Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott are enjoying a sensational start to the spring and their winning spree has continued at Rosehill with lightly raced three-year-old Snitzonfire.
The Tulloch Lodge trainers have saddled up 15 winners from their past 50 runners, their victories including the Group 1 Golden Rose with In The Congo and last Saturday’s Flight Stakes with Never Been Kissed.
They took that form to Wednesday’s Rosehill meeting with Snitzonfire building on his debut win at Nowra to post a fighting city victory in the Vinery Handicap (1300m).
Stable representative Neil Paine said the half-brother to Gimcrack Stakes winner Coolangatta did a great job to win what was widely considered a strong midweek race.
“Snitzonfire, Gai and Adrian on fire. Perfectly named,” Paine told Sky Thoroughbred Central.
“Our horse, he just showed so much courage there. He didn’t give in.
“We take our horses down to Nowra or Goulburn to win their maiden, (give them) a trip away. Gai and Adrian have always done that, then to come back and win a strong midweek race is terrific for everyone.”
Snitzonfire ($20) was under siege halfway up the straight but rallied to kick back and defeat Depiction ($2.30 fav) by a short head with Park Avenue ($8.50) best of the rest another 1-1/2 lengths away.
Winning jockey Tim Clark said Snitzonfire showed a great will to win and would continue to improve with race experience.
“Every time he was challenged, he found something and every time I asked him for a little bit extra, he was willing to give it,” Clark said.
“He’s done a good job to progress from a Nowra maiden straight to a strong Wednesday grade race and he’s only going to improve.”
Clark will combine with Waterhouse and Bott at Randwick on Saturday when the trio chase another feature race win with Vangelic in the Silver Eagle (1300m).
