Paying a late entry fee into a major race is always a gamble, but with a winner’s purse of $1.2 million on offer in the Blue Diamond Stakes, it’s a risk worth taking.
Trainers Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young, along with the connections of Field Of Play, decided to part with $55,000 to enter the horse into Victoria’s premier two-year-old race at Caulfield on Saturday.
Field Of Play is one of two unbeaten two-year-olds in the race, coming off a debut win at Moonee Valley over 1200m before winning the Blue Diamond Prelude for colts and geldings at Caulfield on February 8, over 1100m.
With almost $300,000 in earnings from those two victories, Busuttin said paying the late entry fee was an easy decision, given the gelding wasn’t originally entered for the Group 1 race when nominations closed last year as he had been slated for a trip to Hong Kong.
Busuttin mentioned that the lead-up to Saturday had been seamless since the Caulfield win, and while the race has 16 runners, he is confident Field Of Play will handle the pressure.
“He sat up outside the lead last time, and they weren’t taking it easy,” Busuttin said.
“He has good natural speed, he’s a talented horse.”
“I spoke to Blake Shinn on Tuesday morning, and we discussed our strategy. I told him ‘if we draw wide, we’ll go back, and we’ll still be competitive’.”
He replied, ‘It doesn’t matter what we draw, we’ll be going forward,’ so the barrier draw is sorted.”
Field Of Play will start from barrier five, with Shinn aiming for his first win in the coveted event, while Busuttin and Young are hoping for a second victory after their success with Tagaloa in 2020.
Tagaloa ran the second-fastest time in the past 25 years, just 0.01 seconds slower than Sepoy’s 2011 record, and is one of only four two-year-olds to break 1:09.00 during that period.
“I believe we drew three and four when we won it,” Busuttin said.
“Letzbeglam (from barrier three) was outside the lead, and Tagaloa was three deep without cover.”
“There was a lot of talk about track bias that day, and some said the second horse, Hanseatic, should have won. Hanseatic had a good draw (barrier one) and had every chance.”
“Not many horses win the Blue Diamond sitting three deep without cover, and I hope that’s not the case for Field Of Play.”
“Ideally, he’ll be in the one-one position, but Blake will handle that.”
One thing Busuttin is sure of is that the 1200m distance won’t be an issue for Field Of Play.
“Everyone will claim their horse is going to improve, which they naturally will,” Busuttin added.
“The second horse (Devil Night) had a big effort running second on debut, and he has a good draw, so I think he’s the main threat, while the fillies are also strong competitors, and the race is wide open.”
“But I believe our horse is the one to beat. He hasn’t been totally dominant, but I wouldn’t swap him for any other runner.”