Snitzerland chasing Group 1 win in Sportingbet Classic

Trainer Gerald Ryan will venture to Adelaide this weekend searching for a Group 1 victory for his smart filly Snitzerland in the Group 1 $400,000 Sportingbet Classic (Registered as Robert Sangster Stakes) (1200m) at Morphettville.

snitzerland

Snitzerland winning the Group 2 Challenge Stakes at Warwick Farm. Photo by Steve Hart.

Last year’s Golden Slipper runner-up made it two Group 1 seconds last start finishing behind  Bel Sprinter in the Group 1 $350,000 Canterbury BMW Galaxy (1100m) at Rosehill on March 30.

Snitzerland will have to overcome the long float trip from Rosehill to Adelaide but showed that a Group 1 win isn’t far off with a first up victory in the Group 2 $175,000 Challenge Stakes (1000m) at Warwick Farm on March 16.

“She will leave on Monday,” Ryan who is based at Rosehill, said.

“She’s done very well. She had a couple of hit-outs during the week, one on Tuesday morning on the course proper and one on Thursday working the reverse way and she went very well.

“She is going good but Group Ones are hard to win no matter where they are and she’s got two float trips to contend with as well.”

“It does look a nice race for her. If she goes there in the form that she has shown in her two runs in Sydney she will take no end of beating.”

It was standing room only last year at Morphettville with 30,000 fans cheering home champion mare Black Caviar as she added the Sportingbet Classic to her long list of victories before returning to Adelaide two weeks later to take out the Group 1 $500,000 The Distinctive Homes Goodwood (1200m).

Ryan said that if Snitzerland was to run well or win on Saturday she would more than likely stay on for the Goodwood while his other in form sprinter Hot Snitzel would head north and concentrate on the Brisbane Winter Carnival.

Hot Snitzel is nominated for the Listed $100,000 Hall Mark Stakes (1200m) at Randwick this Saturday and the four year old should prove hard to beat after scoring an impressive two and a quarter lengths win over Smokin’ Joey in the Group 3 $125,000 Sebring HKJC Stakes (1200m) at Rosehill on April 6.

The Sportingbet Classic has attracted twenty-five entries which include multiple Group 1 winner Ortensia, John O’Shea’s smart mare Sea Siren and Kulgrinda from the powerful Peter Moody stable who is coming off a win in the Group 3 $115,000 R N Irwin Stakes (1100m) at Morphettville on April 13.

About The Author

Mark Mazzaglia

Mark is a passionate journalist with a life-time involvement in the racing industry. He spent many years as an analyst and form expert at the Courier Mail and also has hands-on experience working with some of Queensland’s top trainers.