Snowden Hopeful Of Group 1 For Pinwheel

He is set to turn eight at the end of the month but trainer Peter Snowden remains confident that veteran gelding Pinwheel can win his maiden Group 1 event during the 2013 Spring Racing Carnival.

Pinwheel has returned to work ahead of a Spring Carnival campaign that Peter Snowden hopes will include a maiden Group 1 victory. Photo by: Steve Hart

Pinwheel is back in work for the first time since suffering a suspensory ligament in the 2013 CF Orr Stakes (1400m) in February and, although he hasn’t decided on his exact spring carnival path, Snowden is hopeful that the son of Lonhro can return to his best form and maybe even record a victory at the highest level of racing.

“Pinwheel is back in work and the signs are good that he has fully recovered from the suspensory injury,” Snowden told AAP.

“He is starting to do a bit of pace work and I’m hoping he will be ready to trial in about three weeks.

“He is a lovely old horse who has handled his rehabilitation well and who knows, maybe there is a Group One for him.”

Pinwheel has raced at Group 1 level on eight occasions without a win, but finished third in the 2011 Goodwood (1200m) and recorded fourth place finishes in both the 2012 Stradbroke Handicap (1400m) and Winterbottom Stakes (1200m).

Although he has failed to excel at Group 1 level, the rising eight-year-old has been a consistent performer in lower level black type racing.

Pinwheel has scored back-to-back victories in the Group 2 Warwick Stakes (1400m) and won at Group 3 level in the W.J. Healy Stakes (1400m) at Eagle Farm in 2011 and Missile Stakes (1200m) at Warwick Farm last August.

Snowden is yet to set an agenda for Pinwheel’s upcoming Spring Racing Carnival campaign but an attempt at a third straight Warwick Stakes title and a crack at the Group 1 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes (1400m) appear to be the most likely path.

The great Kingston Town and Limerick are the only horses to have won the Warwick Stakes three years in a row.

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Thomas Hackett

Thomas is a passionate and opinionated racing journalist and punter who has been obsessed with horse racing since he backed Saintly to win the 1996 Melbourne Cup. An international racing enthusiast, he has his finger on the pulse of racing news not just from Australia but all around the world.