High priced yearlings are a little like Gucci hand bags, nice to look at and happily flaunted but they are not necessarily better than a cheaper version.
That is why co-trainer Peter Snowden is relaxed as he prepares two colts who fetched a combined total of almost $4 million at the sales for their respective debuts in the opening race at Randwick on Saturday.
Snowden and his son Paul will saddle up Snitzel youngster Mount Fuji, a $2.8 million Easter sale yearling, and $900,000 Magic Millions buy Rulership.
But lofty price tags don’t always correlate to galloping ability and Snowden says the youngsters are treated the same as all the others.
“There’s an old saying that once they leave the sales ring they’re all the same and that’s dead right,” Snowden said.
“It doesn’t make them gallop. It’s something I don’t think about at all. Paul and I just focus on the horse and try to do the right thing by the horse to get the best out of him to do the best he can on race day.
“If you do the right things, educate them right and they’ve got ability they’ll come to the top.”
Fortunately for the owners of Mount Fuji and Rulership, both colts are showing promise.
Rulership extended nicely to win his most recent barrier trial, accounting for Prague who was an impressive winner at Canterbury last week.
Mount Fuji looked a ball of raw ability when he closed strongly for second at his only trial but more pleasing to Snowden was the fact he settled in the run.
“He has always worked really well but had an inclination to go very hard in his work,” Snowden said.
“We’ve worked a lot on that, getting him to settle, so my heart was in my mouth a bit seeing how he reacted at the trials and going away from home.
“He was beautiful before the trial, he jumped nice and quiet and relaxed very well.
“Normally a horse that can do that, you’ve got a pretty fair idea that they can just keep going ahead pretty quickly and his work on Tuesday morning was excellent.”
On track work, Snowden cannot separate Rulership and Mount Fuji but he suspects the former might have a slight edge on Saturday given his extra trial experience.
Rulership is the early favourite at $2.90, ahead of Mount Fuji ($4.80) with Gimcrack Stakes placegetter Ticket To Ride splitting the Snowden pair at $4.60.
“He’s probably bit more race savvy than Mount Fuji but in their work there’s nothing between them,” Snowden said.
