Potent partnership go in search of another Diamond
Homebred Miss Celine ready to roll at Sandown for Lindsay Park and owner Crabtree
Eight years after they teamed up to claim the Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) with Catchy (Fastnet Rock), Lindsay Park and Robert Crabtree are aiming to plunder Victoria’s most coveted juvenile prize again with Miss Celine (Magnus), who returns to action at Sandown this Saturday.
Remarkably, David Hayes and his then-partner Tom Dabernig trained five of the first six runners home in the 2017 Blue Diamond, and while his sons Ben, JD and Will are highly unlikely to replicate that feat in next month’s $2 million feature, Miss Celine looks a live chance if she can build on her dazzling debut win.
The homebred filly appeared to face an impossible task in the Debutant Stakes (Listed, 1200m) back in October, but in scenes reminiscent of Catchy’s last-to-first Blue Diamond burst, she launched from the rear of the field to register a jaw-dropping victory which had tongues wagging at Caulfield.
Having warmed up for her return to the races with an impressive jump–out at Werribee last week, Miss Celine will step out for her second career start in Saturday’s Blue Diamond Preview (F) (Gr 3, 1000m) at Sandown, where Mark Zahra is set to replace the New Zealand-bound Blake Shinn in the saddle.
“She’s come back really well, she’s muscled up and put on some nice condition,” said co-trainer Ben Hayes, whose stable are also set to run last-start winner Shining Smile (Spirit Of Boom) in the equivalent contest for the colts and geldings over 1000 metres.
“She’s always been a little bit lazy, which you can see in her trials where she only does what she has to. But we’ve been very happy with her work and hopefully she can pick up where she left off. Our family has had a lot of success with ‘Crabby’ in the past, so we would love to continue that run with this filly.”
Miss Celine’s dam Charm’s Honour (Strada), the winner of the 2011 running of the Mode Plate (Listed, 1200m) at Doomben when she was trained by Greg Bennett, has previous form for producing fiendishly fast fillies having given birth to Enbihaar, who like Miss Celine was sired by Crabtree’s homebred stallion Magnus (Flying Spur).
Prior to embarking on a hitherto successful broodmare career – her second foal Too Darn Lizzie (Too Darn Hot) is a stakes winner and was placed at Group 1 level – the Dorrington Farm-bred Enbihaar won the 2018 Blue Diamond Prelude (F) (Gr 2, 1100m) for Hayes senior before running second to Written By (Written Tycoon) in the Blue Diamond a fortnight later.
So the omens are positive for Miss Celine, although a naturally cautious Crabtree warned that Saturday’s assignment was only a stepping stone towards what he hopes are bigger and better things.
“She wasn’t shin sore or anything when we put her out for a spell, we just wanted to freshen up and give her some time to mature physically and mentally, which she looks to have done,” the Dorrington Farm proprietor told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“She had two jump–outs, she ran well enough in the first one but showed considerable improvement in the most recent one, which was very pleasing to see. She probably won’t be at her top just yet because we obviously want to have her peaking for the Blue Diamond, which is in a month’s time.
“Winning the Blue Diamond with Catchy was obviously a huge thrill for us, it would be lovely to do it again with the Hayes boys almost a decade later but we may be getting ahead of ourselves at this early stage.”
Given that Miss Celine collected $112,750 in prize–money returns after her devastating display on debut, qualification for the Blue Diamond was never in any doubt so it gave her connections the luxury of taking their time and plotting a suitable path through the autumn.
The infuriatingly fickle nature of juveniles can make a mockery of any future planning but, provided she has retained the same zest for racing she showed before heading for her break, Miss Celine will follow the same path as last year’s Blue Diamond heroine Hayasugi (Royal Meeting) and use the fillies’ Prelude and Preview as a stepping stone to her grand final.
“It was great for us to be able to send her to the paddock after her debut win in the spring, knowing we could bring her back into work and plan for her grand final in the autumn,” said Crabtree.
“We’ll know more after Saturday’s run whether the Blue Diamond is a realistic target. I would think she’ll be better second and third-up, but that doesn’t mean we’re not expecting her to be very competitive on Saturday. I don’t think barriers will play much of a role, because you can’t really get a bad draw from the 1000-metre chute at Sandown.
“It’s a very fair track and I would expect every horse to get its chance, hopefully she can jump a bit cleaner on Saturday and not give herself as much to do. The boys have certainly been working on her barrier manners, and we think she has improved in that regard but until you test them under raceday pressure, you never really know.”
What is much more certain is that the $115,000 Crabtree paid for Charm’s Honour at the 2014 Magic Millions National Broodmare has represented an outstanding bit of business.
Her four foals to reach the racetrack have all won, although the untimely passing in September 2023 of Magnus – who carried the red and white Dorrington silks to victory in The Galaxy (Gr 1, 1100m) in 2007 – has put paid to any prospects of producing a sister to Miss Celine.
However, Crabtree’s excitement is palpable when discussing the foal the mare produced last September.
“When we bought Charm’s Honour, she was the only black type representation in the first four dams,” said Crabtree.
“We bred Enbihaar from her, who almost won the Blue Diamond and is going really well as a broodmare, then Miss Celine came along and on the ground now we have a drop-dead gorgeous filly by Too Darn Hot. We’ve bred a lot of horses, but she’s probably the best-looking horse we’ve ever produced on the farm.
“The idea at this stage would be to race her ourselves rather than take her to the sales, but we’ve got the best part of a year before we have to make that decision. As a half-sister to Miss Celine the filly would obviously be worth a fair bit if she were to win the Blue Diamond, so the temptation would be there but it would be a very nice problem to have.”