A couple of promising debutants fought out the finish of Friday’s Victory Treadmills Maiden Plate (1100m) at Sale, with the expensive Snitzel colt Snippety Legend duking it out with the solidly supported Maurice (JPN) filly Mauricio.
Ridden by Rhys McLeod for Lloyd Kennewell, Snippety Legend stalked the pace set by Noble Heart to hit the lead at the 200m.
The son of Snitzel was all out in holding off the finish of the Wendy Kelly-trained Maurice (JPN) filly Mauricio, which came from well back to fail by a short neck. The honest Squamosa filly Meg’s Magic came from the tale of the field to be a further length back in third.
Snippety Legend was the equal third highest-priced yearling at the Inglis Premier in 2022 when Bon Ho’s Legend Racing had the final say at $550,000 for the Willow Park Stud consigned colt.
Bred by Allen Galbraith and partners, Snippety Legend is the third winner from four to race for the former talented Steve Englebrecht-trained mare Reply Churlish who won five races, including four on the bounce at Canberra, Kembla, Hawkesbury, and Rosehill in a 21 start career.
Jonathan Scully/Simon Zahra Racing shelled out $80,000 for an Exceedance colt out of Reply Churlish consigned by Willow Park to the 2023 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
A half-sister to multiple Group III winner and Group 1 Spring Champion Stakes runner-up Darci Be Good and multiple Group III winner Babylon Berlin, Reply Churlish was covered by The Autumn Sun last spring, having missed in 2021.
Snippety Legend is the 15th 2yo winner of the season for Champion 2yo Sire elect Snitzel.