Jamie Snowden Stable Tour including Datsalrightgino and Ga Law
After enjoying what he described as a "phenomenal season" during the 2022/23 Jump campaign, trainer Jamie Snowden looks well placed to be rolling out more superlatives this season judging by the talent among his team.
Not only did the Lambourn handler smash his previous best prize money haul with a final total of £703,949, but he also saw his nine-year wait for a second Cheltenham Festival winner end following the victory of You Wear It Well in the Grade Two Jack de Bromhead Mares’ Novices Hurdle.
If that was not enough there was also victory for Ga Law in the Paddy Power Gold Cup at Cheltenham in November before Datsalrightgino rounded out the season with a Grade Two success in the Future Champion Novices’ Chase at Ayr.
And with all those that made last season such a success for Snowden returning for more alongside some interesting new additions, including the Royal-owned Reach For The Moon, everything looks in place for another exciting campaign.
Snowden said: “It was a phenomenal season right from start to finish from Pisgah Pike winning the Summer Hurdle at Market Rasen, to Ga Law winning the Paddy Power and You Wear It Well winning at the Cheltenham Festival.
“We were slightly down on numbers of winners on the previous season, but the prize money almost doubled. Cheltenham Festival winners are hard to come by and our first one with Present View was nine years ago.
“Having had our first one you naively assume they would come a bit more regularly, so to get that nine years on from the first one was very satisfying.
“The Paddy Power Gold Cup win was also a big day as it is something we had planned for almost 18 months so for that to come off was incredible.
“It would be great to break through the million-pound barrier in prize money, but for a yard of our size it is probably a bit unrealistic to aim for as you need double the horses we have to achieve that.
“We haven’t had a Grade One winner yet, so I suppose that would be a more realistic target. We will try to keep on building on the foundations that we have built.”
HORSES TO FOLLOW
“He won a hunter chase at Down Royal, so he is an interesting horse to go chasing with. He is going to start off in a novice chase either at the end of this month or the start of next month.
“It looks like he stays well. He is a novice all season and he could have the makings of being a graded novice chaser.”
“Bellas Bridge is a lovely Telescope filly that won a point-to-point over in Ireland. She works nicely and she is Great British Bonus (GBB) qualified which is quite useful.
“She will probably start off in bumpers this season.”
“He is going to go novice chasing this season and he won a point-to-point before we got him.
“He won a couple of times last season and he was fourth in the Tolworth and he was then second in the Grade Two up at Kelso behind Nemean Lion.
“I think two miles on soft ground is his real optimum. He is a keen going, strong travelling type. He jumps fences well.
“Hopefully we have got a bit of scope of our handicap mark before thinking about stepping up into graded race company.
“I’d like to get him started this month or early next month, but we will see how the ground is. If he can go well first time out he might be one you have a crack at the Henry VIII Novices’ Chase at Sandown Park with.
“We are likely to get his ground there, and he goes well around there. He is a good horse, and he jumps well at home and he has plenty of scope.”
“He ran eight times last season. He was a good novice hurdler and won around Cheltenham as a novice hurdler. He has appeared to want the nicer ground as opposed to the deep winter ground.
“The couple of disappointments in his career have been the Tolworth on deep ground and when he started favourite last season at the Cheltenham Festival where the rain came and it didn’t suit him.
“He bounced back from that and won the Grade Two up at Ayr, but he has got improve again now that he is up in open company.
“We started last year over two miles and then went two and a half miles and Gavin (Sheehan) was very keen for us to go two and a half earlier than we did and as soon as we did that he wanted us to go up to three miles.
“We’ve always got that option to go up to three miles with him this season as well. He was going to start at Market Rasen in the Prelude Handicap Chase, but as that meeting was called off we will now look towards the Old Roan Chase at Aintree.
“He is one that we could look at the Paddy Power Gold Cup with and he will have an entry in that and the Coral Gold Cup.
“He was second behind Stage Star at Cheltenham on Trials Day last season and he has won over hurdles around Cheltenham so he does handle it.
“The times he has disappointed have not been because of the nature of the track but because of the deep winter ground.”
“He was placed in three bumpers last season but jumps great and he has already won an English point-to-point.
“It was a shame he got taken out at Fontwell the other day and he was due to run at Fakenham on Friday but unfortunately the meeting was abandoned.
