If you looked at the birth dates of Tony Mcevoy’s two guaranteed starters in Saturday’s Blue Diamond Stakes, you’d expect him to say Dublin Down was destined for the $2 million Group 1 and Rue De Royale was the surprise packet.
The McEvoy pair are at the opposite ends of the age spectrum of two-year-olds in this year’s race with Dublin Down the oldest horse in the field and Rue De Royale the youngest, born more than three months after his stablemate.
But McEvoy said his pair emphasised that being an early foaling does not automatically equal precocity.
“I got a surprise at the yearling sale when I bought Rue De Royale that he was a late foal,” McEvoy said.
“Looking at him as a physical, you would have said he was an early foal.
“Whereas, Dublin Down, he’s actually built to be later. He’s a tall, leggy horse and when we bought him I said, ‘we’re buying a three-year-old’.
“So, it (foal date) is only important if the horse is telling you it’s important.”
Rue Due Royale, a son of Per Incanto and the Exceed And Excel mare Urban Royal who was bred at Little Avondale Stud in New Zealand, was bought for $180,000 on Day 1 of last year’s Inglis Classic Sale – exactly 15 months after he was born, on November 12.
In contrast, Dublin Down, who was born at Edinburgh Park in New South Wales on August 2 was more than 17 months old when he was offered at the Gold Coast Magic Millions Yearling Sale, where the son of Exceedance and O’Reilly mare Dublin Lass realised $370,000.
They are two of the bigger yearling sales in Australia, with Melbourne’s Premier Sale in March and early April’s Inglis Easter Yearling Sale the others in the top four, and McEvoy said his yearling purchases were treated the same no matter when they were born.
“Regardless of their foal date, they go through their adaption stages all the same,” McEvoy, who trains in partnership with his son Calvin, said.
“That’s that early work where they’re in and out of work, just to develop their bones, but the ones that are looking more precocious go on to the trials and races, whereas the others go back to the paddock.
“You’ve got to let the horse do the talking.”
The Australian Studbook has birth dates for all Blue Diamond winners back to 1978 and Daumier– a November 26 foal – broke new ground two years ago when he became the first Diamond winner in that time born in November.
The next youngest is Courtza, who was born on October 25.
The oldest winner is August 4 foal Star Shower, who won in 1979, and he is one of 13 Diamond winners since 1978 who were born in August.
September has produced more Diamond winners than any other month with Little Brose (Sept 27) last year joining the likes of Manikato (Sept 2), Zeditave (Sept 9), Bounding Away (Sept 26) and Sepoy (Sept 27) among the 21 Diamond winners born in that month.
Dublin Down will be first-up in Saturday’s race, but he had more runs pre-Christmas than any horse in the race with three, the most recent a win in the Group 3 Maribyrnong Plate (1000m) on November 7.
“Even though I think he’s a real Caulfield Guineas horse in the spring – and I still believe that – because he’s got some class and he’s perfectly sound, he’s been able to be competitive at two,” McEvoy said.
“He’s a good horse and he’s sound and that’s why we gave him the opportunity in the spring.”
Rue De Royale’s first two starts came before his second birthday; a fourth placing in the Inglis Banner at The Valley on Cox Plate Day followed by an unlucky second in the $1 million Golden Gift on November 11.
He resumed with another second placing, this time to Fully Lit, in the $2 million Inglis Millennium on February 10.
“He just a beautiful, well-built, well-balanced horse and he was always going to get up and go early if that’s what he wanted to do,” McEvoy said of Rue De Royale.
“Through the education process, he just kept wanting to sit at the front of the bus.”
Chad Schofield will fly in from Sydney for the ride on Rue De Royale, who will start from the second-widest gate in the field of 16, with Dublin Down to start from gate three with Harry Coffey aboard.
They have the potential to be joined in the Diamond by another member of the McEvoy stable with $1.15m Zoustar filly Altermatum, who was born on August 17, the second emergency.
Birthdates of this year’s Diamond field
August: Dublin Down (2nd), Flyer (15th), Altermatum (17th), Zestiman (18th), Eneeza (20th), In Her Eyes (21st), Bodyguard (22nd), Hayasugi (23rd), Stay Focused (25th).
September: Coleman (10th), Kuroyanagi (12th), Lady Of Camelot (22nd), Fearless (23rd), Traffic Warden (26th).
October: High Octane (1st), Matisse (8th), Spywire (25th).
November: Rue De Royale (12th).
