Racing: Dal Cielo win stands out

Dal Cielo. File photo / Nick Reed

The Baker/Forsman stable might have scooped the Ellerslie carnival pool, but Saturday's Haunui Diamond Stakes victory by Dal Cielo will always stand out. It was a superb piece of catch-up training.

Dal Cielo's Diamond Stakes bid came close to being derailed by a setback two weeks out from the race.

"We thought we were in trouble," said Murray Baker. "He missed a fair bit of work, but we didn't want to push him too much to catch that up in case we took the edge off him for this race.

"He went into this very under done."

Winning rider Opie Bosson confirmed the lack of full fitness. "He came to the end of it before the finish, so it was a good effort."

Dal Cielo is a magnificent juvenile and one of the truly sensational group of Per Incanto 2-year-olds to appear on the New Zealand racetracks this season. He exuded class, clearly a contributing factor being the presence in his pedigree of Centaine and Sound Reason as his first two dam sires.

Baker said the obvious trail to follow is the Manawatu Sires Produce and said the colt also has a nomination for the Sires in Sydney. "But that's a mighty big leap in class."