The clear early 2020 Blue Diamond Stakes betting favourite Hanseatic will continue his charge towards the Group 1 at the end of the month via a CF Orr Stakes Day run in Saturday’s Prelude for colts and geldings.

Taking place one race after the Blue Diamond Prelude for Fillies, the Group 3 $200,000 Neds Blue Diamond (C&G) over 1100m originally attracted 15 two-year-olds.

Two early scratchings leave 13 runners with the Blue Diamond Prelude odds dominated by Anthony Freedman’s undefeated favourite Hanseatic.

The talented Street Boss colt is into $2.25 through Ladbrokes.com.au to make it three-from-three on Saturday and is also leading all-in Blue Diamond Stakes betting at $3.60.

On debut he won the Listed Merson Cooper Stakes (1000m) at Sandown in November before kicking off his autumn with a brilliant 2.5 length victory in the Listed Blue Diamond Preview (1000m) on January 25.

Jockey Luke Currie rode the filly Lyre to victory in last year’s Blue Diamond Stakes for Freedman and retains the ride on Hanseatic this weekend ahead of a shot at back-to-back victories in the big one on February 22.

Despite the size of the field just one other juvenile is under $10 in the latest Blue Diamond Colts & Geldings Prelude odds with market mover Rulership at $3.20.

The $5.50 second elect in pre-field Blue Diamond Stakes markets, the Peter & Paul Snowden-trained I Am Invincible colt only debuted at Randwick on January 25.

He made a big early impression carrying 58kg to a 2.3 length victory over 1000m and should enjoy the drop back to 55.5kg at set weights on Saturday.

Despite some love from the punters, co-trainer Peter Snowden has warned Rulership may be vulnerable in the Prelude this weekend having his first go at the Caulfield track.

“This will be his first start at Caulfield which is never easy but he was pretty impressive in his only start and his trials had been pretty good leading into it,” the three-time Blue Diamond winning trainer told the media.

“The favourite for the Diamond is in there so we’ll see how he measures up against him on Saturday.

“Rulership is well above average. The only thing he lacks is a bit of race experience that way, so if he gets close to Hanseatic on Saturday, you’d dare to think he would improve a bit off that in a fortnight.”

Outside of the dominant duo, the other best in the BD Prelude (C&G) markets are Group 3 placed Lord Kanaloa colt Tagaloa ($12) whose last run produced a November win at Moonee Valley and the unraced Wandjina colt Winsum ($13) on debut for Ken Keys.

Click here for the latest Blue Diamond Prelude (C&G) 2020 odds courtesy of Ladbrokes.com.au.

2020 Blue Diamond C&G Prelude Field & Barriers

#	Form (Last 10)	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Barrier	Weight	H. Rating
1	1×1	HANSEATIC	Anthony Freedman	Luke Currie	2	55.5kg	78
2	7216	RATHLIN	Ciaron Maher & David Eustace	Ben Melham	4	55.5kg	73
3	15×8	TANKER	Ciaron Maher & David Eustace	John Allen	6	55.5kg	72
4	1x	HARD LANDING	David & B Hayes & T Dabernig	Luke Nolen	14	55.5kg	74
5	21	JABALI RIDGE	Mick Price & Michael Kent (Jnr)	Jye McNeil	8	55.5kg	70
6	31x	TAGALOA	Trent Busuttin & Natalie Young	Michael Walker	7	55.5kg	70
7	1	RULERSHIP	Peter & Paul Snowden	Mark Zahra	5	55.5kg	70
8	59×2	GLENFIDDICH	Robbie Griffiths	Brett Prebble	9	55.5kg	67
9	1	VALAQUENTA	James Cummings	Damian Lane	3	55.5kg	65
10	2	SPIRIT OF GIVING	Gareth Andrews	Ben Thompson	10	55.5kg	63
11	6x	BARBARIC	Peter & Paul Snowden	Tim Clark	11	55.5kg	61
12	6	MYSTERIOUS ART	Robbie Griffiths	Dean Yendall	12	55.5kg	61
13	–	NORTH PACIFIC	Michael, Wayne & John Hawkes	Dwayne Dunn	15	55.5kg	–
14	0	SOUTHERN	Tim Hughes	Lachlan King (a)	1	55.5kg	61
15	–	WINSUM	Ken Keys	Craig Williams	13	55.5kg	–