By Ray Hickson
Triskelion is from a family that Peter Snowden knows very well so the fact he was able to win on debut tells the trainer there’s something to work with for the future.
The three-year-old caught punters by surprise with his Canterbury win earlier this month, at $26, and while Snowden said it wasn’t expected, it wasn’t a complete shock either given the sharpness he’d shown at home.
Trainer Peter Snowden.Credit: Getty
So it’s now up to Triskelion to back it up in the Provincial Champs Qualifier 16 March Handicap (1100m) at Gosford today.
“He’s always worked really well. He’s a keen going horse so we were riding him back in his trials,” Snowden said.
“His work’s always been very sharp. I thought it might come a bit later on, he had a few favours in the run so a few things went his way, but I still like the horse a lot.”
The Ocean Park colt is from the family of Group 1 winners Hauraki and Kidnapped, the latter a Derby winner, so Snowden suspected he’d be a horse that would excel given some time.
“When I saw the horse I thought he was going to be a mile, mile-and-a-half horse for sure, and I looked at his pedigree and knew the family well,” he said.
“But from day one he’s always been a sharp horse, he has a great turn of foot.”
In his debut win Triskelion enjoyed the run of the race behind the leader before he gained an inside run and dashed to victory.
Snowden, who co-trains with son Paul, hopes it’ll be a similar story from a favourable draw at Gosford and while he’s not yet stepping up in trip he can’t see why Triskelion won’t be sharp again.
“There was no fluke about that win, he’ll be very hard to beat and I think he can progress on to Saturday grade,” he said.
“I’m not too worried about the 1100m, he’s still sharp enough to run well but he will probably stretch out a bit further later on.
“He has a good draw, we’ll just ride him similar to the other day and it won’t surprise to see him running well again because I think he’s a nice horse.”
