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2YO race on Geelong standalone meeting given Blue Diamond ballot-exempt status.
There is a new option for trainers looking to secure a spot in the Blue Diamond for their top two-year-olds with a ballot exemption attached to a new race at Geelong.
The $150,000 Rex Gorell Geelong Diamond (1100m), which will be run on the new feature Saturday meeting on January 6, will provide the winner with a guaranteed start in the $2 million Group 1 Blue Diamond Stakes.
The only other races that offer Blue Diamond ballot exemptions are the two 1000m Blue Diamond Previews and two 1100m Blue Diamond Preludes, which will be run on January 26 and February 10 respectively.
Artorius, the 2021 Blue Diamond winner, made his debut in the two-year-old race at Geelong's first meeting of the year, finishing second behind subsequent Group 2 winner Jigsaw, and the club is thrilled to have that event bolstered.
"We hope to unearth the next Artorius at Geelong on Saturday, 6 January," Luke Rayner, Geelong Racing Club chief executive officer, said.
"Everyone at the club is looking forward to the new raceday and that excitement has been further enhanced by the news that the winner of the Rex Gorell Geelong Diamond will be exempt from the ballot for the Blue Diamond Stakes."
The inaugural Super Saturday on the Coast raceday sees Geelong host its first standalone Saturday meeting on 6 January with more than $1.6 million on offer across a card that is headlined by the $300,000 bet 365 Coastal Classic (1700m).
