Baker stood out, as he opted for only one 900m trial before thrusting the filly into Group 3 company for her career opener.
“We don’t often ask a two-year-old to go straight into a stakes race on debut but she’s very good,” Baker said of Blue Door.
“They don’t often trial like that, as the punters’ will know, and I like them to me there and have a raceday test, we make no secret of that, but the way she did it and the time she ran, she looked to have plenty left.
“She’s shown exceptional ability since we’ve had her. She was a great trial winner and great to win for Singo and the team.
“I’m not sure if he’ll shout the bar today, but I’m going to make the most of it.”
Blue Door earned high acclaim from jockey Rachel King, who sat outside the leader, dominated the straight, and withstood the challenge from The Next Episode, who recovered from last after missing the kick.
“I was a little wary off only one trial, I know she was very impressive in her trial, but we would always like them to have two,” King said.”But her gallop on Tuesday was super so I knew she’d taken plenty of benefit from that trial,
“She tired late the last 50m, but she’s got a great attitude, she’s a real race horse, she wants to win. She’s very professional, she’s got that will to win and wants to find the line.”
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