Plenty behind the Blue Door

Image: Blue Door, (Credit Bradley Photos)

Regally-bred filly Blue Door (Stay Inside) returns as a three-year-old in Saturday’s important spring pipe-opener The Rosebud (Listed, 1100m) with trainer Bjorn Baker optimistic she can continue her upward trajectory aimed at the Coolmore Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m).

Bred under the Armitage Australia banner of powerful American breeder Craig Bernick, Blue Door’s progression to the racetrack was less than straightforward.

She was entered for the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in Yarraman Park’s draft but withdrawn due to a bone chip in a fore fetlock.

Redirected to Inglis Easter, she was knocked down for $400,000 to Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott along with Kestrel Thoroughbreds with owner John Singleton in mind, before a change of plan led Singleton to place her in Baker’s Warwick Farm stable.

The story since, however, has been plain – or rather glorious – sailing.

First, Blue Door stepped out for her first barrier trial at Rosehill in March, and won by over 7  lengths, leaving in her wake Chris Waller’s subsequent stakes-placed filly Katoto (Wootton Bassett) and his $1.7m yearling Nations League (Snitzel).

“We hadn’t had her for a long time when we took her to trials,” Baker told ANZ Bloodstock News. “She’d shown a fair bit at home, but that trial win even caught us a bit by surprise. She looked like a real racehorse.”

Clearly needing no more practice, Blue Door next debuted in Randwick’s Kindergarten Stakes (Gr 3, 1100m).

Taking on the boys from gate eight of 10, she stalked the leader throughout under a solid pace and hit the front 350m out. She was a sitting duck for most of the straight, but on a soft 7 track the filly showed the courage to go with her speed, seeing off three challengers to score by 0.23 lengths.

The second horse, Ciaron Maher’s $2.8 million colt Next Episode (Snitzel), a previous-start winner at Warwick Farm, emphatically franked the form by winning his next two starts. First he became a black type winner himself in taking Eagle Farm’s Dalrello Stakes (Listed, 1000m) by 2.9 lengths as a $1.80 favourite. Then he raked in the big bucks in lifting the $1m Magic Millions National 2YO Classic (1000m) at $1.70.

“That was a terrific win,” Baker said of the Kindergarten. “She showed a lot of character and guts to get it done. The second horse is very smart, and while he might have had some excuses, our filly was definitely there to be beaten for most of the straight. She showed she’s got a real will to win.”

Sent for a spell for more development after the Kindergarten, Blue Door reappeared for her first tilt against older horses with an unhurried third after leading in a 1000m Group-class trial at Randwick on July 31, won by dual Group 3 winning mare Gangsta Granny (Written Tycoon).

“It was a good trial against older horses. She wasn’t out to break records but she did it very well,” Baker said. “We were very happy with her.”

Blue Door now goes into the quality handicap Rosebud with a not insignificant 56.5kg – with 10 rivals weighted below her. But bookmakers had her an early favourite on Wednesday at around $4.20, and Baker is confident she can take her next step in style having drawn barrier five of 16, with Rachel King retaining the ride.

“She’s come back in great order,” Baker told ANZ Bloodstock News. “She’s definitely strengthened up, which is great. She’s not an overly big filly, but she was pretty refined in her first campaign, and now she’s just a stronger individual all over.

“I’m confident that she’s well and she’s a quality filly and she’ll run well on Saturday. It’s a very strong edition of the Rosebud, so we’re mindful of that, but the barrier’s lovely for her. She should be able to roll forward and be on the speed, and hopefully she can produce what we think she can.”

Pressing Blue Door for favouritism will be two well-bred colts.

Chris Waller’s Central Europe (Frankel), whose dam Tiggy Wiggy (Kodiac) won England’s Cheveley Park Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) en route to becoming Europe’s Champion 2YO Filly of 2014, returns after Sydney Group placings in his only two juvenile starts last autumn.

The $750,000 Easter yearling, raced by a Coolmore-headed syndicate, is currently on the fifth line of betting at $11 for the Golden Rose (Gr 1, 1400m) on September 26.

And Michael Freedman’s Castillo King (Farnan) was an impressive 3.24 length winner at Warwick Farm at his only two-year-old outing, on July 15. He’s at $15 for the Golden Rose.

While the Rosebud is a traditional launch pad toward that Rosehill feature, Blue Door will take a different path.

“She’s got a lot of speed about her,” Baker said. “I’d say 1200 metres is definitely in her wheelhouse, so she’ll stay more towards the sprinting ranks, and we’ll likely head towards the Coolmore.”

While that test on October 31 shapes as her most likely target, Baker is also not ruling out the possibility of a start in the The Everest (Gr 1, 1200m)  two weeks earlier should Blue Door progress as hoped.

Three-year-old fillies get into the $20m feature with just 51kg under its weight-for-age conditions, shown to good effect when Tempted (Street Boss) came within 1.15 lengths of the phenomenal Ka Ying Rising (Shamexpress) when second in last year’s edition.

“Three-year-old fillies do get a good weight in The Everest, so you never say never,” Baker said. “But she’d need to come back on Saturday and prove she’s up to that level and those kinds of conversations and we’ll take it from there.

“Possibly the Coolmore’s a more realistic target at this stage. She has only had one start after all, so you don’t want to get ahead of yourself, but the beauty of a new spring three-year-old is that anything’s possible at this stage.”

Blue Door certainly has the pedigree credentials to continue her career the way it started.

She was one of three, first crop stakes winners for Newgate’s young stallion, Stay Inside (Extreme Choice) in 2025-26. That meant he topped the first season sires’ charts by that marker, while finishing third by earnings, in an exciting sign that his barnmate and father could be just as good at siring sires as racehorses.

And on the female side, Blue Door bristles with quality.

She’s the third foal of Notting Hill (Pierro), who was restricted to just four starts but won twice at Kempsey and Muswellbrook.

And Notting Hill’s dam was Monsoon Wedding (Danehill), who was twice stakes placed and is out of the great blue hen Shantha’s Choice (Canny Lad).

This makes Monsoon Wedding a full-sister to the great Redoute’s Choice and his fellow elite victor Platinum Scissors, and a half-sister to another one in Manhattan Rain (Encosta De Lago).

Monsoon Wedding is also a three-quarter sister to Sliding Cube (Rock Of Gibraltar) – a dual stakes winner and dam of another one in Rubick (Encosta De Lago) – and a half-sister to Shantha’s Choice’s fifth stakes winner, Echoes Of Heaven (Encosta De Lago). 

For good measure, Monsoon Wedding is also a three-quarter sister to another G1 winner in Al Maher (Danehill) who, like Redoute’s Choice, Platinum Scissors, Manhattan Rain and Rubick, earned a siring career.

Monsoon Wedding also stands on her own merits as a broodmare as the dam of two stakes winners, and the granddam of two more.

And with Redoute’s Choice being Stay Inside’s third sire, this means Blue Door is inbred 5m x 3f to Shantha’s Choice.

She also has Danehill (Danzig) in triplicate at 5m, 5m x 3f. Making him the largest contributor of blood to the pedigree – with 18.75 per cent – which suggests that even with the oft-mistrusted inbreeding of Danehill, in this case you can’t have too much of a good thing.