Snow can join elite company in Vince Curry

By Alex Nolan

Ned Snow knows Shipwreck faces an uphill battle in the Group 3 Vince Curry Final at Ipswich but the trainer would join elite company if his youngster can win the prestigious maiden on Saturday night.

Snow would join Hall of Famer Tony Zammit (1996 & 2004) and John Clancy (2001 & 2019) as just the third trainer to win Australia’s richest maiden on two separate occasions if Shipwreck can emulate the feats of Woops A Daisy in 2003 and win the final from box five.

Woops A Daisy – who Snow raced in conjunction with Capalaba stalwart Bob Patching – would later go on to win the Flying Amy Classic at Albion Park.  

“Bob and I were really confident she’d race well that night,” Snow said.

“We all went and my wife Lyn dressed in yellow as a good luck omen.

“She was able to lead and although she didn’t run time, she pinched it”

The Cornubia trainer believes he could have become a dual Vince Curry winner 19 years ago, if Lend A Paw hadn’t broken down in the 1997 final won by star chaser Token Prince, who would later go on to sire a swag of feature winners.

“He had won his heat and semi-final and was improving all the time and I was quietly confident we could beat (Token Prince),” Snow said.

“He drew Box 8 but then injured his leg in a crash at the first corner and never raced again.”

Token Prince won the Vince Curry in 29.94 seconds when it was contested over 512m, a race record until Just The Best completed the course in 29.76 in 1999.

The current 520 metre race record of 30.33, set by Farmor Beach in 2020, looks to be under threat on Saturday given both Black Comanche (30.17) and She’s Sweet (30.18) have already smashed that time in their respective semi-finals.

Snow had mapped out a path to this year’s series with Shipwreck after the son of Out Of Range and Aussie Diamond finished second in the Dave Brett Memorial Final behind Tungsten Miss at Albion Park.

He was at Capalaba shortly after when he learned that Black Comanche, for trainer Greg Stella, had smashed the clock in a trial.

“Peter Bellamy was clocking and told me I’d probably have to be happy to run second again because Black Comanche had trialled in 19.62 up the straight … you don’t hear of times like that on a Tuesday, especially when they’re pups,” Snow said.

However, Snow pushed on and Shipwreck won his heat convincingly before coming up against She’s Sweet in last week’s semi-final.

After getting away slowly from box five, Shipwreck made up good late ground to finish second, but was still 13.75 lengths off the Jedda Cutlack-trained winner.

He will again exit from box five in the final – his fourth yellow draw in five career starts – and on Saturday morning was $8.50 out to $10 with TAB.

“It’s going to be interesting because I was really pleased with his trial there on Wednesday,” Snow said, adding Shipwreck was clocked running home in 10.98.

“He has trialled there in 30.51 and hadn’t run for a couple of weeks and I thought he could improve a couple of tenths on that.

“Obviously, that’s on his own and it’s a lot different in a field.

“I know he can run decent time but to be a chance I think we need to be no more than three lengths off (the leaders) going up the back straight.”

Shipwreck’s littermates have this week paved the way to success in Saturday’s final.

Pocket Money and Come On Aussie won races at Albion Park on Monday before Blue Queen recorded a debut win at Ipswich on Friday.

“I do believe Out Of Range is going to be a good sire,” Snow said.

The Vince Curry Final jumps at 8:48pm as Race 8 on the card at Ipswich.

Black Comanche has been heavily supported overnight, going from $2 into $1.75.

She’s Sweet has drifted slightly from $2.30 to $2.50.

The Tony Brett-trained King Cole is $15 out to $19, as the 18-time Group 1 winning trainer too looks to join the list of dual Vince Curry winners.

Brett landed his first Vince Curry in 2016 in unusual circumstances, when Paua To Avoid and the aptly-named Split Image shared the spoils in a dead-heat.