With a bevy of stakes-class sprinters currently in the stable, Peter Snowden is in the enviable position of juggling his team between a rich variety of feature races.
A fortnight ago, he took out the Hawkesbury Gold Rush (1100m) with Zealously, while last week King Of Roseau and Beadman delivered an interstate black-type double with victories in the Takeover Target Stakes (1100m) at Gosford and the Gold Coast Guineas (1200m) respectively.
“We’re lucky we’ve got some troops back and they’ve all been firing,” Snowden said.
“It’s a bit of a juggling act, but it’s a good problem to have.”
Beadman will attempt to add to that haul when he backs up in the Group 1 Doomben 10,000 (1200m) on Saturday after originally being made an emergency but earning elevation into the field with two early withdrawals.
At Scone, Snowden’s sprint team will include capable pair King Of Sparta and Fire Star in the Listed Ortensia Stakes (1100m), Tuileries in the Dark Jewel Classic (1400m), and fillies Akaysha and Miss Freelove in the Denise’s Joy Stakes (1100m).
Miss Freelove has been scratched from Brisbane to take her place at Scone where she has a much kinder draw in barrier four.
Placed in Group 3 company at Flemington during the spring, she resumed with a solid midfield effort behind the promising Golden Straand at Warwick Farm last month in a race that wasn’t run to suit her conservative style.
Snowden has put winkers on for Saturday’s assignment and says the three-year-old has done nothing but please him since her first-up run.
“She went back and they weren’t making ground. She did run on, but she was a bit too far back,” Snowden said of the performance.
“I have added some headgear, and hopefully that just gets her a bit more involved.
“She is going well, and she trialled really well the other week when she flew home, so she will be heading there will her tail up and she’ll be a chance of winning.”
Akaysha will need luck in the same race from barrier 16, but she is a last start Listed winner in Brisbane and placed in the Woodlands Stakes (1100m) on the corresponding program last year.
King Of Sparta is on the comeback trail after 18 months on the sidelines having not raced since the 2024 Russell Balding Stakes (1200m), while Fire Star resumes following a solid campaign over the summer and boasts a strong record fresh.
