Mazu has taken his winning streak to five after saluting in the $1 million Arrowfield 3YO Sprint (1200m) at Royal Randwick, delivering Peter & Paul Snowden a Group 2 race-to-race double after Paris Dior saluted in the Percy Sykes Stakes earlier.
Just a field of four contested the 1200m event, with Mazu and In The Congo pairing off down the straight, while Paulele battled away in third and rank outsider I Am Lethal finished a long last.
Since being gelded in the spring, Mazu is yet to lose a race, accumulating almost $1,000,000 in prizemoney in those five successes.
Ridden by Sam Clipperton, Mazu raced on the outside of Golden Rose winner In The Congo, before moving up to eyeball the race favourite at the top of the straight.
2022 ARROWFIELD 3YO SPRINT REPLAY
The Snowden-trained gelding was well-fancied with bookmakers, starting a $2.70 second favourite, while In The Congo was the $2.40 favourite at the time of jump.
Clipperton, who has built a good affiliation with the winning galloper, was full of praise towards both horse and trainers, saying that he thought the gelding could have given The Galaxy a “shake” had they went there.
“This horse is just incredible really,” Clipperton said.
“Full credit to Peter and Paul (Snowden). It was well documented he was a rogue as a colt, always had a stack of ability. How they’ve just prepared this horse, they could’ve easily gone to the Galaxy and he would’ve given it a shake.”
With plenty of people suggesting the in-form three-year-old could earn himself a slot in The Everest, Clipperton may very well be the leader of that movement, which co-trainer Paul Snowden agreed with.
“But I think we’ve got a serious horse on our hands and there’s a race in October that comes to mind that he may just end up in because he’s certainly good enough,” Clipperton continued.
“He’s got that ability to absorb pressure and we all know how good an asset that can be at the top level, especially one race in particular (The Everest),” Snowden added.
“When he can absorb pressure like that and kick off the back of it and respond, that’s a very good attribute to have.”
Mazu is now into $11 for The Everest, which will be run and won on October 15 over the same course and distance that the gelding won over on Saturday.
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