By Mary-Jo Jackson
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Earlier on in the afternoon in Sydney, Switzerland, a fellow Arrowfield graduate bought by Coolmore, rewarded his connections’ faith when notching his second stakes victory in the Roman Consul, ridden by Nash Rawiller for the first time.
Purchased by Tom Magnier for $1.5 million at the Inglis Easter Yearling Sale last April, the son of Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice), who is raced by a similar ownership group as Private Life, showed plenty of promise in his two-year-old season, claiming his first three starts in fine style, including the Pierro Stakes (1100m) and Todman Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) at Randwick.
He then disappointed when sent off the $5 second favourite for the Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) at Rosehill, finishing eighth of 16, and a subsequently discovered bone chip meant he missed the remainder of the autumn. Doubts as to whether he would get back to his brilliant best, arose after the colt posted a lacklustre return to action when he finished last in the Run To The Rose (Gr 2, 1200m) at the same track last time.
Waller excused that first-up effort on account of freshness, and took the edge off further with a 900-metre Rosehill trial last Friday. His trainer’s unwavering belief was duly vindicated when the $6 joint third-favourite dismissed Golden Slipper runner-up Coleman (Pierata) by 2.01 lengths, with Yoshinobu (Written Tycoon) another 0.14 lengths behind in third.
It was a race won in significant enough fashion to announce Switzerland as a contender for Coolmore’s slot in The Everest (Gr 1, 1200m), with Magnier now considering switching from incumbent slot nominee, the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained Storm Boy (Justify).
“We’re in a fortunate position,” Magnier said. “This certainly gives us something to think about tonight [and] Chris has had a huge opinion of this horse all the time. Obviously he got injured in the Golden Slipper and has had bad luck. We came here with belief.”
Sydney’s unflattering weather forecast over the coming week is a factor in Coolmore’s that Magnier describes as “significant” with the likelihood is high of a call not being made until Sunday night or Monday morning.
Up to 30 millimetres of rain is predicted to fall in the metropolitan area throughout the week and Magnier intends to take every moment their team can to have as much clarity on that front as possible.
Despite his ‘out of character’ display in the Run To The Rose, Waller said he expected the colt to return to his best.
“He just got himself worked up first-up which is not him, Waller said. “It was out of character. He’s actually a beautifully natured horse [but] just had him too fresh first-up and we rode him too close. It just wasn’t a pretty moment.
“Today will give him a lot of confidence. He’s so close to being there. We asked him a lot at two, and then we asked him to come back at three and when they have a bad game, it’s all about getting your confidence up and scoring a goal. We did that in a trial without winning and we thought we had him back on track. But today will just take it to a new level.”
Bred by Arrowfield Stud and Cloros Bloodstock, Switzerland (3 c Snitzel – Ms Bad Behavior) was the fifth-highest lot and the third-top colt when bought for $1.5 million at the Inglis Australian Easter Sale last year. He is the first foal out of Blame (Arch) mare Ms Bad Behavior, who claimed the Kentucky Downs Ladies Turf Stakes (Gr 3, 8f) as a four-year-year.
Ms Bad Behavior was bought by Arrowfield’s Jon Freyer – with the stud’s super sire Snitzel in mind – for $600,000 at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale in 2019. She herself is a half-sister to stakes winners One Bad Boy (Twirling Candy) and Blessed Truly (Souper Speedy), and has since produced two brothers to Switzerland at Arrowfield, with the elder one selling to TFI for $550,000 at the Easter Sale earlier this year. She was covered by Snitzel again last October.
Sntizel stands at Arrowfield for a fee of $247,500 (inc GST). He enjoyed a brilliant day on both sides of the pedigree with Private Life’s Caulfield Guineas triumph handing the stallion a fifth Group 1 winner as a broodmare sire.