It looks all upside for the 3yo Contributer (IRE) debutant Snow Patrol following his brilliant performance in the Ladbroke It! Maiden Plate (1300m) at Sandown-Lakeside on Wednesday.
Ridden by Damian Lane for Mick Price & Michael Kent (Jnr), Snow Patrol overcame a wide run to defeat the $975,000 Snitzel colt Amigo by a length, with the Justify colt Delivering three-quarters of a length back in third.
Michael Kent (Jnr) said he and Mick Price had eyes for only one horse at the 2022 New Zealand Bloodstock Ready To Run Sale.
"I remember it very well; Mick and I were both there, we worked the entire sale, had all the information, and he was the one horse we had to buy, and we bought him," Kent Jnr said.
"We tipped in Ace Bloodstock, and he is their first winner. We put the other half with many of our good clients and a few close to me, like my best friend Bill Barber.
"He is a beautiful horse – big strong, well-muscled. He had a great action at the breeze-up.
"It was an impressive win in a strong maiden. He sat deep and kept finding and was strong past the post."
After leaving the ring unsold when offered by Haunui Farm in Book 2 of the NZB Karaka Yearling Sale, Snow Patrol was a $170,000 purchase for Mick Price Racing and Breeding from the Lilywhites Lodge draft at the 2022 NZB Ready To Run Sale.
The son of Mapperley Stud's dual Group 1 winner Contributer (IRE) is the first foal of the unraced O'Reilly mare O'Rocker a granddaughter of dual Group III winner Bhandara (NZ) from the family of Sharvasti and Tourbillion Diamond.