Blademeister has failed to fire during his 2015 Sydney Autumn Racing Carnival campaign to date, but Team Snowden have elected to give the frustrating colt another opportunity at Group level in the 2015 Frank Packer Plate.
Paul Snowden is hopeful that Blademeister can show what he is capable of in the 2015 Frank Packer Plate. Photo by: Race Horse Photos Australia
Blademeister started his racing career with a third place finish in the Early Quaddie Plate (1300m) at Warwick Farm on July 2 last year and he performed well against a similar field at Royal Randwick on July 12 before he beat Testashadow to take out The Races.com.au Handicap (1550m) at the Randwick Kensington track on July 26.
Team Snowden had high expectations for Blademeister heading into his autumn campaign and he was included in the nominations for both the Group 1 Australian Guineas (1600m) at Flemington on March 7 and the Group 1 Australian Derby (2400m) at Royal Randwick on April 4, but he started his campaign with a very disappointing effort in the Leukemia Foundation Handicap (1400m) at Hawkesbury on February 12 before he was well beaten in both the Ranvet Handicap (1800m) at Royal Randwick on March 11 and the Group 2 Tulloch Stakes (2000m) at Rosehill Gardens on March 28.
Co-trainer Paul Snowden told Racing Ahead this morning that Blademeister has far more talent than he has shown during his autumn campaign and he is hopeful that the Bernardini colt can produce an improved performance in the Frank Packer Plate this weekend.
“He is a bit of a scratch your head type of horse because this bloke does really good things at home and he is just not putting it altogether on race day yet,” Snowden said.
“He is racing like he wants a little bit further, he is a very fit horse in himself and it wouldn’t surprise to see him jump out of the box a little bit, but he still needs to prove it on the track.”
The 2015 Frank Packer Plate nominations were released yesterday and the Group 3 event will not have a capacity field after only 12 horses were included in the nominations.
Chris Waller-trained Wine Tales was scratched from the Group 1 Australian Oaks (2400m) on Saturday, but could still contest the Frank Packer Plate, while Hi World is set to take winning form into the race following his tough victory in the Group 3 Carbine Club Stakes (1600m) at Royal Randwick on April 6.
The likes of Merion, Maastricht, Farolitos, Gouldian, Stratalena, Another Al, Miss Interiors, Imperial Lass and High Midnight could also contest the Frank Packer Plate this weekend.
