Karaka graduate Field Of Play (Deep Field) will be a force to be reckoned with when he contests the Gr.1 Blue Diamond Stakes (1200m) in a fortnight after posting a dominant victory in the Gr.3 Blue Diamond Prelude (C&G) (1100m) at Caulfield.
Prepared by Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young, the gelded son of Deep Field was a brilliant debut winner in late December and again showed his class and professionalism, proving too strong for his juvenile rivals despite going six weeks between runs.
Perfectly ridden by Blake Shinn, Field Of Play sat outside the favourite Aleppo Pine (Blue Point) and once balanced up rounding the home bend, found a good kick to defeat Devil Night (Extreme Choice) by half a length with a further two lengths back to Katsumi Orochi (Maurice) in third.
Raced by Patella Express Racing, connections will now happily pay a $55,000 late entry for the Blue Diamond, with the gelding having been originally earmarked for a career in Hong Kong.
“It’s an easy decision to make when you’re running around for $2 million,” a jubilant Natalie Young said.
“Blake just rode him absolutely fantastic. He actually said, ‘I’ll just ride him like he’s the best horse in the race’, and he did and he got the job done.
“It’s a good problem to have you know that you’ll be 55k short when you’re racing for that prizemoney.”
Young maintains that Field Of Play will make a better three-year-old and believes he will derive good benefit from the run having not started in six weeks.
“In the run I was thinking he won’t have that turn of foot because he’s a lot handier today, but we had to because the favourite was going to be off and gone and we didn’t want to be waiting for it,” she said.
Photo: Reg Ryan (Racing Photos)
“I just thought, once he balanced up and got on the right leg, I knew he’d find another gear and he did today.
“It’s great to see, it’s fantastic for Mike and Adele Kneebone, who are a big part of us getting this horse and having him, so it’s fantastic to know that we’re going to be back here in two weeks chasing a Blue Diamond.”
Winning jockey Blake Shinn was suitably impressed and is delighted to have the ride on a leading Blue Diamond contender.
“He has taken a step forward from Moonee Valley and it is always a bit of unknown coming here to the lead-up to the Blue Diamond, (knowing) where you’re going to sit, but he really put his hand up today,” Shinn said.
“Congratulations to Trent and Nat, Mike Kneebone and the whole ownership group. He’s a very exciting horse. He’s got a wonderful constitution and great attitude and that’s holding him in such good stead at this early stage of his career. He is a very exciting horse.”
Field Of Play is by three-time champion Hong Kong sire Deep Field and out of a winning I Am Invincible mare. He was sold by Nick and Nicky White’s Kaha Nui Farm in Book 1 of Karaka 2024, where he was knocked down to Jamie Richards and Andrew Williams Bloodstock for $500,000.
The horse is managed by New Zealand Bloodstock’s Director of Business Mike Kneebone for a syndicate of Hong Kong owners, and while the Asian Capital was originally the planned racing venue for Field Of Play, his detour to the Cranbourne stable of Busuttin and Young is proving most lucrative.
