Last year’s Newcastle Cup winner Disclaimer might be one of the outsiders in the field in the Listed $100,000 The Paslode Winter Challenge (1500m) at Rosehill on Saturday but trainer Peter Snowden is expecting a promising first up run and further improvement to follow.
Co-trainer Peter Snowden is expecting Disclaimer, above, to take vast improvement out of his run in the Winter Challenge at Rosehill. Photo by Steve Hart.
Disclaimer failed to run a place from five starts during the 2015 Sydney Autumn Carnival and was sent for a spell after finishing fifth to Tremec in the Group 2 $300,000 Schweppes Chairman’s Handicap (2600m) at Randwick on April 6.
But Snowden was happy with the way Disclaimer returned to the stable for a Spring preparation and is in fine shape as he heads back to the track.
“Judging on the way he’s spelled and come back this time in, it’s definitely the best I’ve had him,” Snowden, who trains in partnership with his Paul, told AAP.
A good showing in the Winter Challenge by the English import will see him return to Newcastle on September 18 to chase a second win in the Group 3 $175,000 Newcastle Gold Cup (2300m) then onto the Group 1 $750,000 The Metropolitan (2400m) at Randwick on October 3.
The Snowdens tested Disclaimer in Group 1 company in last year’s Metropolitan and the Dansili gelding ran a respectable race to run fourth to the Chris Waller trained Opinion.
The father-son partnership have just completed their first full season officially training together and Peter Snowden said the stable’s results were well above expectations with five Group 1 winners and a sixth place finish on the Sydney trainer’s premiership table with thirty-two Metropolitan winners.
“To get five Group Ones was great and I think we won twenty-something stakes races so we did really well,” Peter Snowden said.
Disclaimer has been marked as the outsider of the Winter Challenge field at $51 with Ladbrokes.com.au who have the three Chris Waller runners at the top of the market order.
You’ll Never heads the betting at $4.60, slightly in front of stablemates Rugged Cross and Eilgelstein who share the next line at $5 with the Peter Moody trained Noela’s Choice.
In a very tight betting race the Snowden’s will also saddle up Great Esteem, marked at $6.50, with the Paul Perry trained Wouldnt It Be Nice also under double figures at $7.
Great Esteem will be stepping up to Stakes company following some good form in restricted class with a second in a 1500m BenchMark 84 at Rosehill on July 4 followed by another second in a 1550m BenchMark 84 at Canterbury three weeks later.
