By Ray Hickson
Trainer Peter Snowden is confident filly Manaajem has the potential to jump a bar much higher than she’ll be presented with when she resumes at Warwick Farm on Wednesday.
The half-sister to group 1 winner Charm Stone starts what is likely to be a short winter prep in the Traffic Warden @ Darley Handicap (1100m), and if it’s as successful as Snowden hopes, he’ll set his sights on the spring.
Sydney trainer Peter Snowden.Credit: Getty
Manaajem scored a brilliant debut win at Wyong but pulled up lame when beaten as an odds-on favourite on the Kensington track on January 15.
Snowden said it was the right decision to pause after that run, and Manaajem is showing the benefit of that extra time.
“She hasn’t got the best knees in the world, she pulled up a bit jarred up, so we tipped her out again,” he said.
“It’s just immaturity. She’s older and a bit stronger; she’s a magnificent type. She’s got black type in her for sure, the way she works. She has a good pedigree behind her, a very good family, she’s by Tassort, and the fillies go very well by that horse.”
After winning her first trial, Snowden elected to put a cross-over nose band on Manaajem and she’ll wear that gear on race day.
He said while she won that initial hit out, she raced a bit too keenly for his liking, but the way she performed in her second trial told the trainer she’s reacted well to the change and is ready to go.
“We’ve put a cross-over nose band on her after that trial, and she settled better, and she’s been terrific, it worked really well in her trial the other day,” he said.
“She’s showed all the signs she’s going to be hard to beat. The plan would be if she happened to win, we’d look at a Saturday race and maybe give her 10 days off again and look at those good races in the early part of the spring.
“She’d need to get her rating up a bit to make sure we get into those races, so she probably needs to win a couple now.”
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