Holy Snow has stamped himself as a colt to follow through the Autumn Carnival with a dominant win in the Group 2 Autumn Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield this afternoon.
The three-year-old was fractious in the barriers prior to jump and settled towards the tail of the field; allowing the likes of Prevailing Winds, Black Sail and Illumicon to take up the running and setting a quick tempo in transit.
Appearing to simply have too much work to do when arriving on the straight wide and behind a wall of horses, jockey Michael Dee threaded the needle with the colt and was greeted with a big turn of foot as the horse easily put away the Autumn Stakes; beating Mr So And So and Astoria with complete ease.
Dee’s ride was undoubtedly instrumental in Holy Snow’s dominant win in the Autumn Stakes, but the hoop was glowing in praise for the horse’s ability immediately after the race.
“This prep he’s definitely matured into a nicer horse and we’re getting on top of his barrier manners and he’s jumping out a lot better now,”
“I could have been a lot closer in the run, but I just had to come back a bit to get the cover, but he let down like quite a good horse.
“The tempo was nice and we were just out the back travelling comfortably and he doesn’t really touch the bridle, he relaxes really well and that’s the key to him – relax and get home.”
Mick Price was pleased with the horse’s performance and revealed that he will now go second-up into the Group 1 Australian Guineas (1600m) at Flemington on March 3rd.
“The thing about last prep is that it was pretty messy, because we spent a month or so more trying to get his barrier certificate because he was a colt who’d always just fight and fight and fight and not do the right thing.
“He was good in the Stutt and I think the Caulfield Guineas caught him pretty trained-off, so what you saw (today) was an Australian Guineas form guide there.
“Hopefully he can do that on the big Flemington track. I’ve sort of aimed and done all the work for straighten into second-up a mile at Flemington.”
Holy Snow was a $41 shot in our Australian Guineas market prior to this afternoon’s dominant win in the Autumn Stakes, but he is sure to firm noticeably.