Hayasugi putting Saeed bin Suroor Group 1 winner Royal Meeting's name in lights as a young sire

Royal Meeting, winner of the Group 1 Criterium International for Saaed bin Suroor and Godolphin in 2018, was responsible for the winner of the valuable Group 2 Blue Diamond Prelude fillies' race at Caulfield on Saturday, via his daughter Hayasugi.

Royal Meeting, by Invincible Spirit, was bred by Godolphin out of the Lecture mare Rock Opera, won both his starts at two, a York maiden followed by that top-level strike at Chantilly under Christophe Soumillon.

He then had a year off before reappearing in Australia, but after a fairly promising comeback when third at Caulfield, he was unable to recapture his form as a two-year-old and in final race came in the spring of 2020.

Royal Meeting was granted a place at stud at Leneva Park in Victoria, and Hayasugi is his early pathfinder, having already won at Group 3 level at Caulfield last month in the Blue Diamond Preview. 

Trained by Clinton McDonald, she pushed her Blue Diamond Stakes claims by becoming the first filly since Fontiton in 2015 to complete the Blue Diamond Preview-Prelude double.

Hayasugi stormed down the outside from eighth of the 15 runners on the turn to win on Saturday by the barest of margins from gallant Adelaide raider Kuroyanagi.

McDonald said the run under Jamie Kah was full of merit, with Hayasugi likely to be better suited by the six furlongs of the Blue Diamond Stakes.

“She’s one of those fillies that’s just tough,” said the winning trainer. “She cops anything you throw at her and you saw today she had that horse on her inside pushing her off the track [on the turn].

“She was good enough to balance up and find the line like that, so I thought there was a lot of credit to the win, and I know there’s still improvement to come.

“We’ve been pretty soft on her and let her come through naturally and she’s only had one gallop since her last start, and she’ll tighten up beautifully going to 1,200 [metres].

“It was a great ride by Jamie. She was so confident before the race. We all were actually, we just couldn’t believe the price. I thought I must be a mug, but anyway, God bless the bookies. It’s been a good day.”

Bred by veteran boutique breeder Mike O’Donnell of the lower Hunter Valley’s Fairhill Farm, Hayasugi is an early star for Royal Meeting, who now has one winner – of two stakes races – from five runners.

Bought for A$47,500 (£24,500/€28,700) by James Bester and Shane McGrath along with Cara Mok at the 2022 Inglis Australian Weanling Sale, Hayasugi is the fourth foal out of the unraced China Road, by Commands, a mare handicapped by having only one ovary. Having missed on five matings since bearing Hayasugi, China Road was covered by Jacquinot last November.

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