Diademe hunting down Group one

Savabeel’s gifted daughter Diademe is in the right order to add a richly-deserved Group One win to her record. The six-year-old proved that point this afternoon when she added a second Westbury Classic to her CV.

The Garry Chittick-bred mare won the Ellerslie Group Three event in 2013 and since then she has triumphed in the Gr.2 Cal Isuzu Stakes. She has also been Group One placed in the NZ Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes and the NRM Sprint.

“She’s a very good mare with a fair bit of class,” co-trainer Murray Baker said. “She feels her fetlocks a bit on the hard tracks though. She’ll go to the Group One at Te Aroha, she finished third in that a couple of years ago. She’s also nominated for the big mares’ race on the last day of The Championships.” The $A1 million Gr.1 Queen of the Turf Stakes will be run at Randwick on April 11.

Diademe jumped smartly to take up a handy position at Ellerslie and she displayed her trademark courage in the straight to score by a long neck. “The faster they go in front the better she is,” Baker said, “The 1400 metres is her pet distance and she was spot on today.”

Out of the O’Reilly mare Bling, Diademe was bought out of WS’s 2010 Premier Sale draft by Scott Richardson Bloodstock for $50,000. She is from the family of the dual Group One winner Sacred Star and her brother was the star turn at last year’s Ready to Run Sale when he made $460,00.