Tuileries heads up strong Saturday line-up for Snowden as he chases back-to-back Tatt’s Tiara’s

Peter Snowden is hopeful that last-start Group 3 winner Tuileries (So You Think) can plunder Group 1 glory on Saturday as the mare heads for Eagle Farm’s Tattersall’s Tiara (Gr 1, 1400m).

In what is the final elite-level contest of the season, Tuileries will take on 16 rivals as she dines at the top table for the first time in her 14-start career. 

A five-time winner from those 14 career outings, the four-year-old mare has won a pair of Group 3s in her last three starts, including a convincing last-start success in the Dark Jewel Classic (Gr 3, 1400m) at Scone.

Following that victory, she was then set to tackle the Dane Ripper Stakes (Gr 2, 1300m) back at Eagle Farm two weeks ago, but was scratched due to heavy rainfall, meaning this weekend’s maiden Group 1 outing will be her first run in five weeks.

“She’s had a good prep, it’s probably a little bit different to most horses because she doesn’t usually have a lot of time between runs,” Snowden, who is bidding for back-to-back Tatt’s Tiara’s after Tashi’s (Sebring) win last year, told ANZ News.

“It was always the plan from Scone to possibly not run her [before the Tatt’s Tiara], but I thought she was going so well that she could run in the Dane Ripper.

“She had a trial at Rosehill which she won and then we went up to that race, but it absolutely poured rain before the race and after it, so I decided not to run her.”

As for what Tuileries has done in between to prepare for Saturday’s 1400-metre feature, Snowden added: “She’s done a couple of nice bits of work since and she worked great Tuesday morning so I’m happy with her. 

“As I say she doesn’t want much time between runs and she’s drawn a beautiful gate [barrier three] there tomorrow [Saturday], so she should make her own luck.”

A win in the Tatt’s Tiara could mean a move to the breeding shed for the daughter of So You Think (High Chaparral), but Snowden feels his mare is improving with time and racing and hopes she can remain in the yard.

“If she happened to win it I’m not sure what they’’d do to be honest, I don’t know if we’d take her back to stud or not,” Snowden said.

“I think she could go on with it myself as I feel she’s getting better and better but we will see what happens tomorrow first.”

Tuileries is one of a quartet of runners that Snowden will send out at Eagle Farm on Saturday, with debut scorer The Machine Gun (Stay Inside) joining stakes-placed filly Pearl Of Dubai (Wootton Bassett) in the Tattersall’s Stakes (Listed, 1400m) for juveniles.

The latter, a Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalifa Al Maktoum-homebred filly by Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj), will be bidding to break her maiden at the seventh time of asking.

She has, however, managed four placings from her six starts so far, including an eye-catching runner-up effort in the Black Opal Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) back in March. 

Pearl Of Dubai’s most recent outing saw her run fifth in the Oxlade Stakes (Listed, 1200m) at Eagle Farm, a run that Snowden marked up due to her poor position throughout.

“She’s been knocking on the door and running places in good races, she just hasn’t won a race yet which is a little disappointing,” Snowden said. 

“I ran her there two weeks ago to see if she could go any further in trip and I thought her run was very courageous. 

“She got back a long way and was wide for a long time and still only got beat 1.9 lengths so I thought her run was amazing so that’s why I thought I’d keep her in and give her a try at seven furlongs. 

“She’s come up with a better draw [barrier six], so even though she’s a maiden going into it, her form is pretty strong. I think the 1400 metres will be ok for her, and 12-1400 will be her go.”

Stablemate The Machine Gun, who runs in the Trilogy Racing silks having been purchased for $300,000 at Magic Millions last year, ran out a narrow winner on debut at Canterbury, battling well to score by 0.2 lengths over Klocke (Zoustar) – who re-opposes this weekend.

“He’s a nice horse,” Snowden said. “He is hard to get a read on, he’s very lazy and a casual-going horse, sometimes his work looks a bit disappointing but what I did like the other day was the more he got challenged the more he found. 

“Tim Clark said the second horse was never going to get him because as soon as he came to him he just kept on finding and if they went another lap he wouldn’t have been beaten. 

“So that tells me that he is going to save his best efforts for raceday. He looks great, the seven furlongs is a bit of an unknown and he’s drawn a bit awkward [barrier ten], but they’re the only downers really.”

In the final race on the card, the W.J. Healy Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m), Snowden fields Fire Star (Deep Field), a multiple stakes placegetter for Kia Ora who ran fourth last time out in the Hinkler Handicap (Listed, 1200m) at Eagle Farm.

“Very good run the last day, he’s third-up now and cherry ripe so this looks a good race for him,” Snowden said. 

“He’ll go forward, there’s a bit of speed in there but not in epic numbers and he’s definitely a better horse when he can be up in the first three. 

“He should be able to get there, so if he does that he’ll give himself every chance of running the best he can.”

Snowden was also set to run Group 2 winner King Of Sparta (I Am Invincible) in the Healy, but a small incident on Friday means he won’t be taking up his confirmation. 

“Unfortunately his bloods were out of whack today so he won’t be running tomorrow” Snowden revealed. 

“It’s nothing urgent or anything bad but I won’t run him after that so he’ll go for a break. He was going for one anyway after tomorrow to get him ready for the spring carnival.”

From Queensland back to New South Wales and Snowden has French import Touristic (Frankel) bidding for success in Rosehill’s W J McKell Cup (Listed, 2000m).

Having run second in the race in 2024 and fourth in last year’s renewal, Randwick-based Snowden is expecting another big effort.

A winner of last year’s Lord Mayor’s Cup (Listed, 2000m) and March’s Canberra Cup (Listed, 2000m), Touristic will be aiming to bounce back from a disappointing last-start tenth chasing back-to-back Lord Mayor’s Cup victories.

“He’s a really good wet-tracker, but he doesn’t always get the tracks that suit him. He did last time out and he was disappointing, but I just felt it was a fast run race and the rider was probably a little too aggressive on him too early,” Snowden said. 

“We were chasing the speed for too long, which took the finish out of him. We gave him a freshen up and his work Tuesday was probably the best I’ve ever seen it.

“It’s a small field tomorrow and they’ll go a bit steadier you’d imagine, so he can travel better for longer and he should find the line and run well. 

“He won it two years ago and was fourth last year so it’s a race he could peak in again tomorrow.”