Lloyd Kennewell only needed one look at Eternal Warrior to deem him a precocious type who could be a contender in the early two-year-old features and the colt has backed that belief by getting to the Blue Diamond Stakes.
The youngster will chase the first Group 1 on offer to his generation when he runs in the $2 million event at Caulfield this Saturday.
No runner in the 1200-metre event has stronger links to Victoria’s premier juvenile event than the colt that Kennewell bought in partnership Blueblood Thoroughbreds for $80,000 at Magic Millions’ Adelaide sale.
Eternal Warrior is out of Devout Hero, a daughter of No Nay Never whose dam Perfect Persuasion is a sister to 2004 Blue Diamond heroine Alinghi.
On the paternal side, Eternal Warrior is a first crop member of Rosemont stallion Extreme Warrior, who is a son of the 2016 Blue Diamond champion Extreme Choice, which was what made him such an appealing proposition to Kennewell.
“Matty Becker and I do our work together and we thought he was an early two-year-old, hence the reason we were keen to dive in,” Kennewell said.
“We liked him a lot obviously. We thought if he wasn’t the best colt, he was close to it, in Adelaide.
“He’s obviously got a very good pedigree, we’ve had a bit of luck with Extreme Choice and I thought he looked like an Extreme Choice.
“So we were looking at him as a cheaper version of an Extreme Choice colt.”
Eternal Warrior justified Kennewell’s judgement when he scored a debut win at $41 in the Listed Merson Cooper Stakes (1000m) at Caulfield on November 29.
Sights were then set on this Saturday’s race and a third placing in the Group 3 Blue Diamond Prelude (1100m) on February 7 has Kennewell convinced he has Eternal Warrior on track.
The Prelude was won by Closer To Free, an $8 chance in Diamond betting, while runner-up was $5 second favourite Guest House. Eternal Warrior is a $13 chance in Diamond betting.
“Normally my horses have had two trials going into a race first-up, but we planned deliberately to only have the one to be peaking for the Grand Final,” Kennewell said.
“His race in the Prelude showed exactly that. Damian (Lane) thought he was going to win when he straightened up and he just blew out the last 100.
“He had the fastest last 800, 600, 400 of the race but just peaked on his run late.
“We were really, really happy and his work on Monday morning was super. Damian came in and galloped him and was really happy with him.
“We were just wishing we got a lot better draw than what we got dished up.”
Eternal Warrior drew barrier 16 but will come into 13 if the bottom three emergencies don’t gain a start in what will be a field of 16.
Kennewell is hoping his experience from wide gates – he started from 13 of 13 on debut and eight of eight in the Prelude – will help him overcome that.
“He’s drawn wide every start, so he’s shown that he can do that and hopefully it will work out for us,” he said.
Damian Lane retains the ride on Saturday with the in-form jockey chasing his first Blue Diamond Stakes success after a near-miss last year when second to Devil Night aboard Tentyris.
