One look sufficed for Lloyd Kennewell to peg Eternal Warrior as a sharp early two-year-old prospect for key juvenile events, with the colt now realizing that potential in the Blue Diamond Stakes.
Set for the $2 million Group 1 opener for his cohort at Caulfield Saturday, the young gun is ready to strike.
Eternal Warrior’s purchase by Kennewell with Blueblood Thoroughbreds for $80,000 at Magic Millions Adelaide gives him unmatched Blue Diamond credentials in the 1200m lineup, Victoria’s juvenile pinnacle.
His dam Devout Hero is out of No Nay Never, tracing to Perfect Persuasion, sister of 2004 Blue Diamond conqueror Alinghi.
The colt’s sire, Extreme Warrior from Rosemont’s debut crop, descends from 2016 Blue Diamond hero Extreme Choice, making him a standout buy for Kennewell.
“Matty Becker and I do our work together and we thought he was an early two-year-old, hence the reason we were keen to dive in,” Kennewell said.
“We liked him a lot obviously. We thought if he wasn’t the best colt, he was close to it, in Adelaide.
“He’s obviously got a very good pedigree, we’ve had a bit of luck with Extreme Choice and I thought he looked like an Extreme Choice.
“So we were looking at him as a cheaper version of an Extreme Choice colt.”
A $41 debut conquest in the Listed Merson Cooper Stakes (1000m) at Caulfield November 29 bore out Kennewell’s faith.
Third in the Group 3 Blue Diamond Prelude (1100m) on February 7 has trainer confident heading into Saturday’s main event.
Closer To Free ($8 Diamond chance) won the Prelude from $5 elect Guest House, as Eternal Warrior holds at $13 in feature betting.
“Normally my horses have had two trials going into a race first-up, but we planned deliberately to only have the one to be peaking for the Grand Final,” Kennewell said.
“His race in the Prelude showed exactly that. Damian (Lane) thought he was going to win when he straightened up and he just blew out the last 100.
“He had the fastest last 800, 600, 400 of the race but just peaked on his run late.
“We were really, really happy and his work on Monday morning was super. Damian came in and galloped him and was really happy with him.
“We were just wishing we got a lot better draw than what we got dished up.”
From barrier 16, he improves to 13 if emergencies fail to start, in a 16-horse maximum.
Prior wide barriers – debut 13/13, Prelude 8/8 – give Kennewell optimism for overcoming Saturday’s gate.
“He’s drawn wide every start, so he’s shown that he can do that and hopefully it will work out for us,” he said.
Damian Lane keeps the steer Saturday, eyeing his first Blue Diamond Stakes after last year’s near-hit second aboard Tentyris versus Devil Night.
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