An excellent start to the day for Snitzel, with the 2-year-old debutant Comedy leading home a 1-2-3 for Godolphin in the Kirkham Plate at Randwick before Bittercreek came with a barnstorming finish to capture the Group III Sharp Eit Solutions Red Anchor Stakes (1200m) at Moonee Valley.
Ridden by Ben Allen for Leon and Troy Corstens and Will Larkin, Bittercreek came with a sweeping run from back in the field to defeat Godolphin's Frosted (USA) gelding Pisces by three-quarters of a length, with a short-neck back to Winnasedge, who credited Cliff's Edge with his first stakes horse.
Bittercreek had been slightly disappointing in the Danehill Stakes at his 3-year-old debut after a stellar juvenile season that saw him capture the Group II Spirit Of Boom Classic, was runner-up to Broadsiding in the Group I JJ Atkins stakes, and placed in the Listed Talindert Stakes, Listed Valley Pearl, and was fourth in the Group II BRC Sires' Produce Stakes, less than one and a half lengths behind the winner, Broadsiding.
The son of Snitzel advances his record to two wins, two seconds, and a third from seven starts with earnings of $574,750.
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"We've just got an amazing group (staff).
"We have a promising group of young horses coming through, and everything's falling into line, which sometimes it can do. A lot of the times it doesn't. And I remember this time last year, I thought I had similar sort of horses and just got nowhere near it.
"The only little thing we changed was the tongue tie. I was absolutely gutted after his run in the Danehill because I thought he was an out-and-out Coolmore (Stud Stakes) horse, and when he ran the way he did, it just floored me.
"I've got to say I' ve never been so nervous with a horse like I was just before today. I don't usually get too nervous, especially with a longer shot pop.
"A hundred-percent, he's backing up (in the Coolmore). Don' t worry about that. We've always thought that he's such a classy animal. He probably just needed that run.
"The timing might not be ideal, but he's a three-year-old colt. He's a strong boy. He's really, really tough. And he's going to take his place in the Coolmore."
A $375,000 purchase for Malua Bloodstock Pty Ltd/Baystone Farm from the Arrowfield draft at the Magic Millions, Bittercreek failed to make his $750,000 reserve at the 2023 Magic Million Gold Coast 2YOs In Training Sale.
Bred by Belinda Bateman, Bittercreek is the third stakes-winner for the Bite The Bullet mare Rose Of Cimmaron after the Group III winners Siege Of Quebec and Bull Point.
A sister to Mica's Pride (dam of Criterion, Comin' Through, Silently and Varenna Miss), Joleur (dam of Bhutane Dane, Gaze On and Upon This Rock), and Money Begets Money (dam of Moqueen), Rose Of Cimmaron has had little luck in recent years. After missing in 2020, her 2021 foal by Capitalist died. She visited Capitalist again last spring.
