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/ Gary Crispe / 29 February 2012 / Leave a Comment 
Mick Price's Samaready
"At that level Samaready joins the outstanding juvenile and now champion sire Redoute’s Choice as the second highest Timeform rated winner of the Blue Diamond in the last 25 years."
For the second year running there has been an above average winner of the Group 1 Blue Diamond Stakes at Caulfield with the unbeaten More Than Ready filly Samaready dominating last Saturday's field.
Last year Australian racing embraced the brilliant colt Sepoy spreadeagling a handy line up of juveniles by over four lengths setting a new peak Timeform rating of 124 for past winners of the Blue Diamond in the last 25 years. Sepoy's winning margin was also the biggest in the same period.
Last Saturday Samaready ran to a Timeform rating of 123p just 1 lb off joining Sepoy as the highest Timeform rated winner of the Group 1 feature in recent times. Nonetheless the winning performance by this filly stands out like a beacon.
The authority of the win over No Looking Back, who bought the strong Magic Millions form line to the race, was a telling part of the assessment. Samaready had the race won on the turn when she ambled up to the leaders under a tight hold from race rider Craig Newitt. The fact she was able to do this considering the fast early sectionals was just one factor in the analysis of this impressive victory.
Once Newitt asked her to extend, Samaready showed a quick turn of foot to put the race beyond issue.
Admittedly No Looking Back covered ground from a wide draw but she did have some cover and seemed to be travelling well enough on the turn to take a hand in the finish. However the winner was in another class. No Looking Back was assessed to run to 113, a pound under her Magic Millions run.
Timefigure analysis for the Blue Diamond Stakes points to a 121 rating while historical race standards analysis suggest a 123+ figure.
At that level Samaready joins the outstanding juvenile and now champion sire Redoute's Choice as the second highest Timeform rated winner of the Blue Diamond in the last 25 years.
No filly has ever run to a Timeform rating of 123 in winning a Blue Diamond. Until last week, the highest rated winning filly was the classy Alinghi who rated 120 in her 2004 victory over the Gai Waterhouse-trained Wager and World Peace.
There is an uncanny similarity between Alinghi and Samaready. Both had their debut run prior to Christmas and then spelled for an Autumn campaign. They both remained unbeaten with their Diamond wins at their third race start and both defeated a Gai Waterhouse-trained filly.
But there is little doubt Samaready is a superior filly which is quite a big statement in itself.
Once again using Alinghi as a yardstick, following her Blue Diamond win, Alinghi then scored effortlessly in the Group 2 Reisling Stakes at Rosehill before going down narrowly in the Golden Slipper Stakes finishing a close third to Dance Hero and Charge Forward with Fastnet Rock close up in fourth place.
That form line would stand up as one of the strongest Slippers in recent time and right now we have a filly rated superior to Alinghi.
Clearly there is a long way to go before Golden Slipper Day and plenty can go wrong with young horses, but there is definitely something special about Samaready.
Get free form, cards & results for Australia at timeform.com/free/
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