Peter Snowden is not yet convinced glamour colt Inkling is a group-standard horse despite his relatively easy win on the Kensington track at Randwick on Saturday.
The Duporth two-year-old beat speedy filly Sheer Style by 1-¼ lengths after settling just off the leader in the running, but he did not get past her until the final 100 metres, which concerned Snowden, who trains in partnership with his son Paul.
“He’s improving with every run, but I just thought he might have won better than what he did,” Snowden said. “She [Sheer Style] goes well and I’m not downplaying her at all, but if this horse is going to go on and win group races he’s really got to win by spaces.
“He was always going to win, but I wanted him to put a margin on them. I left a little bit in the tank because he’s been in a while and I was mindful of how long I wanted to keep him up, and he’s had a good blow so it’s good for me.”
Jockey Josh Parr agreed after he was forced to get busy on the colt, but defended the “big baby”.
“With his turn of foot and what he’s doing to pretty classy horses in the morning [workouts], he should have really brained this lot,” Parr said. “It [Sheer Style] has won a quarter of a million, but I was always going to win and wasn’t in any danger of getting beat.”
Last start at Rosehill, Inkling overraced to finish third when heavily backed, but the $1.65 favourite settled well for Parr and has him excited for the spring.
“He’s so babyish," Parr said. "He jumped and put his head on his chest and was there for me when I asked him to quicken, but he wandered when he got past Sheer Style, so there’s a lot of upside to him. I was happy with his efforts and he’s a magic-looking animal. What I loved about today was that he travelled like a racehorse.”
Snowden has a fortnight to get Inkling ready for his next assignment, The Rosebud, and that result will tell him if he sends the colt for a spell to freshen up for a crack at the Coolmore Stud Stakes at Flemington in November.
“He’s a beautiful horse with a good build and I haven’t really screwed him right down yet,” Snowden said. “He’s just doing things wrong. He’s loafing, he’s lying in, floating and not really knuckling down.
“In trackwork he just goes up in the gears every time I work him, so I don’t think he’s focusing on what he’s got to do yet. It’s his first prep though and maybe I’m asking too much, too early.”
Sheer Style’s jockey, Tim Clark, could not have been happier with the way his consistent filly raced as she stretched the winner most of the way up the straight. “She went terrific considering she had to meet the colt at level weights,” Clark said. “I thought it was a fantastic run.”