“He ran to a similar level of form as Roger Pol without winning a bumper. There is every reason to think that he can be a decent novice hurdler this season.
“He Is out of a sister to Tricky Trickster, who won the National Hunt Chase at the Cheltenham Festival, so I’m sure he will want a trip in the future.”
“Last season the Paddy Power Gold Cup was very much the plan. He was third in the Old Roan and came on for that. He went to the Paddy Power a well-handicapped horse.
“He only just won that day, but he won it through stamina more so than speed. He didn’t jump great that day. We went up in trip for the Sky Bet Chase and arguably he would have won that race when he fell at the last when in front.
“He picked up a bit of an injury after that so that put us on the back foot for the rest of the season. He ran a cracker in the Ryanair at the Cheltenham Festival over a trip too short then at Aintree he was just a bit over the top.
“We are going to go for the West Yorkshire Hurdle first and then go on to the Coral Gold Cup.
“There are plenty of decent chasers that come back and progress over hurdles so if he did look to be a decent staying hurdler we could go down that route.
“We will go to Wetherby then on to Newbury and it will be a case of whether we go for the Coral Gold Cup or go for the Long Distance Hurdle.
“If we stay over fences I think we have to look at the Grand National as a long-term aim. He is very much a stayer.
“He improved all the way through last year until Aintree. He is only a young horse and hopefully there is more to come from him.”
“I think the Midlands National will be the target. He could be the type to be a Welsh National horse next season. He has got a great win to run strike rate as he won three of his four races over hurdles and then two of his four novice chases last season.
“He likes soft ground and stays well. He will be ready in late November or early December.
“There is an intermediate chase at Lingfield that we could start him off in.
“He just niggled his back after his last start and it was a bit of shame to cut his season short, but the spring was quite dry so it wouldn’t have suited him.
“Perhaps a Classic Chase at Warwick could suit him as those staying races are going to be his cup of tea.”
“He is only six, but he seems like he has been around forever. We went chasing with him as a four-year-old and he was Grade Two placed as a four-year-old over fences, and he won a couple of times.
“His jumping was a little bit in and out as a four-year-old over fences, so we went back over hurdles last season.
“He won a nice race at Sandown beating the subsequent Imperial Cup winner so that was a good performance.
“He picked up a bit of a niggle so he won’t be seen until after Christmas and he will go chasing again. Two miles on soft ground seems to be his thing.
“Hopefully now he is a bit older and more mature he will know where his feet are when going over fences again.”
“Since racing under Rules, he has won a bumper and a novice hurdle at Fontwell. I would have thought he might go to Cheltenham for the Grade Two novice hurdle at there on Friday.
“He is a lovely honest individual and it is great to have owner Erik Penser in the yard. He could be a nice horse that slips in under the radar.
“We hoped he would go well at Fontwell as he does everything well at home. You don’t really notice him at home, but he gets the job done on the track which is always nice.”
“She is only three and is unraced. She is by a new sire called Beaumec de Houelle. She is a sister to Mister Policeman, who looks to be quite a nice horse for Willie Mullins.
“I think she will start off in a fillies’ only bumper in early November. She looks pretty good.”
“She is a lovely mare. We went down the Junior ‘National Hunt’ development route with her last season. She is nicely handicapped and won two races last season and was fourth in a Grade Three at Cheltenham.
“She has a mark of 107 and we are going to try and hedge her season around the Grade Two British EBF ‘National Hunt’ Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle final at Newbury in March. Hopefully she is nicely handicapped to aim for that at the end.”
“He won two of his four starts last season and was fourth in two Grade Two events. He just picked up a bit of a niggle on the back of his run in the River Don at Doncaster. He will be back ready to go from Christmas time onwards.
“I would have thought he is in the kind of Git Maker mould in that he is nicely handicapped to go novice handicap chasing.
“I’d say we will start off over two and a half miles with him and work our way up in trip. He gives me the impression he is a staying type.”
“He is a lovely horse that was fourth in the Challow Hurdle along with winning a couple of novice hurdles.
“His form petered off a little bit in the spring for no real reason, but he did run an okay race up at Ayr on his final start.
“He jumps his hurdles like fences so he was always going to be a better chaser. Hopefully he can really take off this season novice handicap chasing.
