Newcastle trainer Kris Lees has planned a crack at a multi-million dollar double with Tuesday’s Big Dance winner Rustic Steel and the dream is alive heading to the Five Diamonds at Rosehill tomorrow.
The preparation had been designed for a quick back-up with Rustic Steel similar to in the autumn, when he won The Coast at Gosford and six days later picked up the Scone Cup, which qualified him for the Big Dance.
Rustic Steel holds off a late surge from Cisco Bay to win the Big Dance on Tuesday.Credit:Steve Hart Photographics
″He was so good on the back-up last time in that we looked at these two races and have planned to do the same thing, but this time it is only a four-day turnaround,″ Lees said. ″It’s a bit tougher as well because the races are worth $2million each.
“In the autumn, he had an easy time out in front in The Coast and really bounced off that run into Scone. It was a bit different on Tuesday because he had a solid hit-out on a firm track, but he looks great and it would be the right time to test him at the 1800m.”
Rustic Steel was strong at the end of the Randwick mile to earn the $1million prize in the Big Dance, where he saw off Cisco Bay, but Lees will need everything to be right with him tomorrow.
“We’re going to be careful with him and took a blood test from him on Wednesday just make sure he is right to go, and if that comes back good, I think he will run well,” he said. “We thought he could win one of these races, so Saturday would be a nice added bonus if he can win.”
Rustic Steel is a $15 chance for the first edition of the Five Diamonds, where proven group 1 performers Ellsberg and Laws Of Indices top the betting at $2.50 and $5 respectively.
Ellsberg won the Epsom and Five Diamonds Prelude in the lead-up, while Laws Of Indices was runner-up in the Toorak Handicap and finished alongside Melbourne Cup winner Gold Trip in the Cox Plate.
“They look the two with the strongest form, but Rustic Steel has always been a horse that steps to the challenge,” Lees said. “He has improved with every run this prep and is ready for the 1800m, and I think he will be strong at the end.”
Lees will saddle half a dozen in the Melbourne Cup winning colours for Australian Bloodstock, including Samoot and Night Of Romance, which came out of quarantine this week, in the Hot Danish Stakes, where the firm going is a worry.
“Samoot has a liking to get her toe into the ground, and we haven’t seen her on this type of ground before,” Lees said. “If she can handle it, I think we have found a good race for her. We got Night Of Romance home on Saturday, and she had a gallop on Newcastle on Tuesday and was impressive. You don’t know how these horses go off the plane, but she looks right up to this sort of grade.”
Night Of Romance brings strong form from Ireland, where she scored back-to-back wins before failing at the Galway carnival. She bounced back with a runner-up finish in the group 2 Fairy Bridge Stakes at Tipperary before coming Down Under.
“The boys at Australian Bloodstock really liked her and she has been great to work with in quarantine; hopefully we can continue a good week for them,” Lees said.
Another Irish-bred import, Spangler, returns for a second Australian preparation with Lees in a benchmark to conclude the day.
“She is the type of horse that is very well placed at this time of year, and I think she can go through her grades,” Lees said
“[My apprentice] Dylan Gibbons rides here on the weekend and he has been very happy with her in all her trials, so we’ll see what type of a judge he is on Saturday.”
