Written by Richard Edmunds
Underrated 3-year-old Splintex (Snitzel) stepped up to the big time in Saturday’s G2 Arrowfield 3YO Sprint at Randwick, delivering an appropriate milestone for his champion sire.
The Mark Newnham-trained runner became the 100th individual stakes winner for Snitzel, who stands at race sponsor Arrowfield Stud.
Commanding a service fee of $220,000 (inc GST) in 2019, Snitzel has been Australia’s champion sire in all of the last three seasons and has set new records for prizemoney, stakes winners and 2-year-old winners.
Snitzel secures his 100th individual stakes winner | Standing at Arrowfield Stud
The accolades have been slower to arrive for Splintex than for many of Snitzel’s other black-type progeny, but Saturday’s $500,000 showpiece was a major breakthrough.
Up against a well-credentialled sprint field, Splintex went into the race as the winner of four races – all in Saturday company at Randwick and Rosehill, but none at stakes level. He was the sixth favourite in a field of 10.
But jockey Robbie Dolan has always viewed Splintex as a star in the making, and on Saturday he was proven right on a big stage.
Splintex raced in second place before taking the race by the scruff of the neck at the top of the straight. Challengers lined up across the track to try to run him down, and Flit (Medaglia D’Oro {USA}) emerged as the biggest danger with a withering finish along the inside.
But Splintex looked Flit in the eye and lifted again. They hit the finish line locked together, with Splintex sticking his neck out and winning by a nose.
“That means a lot to us,” Dolan said. “I have ridden him since he was a very young horse and I have always believed in him along the way. It’s just unbelievable to ride him in a big race like this today, and then to win it is a fairytale.
“I have ridden him since he was a very young horse and I have always believed in him along the way." - Robbie Dolan
“Flit is very long. That is one thing I noticed just after the line, I thought, ‘Gee, she’s longer than I am.’ But thankfully my fella just stuck his nose out in the right spot. I’m over the moon – delighted.
“My dad gets up all hours of the morning in Ireland to watch the Australian racing. He knows all the horses and all the jockeys, probably more than the Irish racing at the moment, and this one is for the family back home.”
Robbie Dolan | Image courtesy of Dan Himbrechts for AAP Photos
Splintex has now had nine starts for five wins, three placings and $639,750 in stakes for owner-breeders Geoff and Mary Grimish.
Out of stakes-placed Acquired (NZ) (O’Reilly {NZ}) and closely related to the Group 2 winner Hips Don’t Lie (NZ) (Stravinsky {USA}), Splintex is now a valuable and Group 2-winning colt.
“That was terrific,” Newnham said. “He hadn’t been up to 1200 metres and won yet, so I had my heart in my mouth the last few strides. But he’s just a really good, genuine horse, and I think he has been a bit underestimated.
“His four wins before today had all come in Saturday company. We tested him in a stronger race in Melbourne (ninth in the Listed W.J. Adams in February) and it all went wrong. They had a lot of rain on the day.
“But we freshened him up and looked at this race, and now he’s a Group 2 winner and he’s still a colt.”
A close finish between Splintex (grey silks) and Flit (blue silks)
