Peter Snowden knows a thing or two about winning feature races during the Queensland Winter Carnival.
You only have to look at his latest success in that regard … the win of Beadman and the 8.30 length thrashing he handed out to his rivals in the Group 3 Ken Russell Memorial at the Gold Coast to understand the power Snowden can bring to a contest.
The further back you go in time, the more formidable Snowden’s statistics become.
Yes, the Ken Russell was run on a bog track … and some of the beaten brigade will bemoan the fact they were compromised by the racing surface … but that wasn’t Beadman’s problem with the smart, chestnut son of Snitzel being prepared and presented in superb fashion by Snowden.
And Snowden looks like he might have lined up another top chance in In the rescheduled Group 3 Fred Best Classic, which will be run over 1350m at Doomben on Wednesday.
The three-year-old colt Media World will come into the race bidding for a hat trick of wins, hoping to continue his unbeaten run this preparation.
While the results went the right way for the Snowden team, both of those wins were tough, character-building efforts as he went from a BM72 Handicap over 1200m to the more difficult Group 3 Hawksbury Guineas over 1400m with both of those races being contested on heavy going.
In the Hawksbury Guineas Media World went to the front fairly early, but it was the committed way he maintained the lead when under severe pressure on testing going that really caught the eye.
A wall of horses snapping at his heels in the first half of the home straight failed to find any dent in his armoury and, even when Just Party found a new gear and burst onto the scene late to fly at Media World over the closing stages, the Snowden runner stuck hard and fast to his task to hold off Just Party by the narrowest of margins.
Media World jumped from a number eleven barrier draw that day … and he showed that he had all of the capabilities required to handle a wide barrier draw.
He will jump from barrier eleven again in the Fred Best on Wednesday.
The change comes in the saddle where Media World will have a third different jockey in three runs.
Media World’s regular rider Zac Lloyd was in the saddle for the first-up BM72 win, but Lloyd will be riding in Sydney on Wednesday.
Tyler Schiller rode Media World to victory in the Hawksbury Guineas. Since then Schiller, sadly, suffered a back injury that hill keep him on the sidelines for a number of weeks.
That has left the door open for Regan Bayliss to pick up the ride on Media World in the Fred Best, where he will partner Media World for the first time.
After two tough runs, Snowden was happy to give Media World four weeks in-between runs heading for the Fred Best. With the abandonment on Saturday, that recovery, reset and revitalise schedule will now stretch to four-and-a-half weeks … which will not be a bad thing.
The Snowden stable already has three Fred Best Classic winners behind their name.
The last of those winners was Military Zone in 2019 (when Peter and Paul Snowden trained in partnership) who won the Hawksbury Guineas on his way to the Fred Best Classic.
Before that there was Mental, who also raced at Hawksbury in the run prior to his win in the Fred Best in 2012 … and before that there was El Cambio who saluted in the 2008 edition of the race.
So, Media World will arrive at Doomben having followed a Snowden selected tried and tested route to get there.
Whether the son of Written Tycoon will be good enough to emulate the deeds of Military Zone six years ago and complete the Hawksbury Guineas / Fred Best Classic double remains to be seen, but you can rest assured he will be presented in tip-top order to undertake this very important assignment.
Very important … because a win here would be a huge stepping stone into the big time for Media World and for Peter Snowden as the Fred Best Classic winner will gain ballot free entry into the $3 million Stradbroke a race which, for all the feature successes he has achieved, Snowden has never won.