“The race that would have been ideal was the one we won at the Festival with Present View, which is no longer there, but there are plenty of nice races we can work around.
“He could be one to start off at Cheltenham on Friday.”
“He was among the leading contenders for the Derby at one stage of his career and he won the Group Three Solario Stakes as a two-year-old at Sandown.
“He had a few little issues later on in his career on the Flat but he is a very nice horse to come to us.
“He jumps nicely and has been down to Henrietta Knight’s. He is back at Sandringham having a break, but he will come to soon. He is really exciting to have for novice hurdles this season.
“He was rated as high as 114 on the Flat and you don’t get many rated that high going jumping. If you add 40 or 45 on to their flat rating you get their jumps rating so if he can take to it as well as we hope he can then he could be very good.
“I would have thought Christmas time he will be ready.”
“It was frustrating that he got beat on his hurdles debut at Newton Abbot but he probably wants to go up in trip at some point. He will win next time out I’m sure of it and progress from there.
“It was no bad thing he got beaten first time out as he gained some valuable experience going forward. He should be a lovely novice hurdler for us.
“He will stay well and will be one that gets three miles in time. Once he goes up to three miles there might be a nice pot in him.”
“He won a point-to-point and beat another horse of ours called Wendigo, who has since finished third in what I think was a warm bumper at Worcester.
“I think we might start him off in a bumper, but I’d say we will be novice hurdling soon afterwards as he is quite a sharp type.
“I would have thought we would start him off over two miles.”
“Soldier Of Destiny is back in again after having a bit of a frustrating season. We quite fancied him for the Old Roan Chase at Aintree, but he made a bad mistake there and we then fancied him at Wetherby next time out where he fell late on.
“That put us on the backfoot for the rest of the season and he lost his confidence a bit. We went back over hurdles, and he finished second.
“I would have thought we will start him off over hurdles, but there should be a nice handicap chase in him. I want to get his confidence back before making any firm plans.”
“He will go for the Welsh National and that will be his target for the first half of the season. He will have one run and go straight there.
“He only had the three starts over fences last season as we never had him quite right when the rain came.
“When the rain came he went to Chepstow and he won well. After that we thought let’s try get him right for the Welsh National. He is another that has a great win to run strike rate.
“He is nice horse that stays well, and jumps well, but he needs proper deep ground.”
“She is a lovely point-to-point winner that we will go novice hurdling with this season.
“She is a half-sister to Threeunderthrufive so staying will be her game.
“She jumps nicely and she appears another decent recruit to the team.”
“Torneo has come off the flat in France. He ran six times in France and won one and was placed a couple of times.
“He has taken well to his jumping, and he will go juvenile hurdling this season.
“He was rated in the mid-80s on the flat so he could be quite smart. I would have thought we could take aim at some of the nicer juvenile hurdles.”
“He had a tough race in the Lanzarote Hurdle at Kempton Park in January and his form slightly petered off. Two and a half miles on soft ground around a flat track is what he likes.
“He was only beaten a few lengths in the Lanzarote the season before last and he was third last season in it. We will probably try and target the race again. Hopefully he could go well in it again.
“He has put up some decent performances in good races. He is a decent handicapper and off the right mark he can win a nice pot.”
“Aintree was a race too many for her following her victory at the Cheltenham Festival. She is a phenomenally tough mare. She ran in her first race in October, and she had some hard races including when second in the Challow.
“She won over two and a half miles at Sandown so we know she gets that well. We were contemplating going chasing as she is owned by Sir Chips Keswick, who when he first came to us said all I’m interested in is three-mile chasers.
“We've trained him two Cheltenham Festival winners and plenty of other nice winners but only one three-mile chase winner.
“We did jump a fence with her in the spring to see if we were going to go chasing. She jumped well, but she is still only a young horse and we thought we would see how high she can go over hurdles before going chasing.
“She will probably start off in the Listed race at the Charlie Hall meeting at Wetherby and then the next races for her are at Sandown and Warwick before going back to the Festival for the Mares’ Hurdle.
“She is a big, powerful mare. She has really blossomed over the past couple of seasons.
“She is 140 now and she has to step forward outside of novice company, but there is no reason why she can’t. Stamina is definitely in her pedigree which will bode well this season.”
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