Dosh dominates fillies, Beau best in Blue Diamond Previews
Speedy filly Dosh (2 f Rich Enuff – Raise Up by Shovhog) will attempt to do what her sire could not – win at Group 1 level – after she put forward her credentials for the Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) with a strong on-pace victory in yesterday’s Blue Diamond Preview (Fillies) (Gr 3, 1000m) at Caulfield.
Fast away for Jordan Childs, Dosh led for every step of the journey, finding enough late as the challengers arrived. She had a half-length to spare over Tayla’s Moment (Shalaa), with odds-on favourite Frost Flowers (Frosted) only a further nose away in third but never appearing a winning chance.
Dosh’s sire, Woodside Park Stud’s Rich Enuff (Written Tycoon), led for all bar the last couple of strides in the 2014 Caulfield Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m), with Shooting To Win (Northern Meteor) gaining a neck’s advantage close home to agonisingly deny him an elite-level win.
However, the Grahame Begg-trained Dosh – who is now unbeaten from two starts, having won the Ottawa Stakes (Gr 3, 1000m) in the spring – will try to atone for that defeat when she tackles the $1.5 million Blue Diamond Stakes on February 20.
Begg and Childs will be attempting to add a second Blue Diamond in four years after they combined to land the race with Written By (Written Tycoon) in 2018.
“She’s certainly a well above average filly,” Begg told Racing.com. “Two starts for two wins. She just puts herself on speed and travels very smoothly. She had a fair bit of improvement in her today. She’ll come out of the race today and bounce out of that.
“She only had the one jumpout going into it and she’s a massive doer in the stable. She eats as much as a five or six-year-old gelding. There’s no bottom to her, but she’s very exciting.
“She gave two kilos away, she paid the penalty for winning a Group 3 at her first start, which is not easy to do.”
Childs, whose sole Group 1 win came in that 2018 Blue Diamond, believes the sky’s the limit for the filly.
“She’s not fully screwed down yet, but Grahame Begg is a master of finding these two-year-olds and obviously, with Written By a couple of years ago, and to have her, she’ll be a very strong chance,” he said.
“She’s very quick out, she’s got a very high cruising speed and then she does what she has to do to win. I felt that I had more left in the tank. Still knowing that there’s more improvement within her after this run today is a big bonus.”
Opinions on the win varied between bookmakers – Sportsbet shortened Dosh into $6.50 second favourite for the Blue Diamond behind Gimcrack Stakes (Gr 3, 1000m) winner Enthaar (Written Tycoon), while TAB have her on the third line of betting at $11.
Dosh is the first two-time stakes winner for second season sire Rich Enuff, with Listed victor Plutocrat also a stakes winner for the sire.
A $155,000 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale purchase out of the Glenlogan Park draft last year, Dosh is the second foal to race out of six-time winner Raise Up (Shovhog). The mare produced another Rich Enuff filly in 2020 and was served by Pierata (Pierro) in November.
There has been plenty of juvenile success in the family from Bold Promise (Luskin Star) and her daughter Merlene (Danehill), as well as current first season sire Capitalist (Written Tycoon).
The win catapulted Rich Enuff into the top ten leading second season sires and is one of only three sophomores – alongside Kermadec (Teofilo) and I’m All The Talk (Stratum) – to have produced at least one winner of two stakes races this season.
Just as Dosh did, there are two Rich Enuffs going through the upcoming Inglis Classic Yearling Sale – Lots 386 and 489 – while he has seven catalogued for the Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale and five for the Magic Millions Adelaide Yearling Sale.
Late entry fee likely for General Beau
While Dosh appears a guaranteed Blue Diamond runner, the same cannot be said for her male equivalent, General Beau (2 c Brazen Beau – Phosphorescence by Lonhro), who 35 minutes earlier won the Blue Diamond Preview (Colts and Geldings) (Listed, 1000m).
In the process, General Beau became the second stakes-winning juvenile in four days for Darley’s Brazen Beau (I Am Invincible) after On The Bubbles took out the NZ$1 million Karaka Million 2YO (RL, 1200m) on Saturday.
The beneficiary of a solid tempo, the Mathew Ellerton and Simon Zahra-trained General Beau was able to overcome a tardy start to enjoy the run of the race behind early leader Abseiler (Extreme Choice).
Racing through underneath the pacesetter, General Beau had enough in store to defeat Extreme Warrior (Extreme Choice) by half a length with Gulf Of Suez (Fighting Sun) a terrific third, having engaged in an early speed duel before easing towards the tail.
The winning time of 57.67 seconds was exactly half a second quicker than Dosh.
“It looked like he was in a tricky spot on the home turn and some of those out wider had a bit of momentum on him but he was good enough to knuckle down and get the job done,” Ellerton told Racing.com.
“He’s really matured up fantastic from the spring. He had a really good break and he was a bit shin sore after his last run. Touch wood we’ve had a really faultless prep with him and hopefully he can make his way to a Prelude. He is not in the Diamond so that will be a conversation we will have to have if we get through a Prelude with him.”
General Beau’s owners, Contract Racing principals David and Jenny Moodie, are renowned for allowing their horses to prove they deserve their spot in any given race, preferring to eschew early nominations and instead paying a significant late entry fee.
It is a policy that has served them well. This year marks 25 years since Paint (Raami) won the Blue Diamond as a late entry, while Crystal Lily (Stratum) took out the 2010 Golden Slipper Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) having only been paid up the Monday before.
They also paid up for General Beau’s granddam Nediym’s Glow (General Nediym) in the 2006 Blue Diamond, where she finished eighth to Nadeem (Redoute’s Choice) as second favourite.
One advocate for General Beau heading towards the Blue Diamond is Melbourne’s premiership-leading rider Jamie Kah, who has ridden the colt at every start and brought up her 50th Melbourne win for the season with yesterday’s Listed victory.
“I’ll be happy to stay on for the ride,” Kah said. “He’s only going to get better as he gets further and it’s up to them. I’d be pushing in that direction.
“He’s come back bigger and better this time. He’s such a baby in his first few starts and he still, on ability, got there when he won his first race, but today he was a lot more polished.
“It would have been better out wider, ideally, but we had to cop it in the end. He still did a little bit wrong. He still laid in, was a little bit green, so there’s lots of improvement there.”
Bred and raced by Contract Racing, General Beau comes from one of the operation’s most prolific families, having played a prominent role in producing horses to sport the lime, purple and gold.
Third dam Palace Glow (Palace Music) was stakes-placed, producing both Nediym’s Glow and the Group 1-placed Red Colossus (Testa Rossa) as well as the unraced Royal Glow (King’s Best), who herself produced Danehill Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) winner Kinglike (Exceed And Excel) and Manfred Stakes (Listed, 1200m) victor Royal Haunt (Hard Spun).
General Beau’s dam, Phosphorescence, has produced four foals to race for two winners. She has a Nicconi (Bianconi) yearling filly, a Shamus Award (Snitzel) colt foal and was served once more by Brazen Beau in October.