First starters are always interesting not only from a racing perspective, but also from the view of their pedigree. Today we look at a first starter at Gosford called Diamond Fund. The 3yo filly is by Snippetson, and trained by Gerald Ryan who has had remarkable success with quite a few youngsters by this stallion. Snippetson won twice at Listed level, in the Eskimo Prince and Maurice McCarten Stakes in Sydney. He entered stud in 2006 and to date has produced six stakes winners. He currently stands at Widden Stud for a fee of $9900. The dam of Diamond Fund is the flying Suzy Grey, winner of 10 races from 1200 to 1400m. Her best win came in the Swettenham Stud Stakes which was then a Group 3 race. It currently is known as the Robert Sangster and is run as a Group 1. Interestingly some pedigree pages have the race listed as a Group 2 when won by Suzy Grey, but the ASB records would disagree. In addition, the popular Suzy Grey won three times at Listed level including the Ipswich Eye Liner Stakes.
Diamond Fund has an interesting pedigree in that it is free from Danehill, although it does see the presence of his sire, Danzig as the sire of Polish Precedent, the damsire of Snippetson. We also see the presence of some wonderful influences in Luskin Star and Oenjay Star, as well as the underated County, a son of Donna Nook through the pedigree of Suzy Grey. Importantly to me the pedigree of Snippetson brings in further speed lines through Snippets, a son of Lunchtime. In terms of dosage, we see that Diamond Fund has a profile that reads [1.58/8.60] [19-2-1-2-0]. While this is unusual in terms of much of the thoroughbred population, it is important when compared to that of Suzy Grey herself whose profile read [1.47/6.11] [24-3-1-4-0] which emphasized many of the same traits as her daughter. Suzy Grey however saw a very strong influence of Wilkes, the sire of Vain, and the lack of additional reinforcement of that stallion may well detract from the performance of Diamond Fund.
Nevertheless, we expect to see Diamond Fund to prove the best of Suzy Grey's progeny to date, and she is likely to take the step up to city class during her career. In what looks a pretty strong maiden field, we think that she will give a good sight, and will prove to be a filly to follow.