Formidable draws perfectly in Blue Diamond

The decision to pay a late entry fee to run Formidable in Saturday’s Group 1 Blue Diamond Stakes (1200m) at Caulfield took a step closer to earning a reward at Tuesday’s barrier draw for the $1 million event.

Co-trainers Mathew Ellerton and Simon Zahra consulted Formidable’s owners Barrie and Midge Griffiths before all agreed to put up $55,000 to run the daughter of Strada in Victoria’s richest two-year-old race.

“She worked super on Monday morning so we thought ‘why not?’” Zahra said.

“She has certainly shown she is good enough so why not pay up and see how she goes. She is getting better all the time so we paid the money confident she would run a good race.”

The Griffiths’ son Cameron had the onerous task of drawing Formidable’s gate at the City Square in the centre of Melbourne. The younger Griffiths repaid his parents’ faith him in by turning over barrier three for Formidable in the Blue Diamond Stakes.

“We couldn’t be happier with that,” Zahra said.

“She drew the same gate last time and ran a very good race. The barrier will allow (jockey) Chris (Symons) to ride her any way he needs to.

“If there is a ton of speed, he can take a sit but if she jumps quickly and races handy easily then he can keep her near the pace too.”