Clinton McDonald has joined his father and grandfather as winners of the Group 1 Blue Diamond Stakes, after Hayasugi (+1400) flew down the middle of the track to nab Lady Of Camelot (+320) in the final strides to claim the $2 million contest.
After taking out both the Group 3 Blue Diamond Preview and Group 2 Blue Diamond Prelude in the lead-up, the daughter of Royal Meeting brought impeccable form into the two-year-old feature at Caulfield.
Spywire (+1600) crossed the field after jumping smartly and led the field from Lady Of Camelot, Stay Focused (+1100) and Kuroyanagi (+1100), but it was clear that they were going way too quick and they began to slow in the final 300m.
The Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott second favourite took over quickly in the home straight, but began to shorten stride in the final 100m, just as Hayasugi presented with a flashing run out wide and Kuroyanagi made up ground along the inside fence.
However, it was Jamie Kah and Hayasugi who finished best and won by an official margin of 0.2 lengths, leaving Waterhouse with her fourth placing in the race as she seeks her first win in the race as a trainer.
Clinton McDonald was extremely pleased with the win and he spoke post-race.
“She's determined, she's tough and I thought I was stupid coming in today thinking she was 20-1, I just thought her last run was fantastic for a two-year-old to be able to do that,” McDonald said.
“She had no favours and again today, Jamie's fiance was trying to knock us down but anyway, we knocked him off and found the line, it was great.
“It's one of those races where I used to say to my mates, history's got to repeat, Blue Diamond, Golden Slipper and we're lucky enough now to have a live chance and I think the Golden Slipper will really suit this filly and the way she attacks the line, for a young two-year-old, her tenacity is second to none.
“A hundred per cent. She'll go straight to the Slipper, I'm sort of following the same program we did with Courtza and that's what she'll do.
“It makes a lot of difference, people can then see you can train two-year-olds and win group ones, we're only a small stable and we always seem to have a good horse in the stable but today, I'd never been so confident coming to the races with a horse.
“It was a faultless preparation, she looked magnificent, and it was just unreal.”
Jamie Kah claimed her first Blue Diamond Stakes aboard Hayasugi and she spoke post-race.
“I was hoping you'd tell me because I just don't know,” Kah said.
“Even the last two starts, they've been super and she's won well but I just didn't know how.
“She gives you a nice enough feel on the turn, and she just finds ten lengths, I don't know how.
“Today she gave me a nice feel, I thought she'd run on well, and she wins, she's just so tough. So tough.
“The team's done an amazing job with her but the horse itself, she's just coped with everything, she was the quietest horse out there, she was a pony.
“She just loves her job, loves her work and ten group ones sounds pretty cool. I like that.”
“I was happy enough, I wanted to follow Snowden's, and I was happy where we were.
We were four wide with cover but I just wanted to keep her out of trouble and on the turn we just lost a couple of lengths but I was happy enough where we were.”
Hayasugi is now a $21 chance in the Group 1 Golden Slipper futures market with top horse betting sites.