Written by Georgie Dennis
Last Week’s Listed Blue Diamond Preview (C&G) winner General Beau (Brazen Beau) will return to Caulfield this weekend to tackle the G3 Blue Diamond Prelude, looking to stake his claims for the G1 Blue Diamond S. a fortnight later.
The Mathew Ellerton and Simon Zahra-trained colt, bred and raced by David Moodie’s Contract Racing, is not nominated for the $1.5 million juvenile feature, however, a decision will be made after Saturday as to whether a late entry fee will be paid.
While General Beau is going into the Group 3 with less than two weeks between run, Zahra said he is in good order for his next assignment.
“He obviously wasn’t completely wound up for that race, if anything he was a bit underdone knowing that we had to peak him in a month’s time, so he’s made good improvement. He had a nice gallop on the grass this morning and we couldn’t be happier with him,” Zahra told TDN AusNZ.
Zahra said General Beau physically looks in better condition coming off his first-up run and expects him to prove that in Saturday’s race.
“You have a good look at them a couple of days after the race and he looked better for the run, he just tightened up nicely,” he said.
“Going into that run he was on the tubbier side, so he’s tightened up a lot and he had a good gallop this morning and he had a nice blow, so we know that on Saturday he’s not going to peak, he should peak perfectly third-up.”
"We know that on Saturday he’s (General Beau) not going to peak, he should peak perfectly third-up.” - Simon Zahra
General Beau had two runs in the spring where he won the Darley Spring 2YO Preview over 900 metres, before finishing second to Ingratiating (Frosted {USA}) in the 1000 metre Listed Maribyrnong Trial S.
The 1100 metre Blue Diamond Prelude will be the colt’s first run over further than 1000 metres but Zahra expects him to relish the extra ground.
“He’s quite the professional sort of horse,” Zahra said. “He’s a horse that has always done what you want him to do so he’ll be happy to drop his head and go to sleep.
“They’ll still run along quite quickly and he can just be on the back of the speed to hit the line.
“I don’t think going up to 1100 and 1200 metres in the next couple of weeks is going to worry him too much.”
Mathew Ellerton and Simon Zahra
While many 2-year-olds targeting the rich juvenile races this autumn have only begun their racing careers over the past few weeks, Zahra believes the fact that General Beau already has one preparation under his belt holds him in good stead for the significant amount of racing over the coming weeks.
“The advantage that he’s got over the others is that he’s had two runs pre-Christmas so history will tell you that you’ll find a lot of the Blue Diamond and Slipper winners have come from horses that have run pre-Christmas,” he said.
“They just hold up with all the racing, they’ve been seasoned a bit more than those horses have in their first starts in Preludes.
“Yeah, they might get the win on the board but they seem to train off quite quickly. Our advantage is that he’s had two runs pre-Christmas, he’s had seven weeks in the paddock and he looks like a 3-year-old so he’s really coping with it all.”
Fee no issue
If General Beau is to contest the Blue Diamond, of which he is currently a $15 chance for on the TAB, connections must pay a late-entry fee of $50,000.
The stable said immediately after his Preview win that he would contest the Prelude before the fee was paid, but Zahra said that as long as he performs well on Saturday, they are likely to send him to the Blue Diamond on February 20.
“If he wins or runs an unlucky second or he hits the line strongly, as long he shows that he’s going to be competitive, paying the late nom is not really going to be an issue,” Zahra said.
“It’s just a matter of him going around and performing to what we think he can do and if he does that and looks like he can win or be competitive in a Blue Diamond, the late entry fee will be paid.”
