Mick Price knows a thing or two about preparing a two-year-old to win the Diamond, as does the David Hayes/Tom Dabernig training combination.

Both yards look to have contenders for this year's renewal after they sent out winners of the two-year-old races at Caulfield on Saturday, odds-on favourite Extreme Choice (Price) and well-fancied Valliano (Hayes/Dabernig).

Price won the big race in 2012 with Samaready. Hayes has taken the big prize on no less than five occasions, most recently with Reaan in 2008 and he can never be underestimated in the 1200-metre dash around Caulfield: his 100-1 shot Reemah went within a head of defeating the strongly fancied Pride Of Dubai last year.

Price's progressive colt Extreme Choice staked his claim for the $1 million race when he made it two out of two when, under Damien Oliver, he  landed the $1.40 odds with victory in the Chairman's Stakes, a group 3 contest over 1000 metres.

Half an hour later the Hayes/Dabernig team saddled up Valliano ($7.50 into $6), who scored over the Diamond course and distance by two-and-a-half lengths from Curvature in the $250,000 Inglis Stakes, a race restricted to juveniles who had been sold at the Inglis Premier Sale in Melbourne.

It is sometimes hard to weigh up the form of such restricted races, but Dabernig said that the son of Equiano, ridden on Saturday by Damian Lane, will take his chance in the big race later in February.

"He did everything right today. He was in a lovely position and hit the line full of running and ran out a strong 1200," he said.

"He is a really professional horse, from the day we broke him in. He just picked it up very quickly. He reminds me of one of those old fashioned two-year-olds who just seems to do everything right."

Price was delighted with the way Extreme Choice, a son of Not A Single Doubt, dominated his six rivals and won with his head in his chest.

Extreme Choice had created a good impression when he won a restricted Inglis race at Randwick in December, and he more than reinforced that on Saturday.

"He is a little natural. It was probably the right race to run in, I didn't feel the need to run in the 1100-metre [Prelude] and then two weeks in [to the Diamond] because I have used a fair bit of horse going to Sydney and he's had a nice break," he said.

"Raceday tells all, as it did. He was strong to the line, the time was good, the horse did it with something up his sleeve. Regarding a Blue Diamond, you would think he would be able to come out and put himself there without being too aggressive at it.

"We do a lot of work at the yearling sales, we buy a lot of horses. Plenty of them are duds, some of them are good, so this is one of the ones that are good."

Added Oliver: "It was easy, very good. He got to the front pretty comfortably and relaxed very well and showed great acceleration. He couldn't have been more impressive.

"He had that early in Sydney so I wanted to give him a little hit-out but I didn't want to bottom him either. With two-year-olds you have them one day and not the next. He still had a good hit-out, but he had a bit up his sleeve. You couldn't ask to be going better going into the Blue Diamond."