A pair of barnmates who underlined their promise at the back end of last season are ramping up preparations for their respective racetrack returns and Raging Force is poised to be the first to step out.
By Snowden’s former classy sprinter Cosmic Force, Raging Force staked his claims for a spot on the stable’s carnival team with a hat-trick of wins during the winter, culminating in a dominant performance at Rosehill on July 5.
After a brief freshen-up, the three-year-old is back in work and slated to trial at Randwick on August 19 ahead of a first-up stakes race assignment.
“He will go to the San Domenico,” Snowden said.
“Touch wood, he looks really well. A million bucks. He only had two weeks off but it was a bit of a mental freshen-up.
“He will present well and he’ll run well.”
Snowden is also rapt with the condition of fellow colt Beadman, who was spelled following his stunning eight-length win in the Group 3 Ken Russell Memorial (1200m) at the Gold Coast in May.
Beadman and Raging Force came to the fore towards the end of their two-year-old season, both delayed due to niggling issues that required time.
Raging Force was injured in the Breeders’ Plate (1000m), forcing him to spend several months on the sidelines and while disappointing at the time, Snowden hoped it would prove a blessing in the long run.
“My horses were given plenty of time to mature, especially Beadman and Raging Force and it generally does pay dividends,” he said.
“It’s different if they’re up and running and strong. To be fair, Raging Force, if he hadn’t had an incident he would have been up and running earlier but it forced him out for four months and put him back a bit.
“Beadman, he had a few little issues too that had to be sorted out. They’re both behind him now and he looks absolutely amazing. He is probably another three weeks away from a trial but he looks that great he could be trialling tomorrow.”
The Group 3 San Domenico Stakes (1100m) is at Rosehill on August 30.
