Trainer Peter Snowden is delighted with the progress of talented colt Paceman ahead of his 2015 Golden Slipper campaign.
Paceman cantered to victory on debut at Rosehill Gardens on November 15. Photo by: Steve Hart
Paceman stamped himself as a horse to follow when he recorded a most impressive seven lengths victory in a barrier trial at Royal Randwick on October 31 and he proved his trial performance was no fluke when he cruised to an effortless victory in the Cellarbrations Appin Plate (1100m) at Rosehill Gardens on November 15.
The Duporth colt was sent straight to the spelling paddock following his debut win, but he has now been back in work for a month and Snowden told Sky Racing HQ that he has been thrilled with the way that the two-year-old has matured during his stint in the paddock.
“He is really well and he looks great,” Snowden said.
“He has been back in the yard a month now and he is going to start doing pace work.
“He looks in really good order and the best part about him is that he has settled down a bit as well.
“He was a pretty aggressive colt last time in, but he has been a much more relaxed colt this time in and that certainly adds another string to his bow.
“He had a little bit of a hiccup because he wanted to get his work done over in a hurry, but he has certainly learnt from that last prep, he looks in great order and he has worked accordingly.”
Paceman is set to race exclusively in Sydney during his autumn preparation and Team Snowden elected not to include the juvenile in the second declarations for the Group 1 Blue Diamond Stakes (1200m) that were released yesterday.
Another Snowden-trained horse that is working well ahead of a return to racing is Fastnet Rock entire Cluster.
Cluster won the Group 2 Theo Marks Stakes (1400m) at Rosehill Gardens on September 13 in impressive fashion and finished a credible fifth in the Group 1 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield on September 28, but he failed to fire in the Group 1 Darley Classic (1200m) and finished at the tail of the field.
Snowden believes that Cluster had plenty of excuses for his poor Darley Classic performance and he is confident that the four-year-old can have a successful 2015 Sydney Autumn Racing Carnival campaign.
“There were lots of things that went wrong on the day,” Snowden said.
“The race didn’t pan out how we wanted to and he got exposed way too early in the race; he has got a really good 300 metre sprint, but he got exposed from the half mile.
“He came through the run well and we gave him a nice spell.
“He is back in the stable now and he has been back in work for three weeks now and he looks very, very good.
“We have a nice program mapped out for him and I feel quite confident he can get a result this time in.”
Team Snowden have had a very successful first six months as a training operation in their own right and took out the 2014 edition of the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas (1600m) with Shooting To Win.
