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| Staff Writer |
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This Saturday marks the A$1 million Five Diamonds Prelude at Royal Randwick on Spring Wild Card Day. As we anticipate this event, let us reflect on the first-ever series winner from last year - Ellsberg.
In 2022, the Five Diamonds received strong nominations, which was evident in the 16-horse field that ran the Prelude.
This Saturday's Prelude is set to be very competitive with 15 runners, including Group One winner Converge (Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott), Democracy Manifest (Chris Waller), and promising stayer Fawnker Park (Annabel Neasham).
Looking back a year, Ellsberg entered the race as the second favorite behind Victorian, Ayrton. After his Group One Epsom success, where he dead-heated with Top Ranked, jockey Brenton Avdulla took him to the front and controlled the pace. Ellsberg continued to power down the Randwick straight, winning comfortably by 2.5 lengths over Sibaaq, with Rebel Rama rounding out the trifecta.
Three weeks later at Rosehill Gardens, it was the same exacta in the A$2 million Five Diamonds, but this time Tommy Berry was in the saddle.