The Blue Point (IRE) colt Blue Stratum made it two on the bounce when denying the hard-charging Last Druid in the Dominant Hcp (1000m) at Moonee Valley on Saturday and likely booked a start in next week’s Vain Stakes.
Ridden by Beau Mertens for Tony and Calvin McEvoy, Blue Stratum enjoyed the run of the race behind the leader Azeezle. Switched out three wide to mount a challenge on straightening, Blue Stratum looked set for a comfortable win before Godolphin’s Brazen Beau colt last Druid launched down the centre of the track from last to be beaten a nose.
The honest I Am Immortal filly Immortal Star was a half-length back in third.
Second in the Group III Maribyrnong Plate, fourth in the $500,000 Inglis Nursery, and sixth in the Listed Blue Diamond Preview, Blue Stratum broke his maiden with a two-length romp on the Pakenham Synthetic on July 15.
“I didn’t realise it was so close,” a relieved Tony McEvoy admitted.
“Beau rode him beautifully. I think he enjoyed the place, quickened off the bend and held on.
“We have to get him up over more than 1000m, and he showed up at Pakenham when he rode a little more patiently, but you just can’t give it up here, which might have told at the end.
“I haven’t discussed it with the ownership group or my co-trainer, but if he is well, there is an 1100m next week called the Vain. They all go to 1200m after that, so we might run him in the Vain, then a month to the Poseidon Stakes. He has run well down the straight at Flemington when second in the Maribyrnong, so we will keep him shorter than 12000 for the moment.”
A $130,000 purchase for McEvoy Mitchell Racing / First Light Racing / Belmont Bloodstock Agency (FBAA) from the Yulong draft at the 2023 Inglis Premier Yearling Sale, Blue Stratum is the fourth winner from as many to race for the talented Stratum mare Tawteen.
The winner of seven highlighted by the Listed William Crocket Stakes, Tawteen, was purchased by the Written Tycoon Syndicate for $475,000 from the Shadwell Dispersal at the 2021 National Broodmare Sale.
A half-sister to Listed winner Well Sprung (Star Witness) and stakes-placed Connemara (Fastnet Rock), Tawteen had a Written Tycoon filly sell to David Ellis for $120,000 at the 2024 Inglis Premier Yearling Sale.
Tawteen has a weanling filly by Grunt and missed last spring.
After Salsa Fellow opened his winning account at Ballarat on Thursday, Blue Stratum is the second winner in three days for Darley Stud’s Blue Point (IRE).
