Sword Of State made becoming Snitzel’s fifth Group One 2YO winner look easy with a superlative, 3.5 length victory in the NZ$200,000 ARC Diamond S. 1200m G1 at Ellerslie.
It takes his record to four wins from 5 starts, with a total winning margin of 17.5 lengths, and twice defeating the Karaka Million winner On The Bubbles at Group 3 and now Group 1 level.
Bred by Sir Owen Glenn’s Go Bloodstock, Sword Of State is the first foal of juvenile winner In The Vanguard (by Encosta de Lago) whose Group 2 placing was achieved in Scarlet Rain’s 2016 Sweet Embrace Stakes.
The laid-back colt was bought by Te Akau’s David Ellis from the Magic Millions draft of Newgate Farm for $600,000, a figure that placed him among the dozen top-priced Snitzel yearlings of 2020.
Sword Of State’s rapid progression since his 12 December debut has given Ellis and his trainer Jamie Richards plenty to think about over the next 48 hours, with a flight to Australia booked and next Saturday’s $3.5 million Golden Slipper G1 firmly on the table.
Snitzel already has a Golden Slipper winner on his record (Estijaab), along with 2017 Diamond Stakes winner Summer Passage, who subsequently filled third spot behind Invader & Trapeze Artist in Snitzel’s history-making Inglis Sires’ G1 trifecta. His first Group 1 winner Sizzling, successful in the 2012 J.J. Atkins S. G1, rounds out Snitzel’s quintet of elite 2YO winners.
The four-time Champion Sire has a stellar group of 44 yearlings in next month’s Inglis Easter Sale, including four fillies (Lots 106, 188, 257 & 370) out of Encosta de Lago mares, like Sword Of State.
