 |
|
| Staff Writer |
 |
When you have won the first two runnings of the world’s richest turf race, you might be forgiven for sitting back and relaxing, not Peter Snowden. One of Australia’s most esteemed trainers, Snowden has his eye on the prize once again with the exciting four-year-old gelding Mazu, the winner of seven of his eleven races, including his last six. Since 2014, Snowden and his son Paul have trained at Randwick in Sydney and during that time have trained numerous Group One winners.
Teaming up with family isn’t always easy but Snowden who had ridden for his father says about his son Paul “He was a great acquisition, he loved football but was always passionate about the horses, he tried plumbing and bricklaying but hated it, but he stuck at it for two years and then joined us at nineteen” The pair have gone on to achieve great success, with no doubt more to come in the future.
Mazu is an interesting horse, he won his maiden first time out at Canterbury, then ran four races including at Group Three and Listed level without getting his head in front before he ran up his current unbeaten run of six, three Listed, two Group Two’s and the Group One Doomben 10,000 (a race previously won by Redzel) where he proved to the public that he is a genuine Group One horse. He looks like an exciting prospect and gives the impression that he is still improving.
So how does Mazu compare to Redzel? “They are similar, both very fast horses both like to lead and do their work from the front. I just think with Mazu there is a little more upside to him I think he’s going to get further, 7f and 1mile should not be beyond him but while he’s winning at the shorter trips we’ll stay where we are for now,” said Snowden.
“Both are very similar in character, Redzel was a very laid back horse, Mazu is very full on and that’s the reason why he’s gelded he’s better but still not the complete package he’s still in a bit of a hurry to do things; to get to a good level you have to tick every box and that means relaxing in races so you can finish better rather than going out and doing too much too early and running out of gas. He has got to a Group 1 in his last preparation which is great to see and I’m sure there is plenty of improvement to come”
Mazu, a son of Japanese sire Maurice, seems to have a lot going for him and is one of the more fancied runners in The Everest this year, partly down to his versatility during a race. Snowden says “It’s good to have his versatility to be able to ride from the front or back is a big thing and especially now he’s going to take a rise in class as it is very difficult, the Australian sprinters are very very good, there are a lot of good ones around - two things in his favour though are that he has brilliant speed and he’s a young horse, he’s just about to turn four and I think four and five will be his best times, sprinters don’t last as long at the top as it is hard to stay competitive at an older age for sprinters, it is all pure power and very taxing on the horses. For this guy, four and five will be his best time, especially as the more he relaxes the better he is going to get”
One of the questions that many people are asking is will Sam Clipperton be on Mazu in The Everest, or might connections consider a higher profile jockey? Clipperton has ridden Mazu to all his wins except the first one and Snowden confirms he will be on in the big race. “It would be pretty hard to take him off he’s got a pretty good record on the horse, and he’s come back into work now and Sam has been down to see him most mornings, it’s an association we will be sticking with for quite a while. He’s known this horse a while he’s not just ridden him to his wins but also before he started to win, and he had an understanding of this horse really early and we always thought he’d be better when gelded. The comparison between being a colt and gelding is two different parallels and Sam knows that and feels that in the horse and that understanding he has with him is crucial to his chances of winning a race like The Everest”.
 |  |
Snowden is a big fan of Japanese stallions. Maurice the sire of Mazu stands in Japan but has shuffled to Australia for the Southern Hemisphere breeding season. Snowden says of Mazu, “At A$120,000 he was a relatively cheap buy. The people that bought this bloke Triple Crown, they're the syndicate we train mostly for, and they are good guys. They do a lot of research and a lot to do with line breeding and niches and things that work and with Maurice being such a fantastic racehorse, it was no surprise to see them taking a punt on the first-season sire. Maurice was a really nice, athletic individual with a good female pedigree to him and the Japanese horses. They've got to be 100% sound and be multiple group one winners and that's what this horse is. Maurice is a very good racehorse, so it's no surprise to see what he's doing here in Australia at Stud”.
Despite the admiration for the Japanese stallions, Snowden has no desire to send runners over to the land of the Rising Sun “The prizemoney here in Australia is fantastic and the sprinting races here in Australia are second to none, the best in the world”
The Everest is a unique race in Australia, the idea of purchasing slots in a race has been tried in the USA and the Middle East but does Snowden think it is a great idea and would he like to see more of them here and abroad?
“ The concept is great, but I would say it is a little top heavy, the prizemoney is very big and when you see a prize of AUD$15 million to the winner it seems a lot and they could probably spread it around a bit more – It's certainly caught the attention of Australian racing and big time at first It was big, but it has got bigger and bigger every year and to the point that it is now worldwide. So, we are getting the horses and just recently they were talking about Coolmore sending one over and there's the prospect of an American runner, it's on the world stage now so it's a big concept”.
So on to Redzel and Snowden’s thoughts on his Everest wins “To win the first Everest was outstanding, the second one was a dream, it was meant to be” Redzel was a bargain AUD$120,000 in modern terms, and he won AUD$16m, a real rags to riches story. He was bought to race as a syndicate horse, it is always a lottery but you do your homework before buying at the sales but there has to be some luck involved.
Kerrin McEvoy clicked with Redzel from the start and rode him work and in his races”. The luck continued for the team when the heavens opened on the day of the first Everest, “a good wet track horse it poured down before the race and he was the only wet tracker in the race, and he did it very easily. The second time he won by a bigger margin!”
Redzel was nicknamed Richie in the stable after the NZ rugby legend Richie McCaw.
Snowden goes on “He was quite a naughty horse early so we had to geld him to curb his way – however in later life he was a kind horse a real pet.” Redzel ran thirty-six races winning thirteen times, including nine Group races. He is now retired and is ridden most days, connections didn’t want to send him to a retirement centre as they were sure that the horse wouldn’t want that, but he continues to thrive.
So, if Peter Snowden could pass on any advice to a youngster thinking of becoming a racehorse trainer what would it be? “The more time you spend with them the better you really get to know your horse inside out you only know them if you are with them and I’m one of the old school trainers I still watch them every day, every day twice a day, I see them in the morning I see them in the afternoon and they are little things but they really count, the more time you spend with them the better.
You have to love the sport more than anything else, it's not a job it's never a job, it's a lifestyle. It becomes a way of life, and it has to be all of your life it is 24/7 it is just very intense. There is a lot of other heartaches along the way but if you really, really love something and really want to get there, I would say go for it, but be prepared. There are a lot of speed bumps along the way, but it's likely if you're really passionate about something and you go hard at it, you'll do well.”
And if Redzel and Mazu were talking together what would Redzel say on how to beat Nature Strip? “Put your head down and go as hard as you can, and you’ll beat him! “