Casquets Blue Diamond Bound?

Exciting two-year-old filly Casquets has put her name forward as a possible contender for next weekend’s Group 1 Blue Diamond Stakes with a smart win in Saturday’s A$120,000 Listed Talindert Stakes (1100m) at Flemington.

Trained by Mark Kavanagh, Casquets (Fastnet Rock x Suitely) made her debut two weeks ago under lights at Moonee Valley in the Sportingbet Plate (1000m) where she finished third but showed the step up in class to Saturday’s Listed level was no issue.

Casquets was always prominent in the race under jockey Stephen Baster, and was forced to fight in the concluding stages to get the better of rival Annenberg (Artie Schiller) to win by a long head in a tight finish.

With Melbourne’s feature two-year-old race – the Group 1 Blue Diamond Stakes – to be held this Saturday, Kavanagh will make a decision in the coming days as to whether Casquets contests the race, but he commented that backing the filly up shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

The daughter of Fastnet Rock was bred by Raffles Dancers (NZ) Pty Ltd who race this season’s Group 1 NZ 2000 Guineas winner Sacred Falls. The filly was purchased by UK-based bloodstock agent Anthony Penfold from Curraghmore Stud at New Zealand Bloodstock’s 2012 Karaka Premier Sale for $570,000.

Penfold also purchased the filly’s half-brother by High Chaparral from Curraghmore Stud at this year’s Karaka Premier Sale for $310,000.

Raced by Susan Magnier, Coolmore Stud, Lady Carole Bamford, Frances Ingham, Elaine Lawlor, Mrs L Barry, Emmaroo Bloodstock and Mrs I Ng, Casquets is the 41st stakes winner for her sire Fastnet Rock.

Fastnet Rock was the leading sire at Karaka 2013 with 14 yearlings selling for an average price of $419,286, including this year’s top lot (Lot 63) which was purchased by Tom Magnier of Coolmore Stud for $1,975,000.