News

McEvoy Takes Stock Of His Blue Diamond Prospects

7th Feb 2015

Tony McEvoy has his sights firmly on the $1million Group 1 MRC Blue Diamond Stakes later this month following his stable quinella of Stoker and Manhattan Blues in the $250,000 RL Inglis Premier at Sandown today.

A strong field of 14 faced the starter in the 1000m sprint for two-year-olds with Stoker stopping the clock at 56.28 seconds ahead of stable mate Manhattan Blues and Ciaron Maher trainer Jameka. The winning time was slightly quicker than fellow Inglis graduate Thurlow when winning the Group 3 Chairman’s Stakes run earlier in the day.

Stoker (Written Tycoon x Troposphere) has just about guaranteed himself a start in the Blue Diamond with today’s first place prizemoney counting towards gaining a start in Victoria’s top juvenile event.

McEvoy Mitchell Racing have been strong supporters of Inglis sales, leading the buyers table at the Inglis Classic Sale in 2014 and purchasing six yearlings at that year’s Inglis Premier Sale, including Stoker for $125,000 from the draft of Woodside Park.

“I just really loved him, he was a great athlete and I thought he had tremendous improvement physically from that sale and he’s done that,” said McEvoy.

“I believe he’s got as good ability as any horse I’ve had. Even from the breaking-in stage he was an A-grade student and I think he’s got potential to go further and I think he’ll run a mile too,” McEvoy added

In addition to the $150,000 first place prizemoney and $23,000 Super VOBIS bonus for the win, Stoker earned his trainer a set of Swarovski Optik EL 42 Swarovision binoculars valued at $3,000, plus Damien Oliver (jockey) and (managing owner) an exclusive piece of Antler Luggage valued at $544.

Connections will be hoping Stoker can go one better than previous Inglis Premier winners Masthead and Snitzerland which went on the finish second in the Blue Diamond and Golden Slipper respectively.

The $250,000 RL Inglis Premier is one of five events in the $5 million Inglis Race Series that carries black-type status. All yearlings offered at the Inglis Select Yearling Sales Series are eligible for entry into the lucrative Inglis Race Series.

The 2015 Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale will be conducted over four days on 1, 2, 3 and 4 March. 782 lots have been catalogued, including the half-sister to Stoker and six lots by his sire, Written Tycoon.

Other Inglis yearling sales dates for 2015 are:
Inglis Classic Yearling Sale Summer Book – Sydney – 8, 9 & 10 February
Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale – Sydney – 7, 8 & 9 April
Inglis VOBIS Gold Yearling Sale – Melbourne – 19 & 20 April
Inglis Classic Yearling Sale Autumn Book – Sydney – 10 May
Inglis HTBA Scone Yearling Sale – Scone – 17 May

Online catalogues are available on the market leading Inglis Sales iPad app and online at inglis.com.au

To request a hard-copy catalogue please email catalogue@inglis.com.au or call +61 3 9333 1422.