Peter Snowden has revealed he tried to lure jockey Damian Browne to Sydney when he began a training partnership with his son Paul.
The former head of the giant Darley operation, Snowden branched out with Paul just over a year ago.
Browne won the 2014 Blue Diamond Stakes on Darley’s Earthquake and was reunited with the Snowden team earlier this year to make it back-to-back victories in Melbourne’s premier two-year-old race aboard Pride Of Dubai.
The team was back together on Saturday when Browne rode Dothraki to win the Group Three Anniversary Stakes (1200m) at the Gold Coast.
It is one of the few failures in Snowden’s stellar career that he could not convince Browne to move to from his Sunshine Coast lair to the big smoke.
“I did try to get him to come to Sydney for us. He is a very good jockey, among the best in Australia,” Snowden said.
Snowden could even raise a smile when he recalled how Browne had knocked him back when he first offered him a ride.
“It was on Epaulette in the 2012 (Group One) Golden Rose. In the end Tommy Berry rode him and won but I didn’t hold that against Damian,” he said.
Browne recalled knocking back the Group One winner.
“It wasn’t the smartest of career moves,” he said.
Dothraki’s win completed a successful Queensland winter for the Snowdens who won the Group One BTC Cup with Hot Snitzel and stakes races with Charlie Boy (BRC Stakes), Flippant (Lancaster Stakes), Dublin Lass (Bright Shadow Quality) and I’ve Got the Looks (Juano Stakes).
Dothraki could add more black type to his winter record in the Ramornie Handicap at Grafton on July 8 depending on how the handicapper rates him.
The Snowdens first full season as a training combination has produced 76 winners so far of just under $7 million in prize money.
They finished fourth on the Group One premiership with five and have won a total of 21 stakes races to date.
