Hot Snitzel will carry the top-weight of 59 kilograms in the 2014 QTC Cup, but trainer Gerald Ryan believes that the talented sprinter is well weighted in the Group 2 event at Eagle Farm on Saturday.
Hot Snitzel is dropping back to Group 2 level for the 2014 QTC Cup at Eagle Farm this weekend. Photo by: Steve Hart
Hot Snitzel started his autumn preparation with a second place finish in the Group 3 Sebring Stakes (1200m) at Rosehill Gardens on April 5 before winning the Group 3 Hall Mark Stakes (1200m) at Royal Randwick on April 26, but was outclassed when sixth in the Group 1 BTC Cup (1200m) on May 10 and the Group 1 Doomben 10,000 (1350m) last weekend.
Ryan told Racing Ahead that he now knows that Hot Snitzel is not good enough to win at weight-for-age Group 1 level, but believes that the Snitzel gelding has the quality to carry 59 kilograms to victory in the QTC Cup this weekend.
“Hot Snitzel probably just proved last week that he isn’t a weight-for-age Group 1 horse, this is his class,” Ryan said.
“When you first look at it 59 kilos seems a lot of weight, but when you go through on his best form I think that he is pretty well weighted with 59 kilos.
“He has only got two and a half kilos more than Dances On Stars and he is probably more than a two and a half kilos horse better than Dances On Stars.
“In saying that he is coming off two ordinary runs and I have taken the winkers off him this week and put the pacifiers back on and haven’t done much with him during the week to try and get his mind right.”
Hot Snitzel will be joined in the QTC Cup by stablemate Dances On Stars, who took out the Listed Prime Minister’s Cup (1300m) at the Gold Coast on May 3 and was far from disgraced in the Group 3 BRC Sprint (1350m) at Doomben on May 17.
Ryan believes that Dances On Stars will produced his usual consistent performance in the QTC Cup and thinks that, with a bit of luck, he can factor in the finish.
“The other horse is just as honest as they come,” Ryan said.
“He is not very big and he is starting to creep up in the weights a little bit for his consistency.
“He would probably be better if he had 54 and a half, but he has earned the weight that he has got and he is bright and well and looks terrific.
“If he gets the right breaks he will be right in it.”
Hot Snitzel and Dances On Stars are both available at 2014 QTC Cup odds of $6.50 and are on the second line of betting from Sacred Star ($4).
