PETER SNOWDEN might never have a Melbourne Cup runner let alone winner but the head trainer for Sheikh Mohammed's Darley Australia team has something those other trainers do not - a once in a lifetime colt in Sepoy and a record-breaking young team that threaten to claim most of the elite three-year-old races this spring, reports The Age/SMH.It says: Despite the hundreds of horses under his control throughout Australia, Snowden did not have a nomination for the Caulfield or Melbourne Cups last ye
PETER SNOWDEN might never have a Melbourne Cup runner let alone winner but the head trainer for Sheikh Mohammed's Darley Australia team has something those other trainers do not - a once in a lifetime colt in Sepoy and a record-breaking young team that threaten to claim most of the elite three-year-old races this spring, reports The Age/SMH.
It says: Despite the hundreds of horses under his control throughout Australia, Snowden did not have a nomination for the Caulfield or Melbourne Cups last year, and it will be the same next month when nominations close. All his promising staying stock - such as the recent dual derby-placed Retrieve - are sent to Sheikh Mohammed's Godolphin stables in Europe to continue their careers.
''We identify early the above-average horses with staying ability that are to go overseas, and that's how it works. That's one [slight downside] but there are thousands of upsides,'' Snowden said yesterday. ''It's a bit of a quirk of the job, I suppose, but I love what I do and feel very lucky to be able to do it. We concentrate on two- and three-year-olds, and that gives us all a great buzz. The season we've just had was a great testament to the hard work everyone puts in.''
Snowden made a clean sweep of the country's five two-year-old group 1 races this season, and aims to repeat the dose in the elite three-year-old races in Sydney and Melbourne this spring.
Blue Diamond Stakes and Golden Slipper Stakes winner Sepoy will be the first of the stable's star young team to kick off his spring campaign in the Vain Stakes at Caulfield in four weeks, followed by his other dual group 1-winning juvenile Helmet in Sydney.
The trainer confirmed that Sepoy, a winner of five of his six starts in his debut season, would not chase the Caulfield Guineas, and instead be kept to races of no further than 1200 metres. For the time being anyway. ''He's a sprinter, and that's what he does best,'' Snowden said. ''That's not to say that he might not run a mile but we'll be happy to wait until next autumn to find that out.