The Jason Warren-trained Palm Angel ($7.50) has surged late to claim the Group 2 Blue Diamond Prelude (F) (1100m) at Caulfield on Saturday afternoon, turning the tables on My Gladiola ($1.90) to sting favourite backers.
The daughter of Starspangledbanner was defeated by 5.8 lengths by My Gladiola in the Group 3 Blue Diamond Preview (1000m) at Sandown on January 25, and not many gave her a chance to change the result heading into Saturday’s Group 2 feature.
A positive ride by Ethan Brown from barrier three seemed to do the trick, however, with the two-year-old able to hold the back of My Gladiola throughout the 1100m journey as the short-priced favourite with horse racing bookmakers looked to make every post a winner under Jamie Mott.
It was a race dominated by those on-speed, with My Gladiola giving a bold sight when turning for home, while Wiltshire Square ($5.00) and Miss Celine ($17.00) travelled nicely into the final furlong.
It was all Palm Angel in the concluding stages, however, with the now two-time stakes winner cementing herself as a contender for the Group 1 Blue Diamond Stakes (1200m) in a fortnight.
Jason Warren was on course to break down the win and laid out the path for Palm Angel.
“We went into her first-up run in the Preview a little bit soft,” said Warren.
“We’d gone there with one jump-out under our belt with a view that our Grand Final was still six weeks away.
“We used the run to bring her on. The barrier draw last start forced the issue, so we didn’t knock her around and felt that we came here much improved and I think we can tighten up a little bit further into the Grand Final in two weeks.
“We labelled her very early on as a high-class filly and I rang Browny (Ethan Brown) about three weeks before her first jump-out and I said, ‘I think we’ve got another one here’.
“I said, ‘you better come over and have a ride’, he did and we haven’t got him off.”
Ethan Brown spoke post-race and was delighted with the win.
“She’s got a great constitution, she’s a little racehorse,” said Brown.
“She did have a soft run from the gate, she dropped the bit nicely, but once she got off My Gladiola’s back she really sprinted down well.
“I only hit her once or twice, she did the rest herself, and it was quite a soft win.
“She put the writing on the wall her first start and she ran well the other day but I said to Jase, ‘you’ve got to just trust she’s going to improve out of this run’, and she certainly did.
“She was prepared in terrific order by Jase and the team and I’m just rapt to be on her.”
Palm Angel has now firmed into $5.00 with Picklebet for the Group 1 Blue Diamond (1200m) on February 22.
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