Highly rated colt I Am Immortal will race with several gear changes when he lines up in the 2019 Group 1 $1.5m Ladbrokes Blue Diamond Stakes (1200m) at Caulfield on Saturday.
I Am Immortal, above, will wear the ear muffs and a tongue tie in the 2019 Ladbrokes Blue Diamond Stakes at Caulfield. Photo by Ultimate Racing Photos.
I Am Immortal is the winner of his only two race starts when he set the pace but trainer Anthony Freedom has opted to put the ear muffs and a tongue tie on to try to get the colt to settle a bit better in front.
The I Am Invincible colt had a tendency to over-race in front when he won the Group 3 $200,000 Ladbrokes Blue Diamond Prelude (C&G) (1100m) at Caulfield on February 9 and stable racing manager Brad Taylor said he has done a lot of his work in the ear muffs.
“We have made a slight gear change leading into Saturday. He’s going to race in the ear muffs,” Taylor told AAP.
“He does all his work in the ear muffs and never over-races in trackwork or goes too hard.
“So hopefully that will help him on race day just to relax through the middle stages and if he can do that, he’s a big strong colt and I don’t think the 1200 metres will be an issue.
“We’re just trying these things. It’s a pretty important race and if he can snag a Group One as an I Am Invincible two-year-old colt he’s worth a lot of money. So you’ve got to give him every opportunity to do so.”
Ben Melham will stick with I Am Immortal who has the early gate speed to overcome barrier nine in the fourteen horse Blue Diamond Stakes field and the colt is marked at $9 at Ladbrokes.com.au while his stablemate Lyre is a big firmer in betting, shortening in from $9 to be equal second favourite at $6.50 alongside of the James Cummings trained Athiri.
Lyre raced into Blue Diamond Stakes contention with a win at double figure odds in the Group 2 $200,000 Ladbrokes Blue Diamond Prelude (Fillies) (1100m) at Caulfield on the same day as the Colts and Geldings prelude.
The Ciaron Maher and David Eustace trained Loving Gaby remains at the top of the market order at $4.50 on the back of her debut win in the Group 3 $160,000 Ladbrokes Chairman’s Stakes (1000m) at Caulfield on February 2.
