The Kiwi staying dominance continues in Tulloch with Jon Snow
THE New Zealand stayers are cleaning up during the Sydney autumn carnival and they added another win on Saturday in the Group 2 Tulloch Stakes.
Jon Snow was the well-supported $2.80 favourite at Bet365.com following a third placing behind the supremely-talented Gingernuts which has already won during the carnival.
The Baker/Forsman-trained three-year-old had won only one race from 10 starts, but the wet track conditions brought the son of Iffraaj into contention and it didn’t disappoint punters.
With Damian Lane in the saddle, Jon Snow sat just in behind the speed before taking over midway down the straight and it was never going to get caught as the only chaser was Prized Icon which closed late to no avail.
“(He) had a lovely run behind the leader, when I asked him for the supreme effort he really picked up and won well,” Lane said.
“He’s got a lot of talent. There’s a lot of good form out of the New Zealand Derby. It gave me a bit of confidence today.
“He couldn’t have impressed me any more.
“As we know most of them handle the wet track and they are always rock hard fit, so it takes them a long way.”
Co-trainer Andrew Forsman was weary of running as the short-priced favourite, but the stable is on a great roll and the loyal followers were happy.
“It’s not a nice position to be in, to be honest, to come over here to a group two and be so confident. It’s nice to get the job done,” Forsman said.
“It’s been a great roll. You’ve got to make the most of it in this game.
“There’s plenty of lows. Thanks to all the staff at home that do the hard work.”
Forsman will likely send Jon Snow to the Derby where fellow Kiwi Gingernuts will be well-favoured after winning the Guineas in fine style.
“We’ll talk to Damian and see what he thinks,” Forsman said. “See how he comes through the next couple of days. He has had a long hard prep.
“We’ll have a talk to the owners. I’m sure they all want a trip over here. Hopefully he comes through it well and we have a crack at it.”
Forsman isn’t concerned about Jon Snow running over the Derby distance, seeing as it made late ground behind Gingernuts in the New Zealand Derby over 2400m.
“He ran the trip out strongly in the (NZ) Derby. He’s been running on hard tracks,” Forsman said.
“The slowness in the ground really helped him today. All things being equal he should back up.”
Jon Snow has firmed into $6 at Sportsbet for the Australian Derby with Prized Icon currently priced at $12 after making good ground late.
“Much nicer run today, hit the line strongly. A lot of room for encouragement and go into next week’s race with a bit more confidence,” jockey Glyn Schofield said.
Captain Duffy battled on for third, just ahead of Garbhan which faced a massive rise in class, but Hugh Bowman was bullish about its future.
“I thought he acquitted himself really well. It was a big step up in class and he might be an improving three-year-old staying type,” Bowman said.