Snowden looks to Golden target after sweeping features on dramatic day

2 weeks ago 10

By Craig Kerry

August 30, 2025 — 6.42pm

Peter Snowden said Grand Prairie and Raging Force may clash in the group 1 Golden Rose after they gave the Randwick trainer a group 3 double on a dramatic day at Rosehill on and off the track.

Grand Prairie won the 1300m Up And Coming Stakes (1300m) which was marred by a fall approaching the 200m mark and a lengthy stewards’ inquiry.

Grand Prairie wins the Up And Coming Stakes for jockey Tom Sherry.

The John O’Shea and Tom Charlton-trained Tyreek was pushed through the inside rail, dislodging Dylan Gibbons, who appeared to escape with cuts and bruising to his left bicep.

Tyreek, which suffered a leg injury and was later euthanised, fell after a bumping duel from the 300m mark between Tom Sherry (Grand Prairie) and James McDonald (Providence), which were going for the same gap. Providence was eventually pushed in on Tyreek, which was making an inside run.

Sherry was outed for a month after being charged with careless riding, stewards saying he improved into a position between Aerodrome and Providence near the 350m when there wasn’t sufficient room. Chief steward Tom Moxon said he then rode Grand Prairie vigorously when racing tightly, which forced Providence in.

Sherry pleaded not guilty, disagreeing with McDonald’s testimony that he had the right to the run with Providence and saying he had established the run before leader Crown The King shifted out.

Stewards gave Sherry 20 meetings, which was pushed to 22 because of his five suspensions in the past year. They then took into account the upcoming spring carnival, dropping it to a month – equal to 15 meetings. Sherry, who was suspended after Saturday because of a midweek charge, was outed from September 7 to August 8.

Earlier, McDonald, who escaped blame, said his mount had “improved into the gap, but he had a runner held up to his outside and just at that point, my horse briefly hit a flat spot, but I was still improving into the gap and then I got forcibly shoved”.

“I’ve basically stayed one off the fence the whole way but got shoved back down,” he said. “I wouldn’t have made contact if he didn’t get pushed back down.”

Sherry denied he was riding his horse vigorously and he shifted in “only very slightly”.

Raging Force later raced up front in the San Domenico Stakes (1100m) and held out Wodeton by one and a half lengths. However, winning jockey Tommy Berry was suspended for six meetings – September 7-20 – for careless riding when shifting late on Wodeton and McDonald, checking their run. McDonald viewed footage before deciding the margin was too great to bother lodging a protest.

Tom Sherry looks back after the win of Grand Prairie.

The incidents took the focus from the winners, which Snowden said could clash in the Golden Rose (1400m) on September 27 at Rosehill.

“It was my intention if Grand Prairie won and won well, I would definitely consider that or the Ming Dynasty, but I’ll suss it all out and see how they settle,” Snowden said.

“Raging Force will definitely go to the Run To The Rose and if he runs well in that, I wouldn’t hesitate. If he’s strong late, I wouldn’t hesitate.

“He was a little bit fresh. Only the one trial. But he’s got good fitness in him. He’s an athlete. He might be all right.

Tommy Berry takes Raging Force to victory in the San Domenico Stakes.

“There were some A-graders there today. There was a Blue Diamond winner, the second in the Golden Slipper, and he’s a beautiful horse too, the second horse, so I’m happy. I won’t swap mine either.”

Snowden was impressed with Grand Prairie’s strength to overcome the rough run and surge to victory over Fermoy.

“I think today he settled very, very good,” said Snowden, who took the winkers off Grand Prairie.

“He never pulled at all and he had a full load of steam up in the straight. There’s a bit of controversy about it all, and it’s just sad to win a race like that, but that didn’t surprise me to win at all. That’s how he’s been working out.

“Tommy [Sherry] was laying in on that horse and that takes a lot out of your own horse, doing that. And then when he had the strength to get up, and the horse was coming to the outside, it was going to go straight past him. He picked up and pulled out again.”

Mare on the rise for Thompson

John Thompson was looking to the Matriarch Stakes as a potential target for Starphistocated after she delivered an omen win for the Randwick trainer and jockey Andrew Adkins in the Midway Handicap (1800m).

The four-year-old Churchill mare enjoyed a rails run behind the leader before scoring a one and three-quarter lengths win from Sunset Park on Adkins’ 28th birthday. It gave her two victories and three placings in six starts since coming from Anthony Cummings.

Thompson worked under Cummings’ legendary father, Bart, for eight years, and Saturday was the 10-year anniversary of the cup king’s death.

“He taught me most that I know, and there’s a lot of Bart in this horse,” Thompson said.

“She came to me like a skeleton and it’s very hard to put weight on horses during a prep, but she’s done really well.

“Something like a Matriarch Stakes down the track, I think she could get to that level.”

Denim keen to keep building

Wyong trainer Denim Wynen was open to taking on more horses after Sunshine Law continued her dream run at Rosehill.

Sunshine Law gave the 29-year-old her first city winner on August 2 at Rosehill on heavy ground over 1400m, and the former Annabel and Rob Archibald-trained mare repeated the dose on a soft 5 over 1500m in the same grade on Saturday, holding off Kingston Charm narrowly. In between, Monkhana gave Wynen another Rosehill win to have her small stable flying. Wyong apprentice Anna Roper rode all three.

“I’ve got six in work, and two main owners, and they’ve provided me with the goods, but I’m always open to new owners,” Wynen said.

“I’m grateful for the ones I’ve got, but I’ve got room for more, and you never knock them back.”

She believed Sunshine Law would improve again over further

“She’s won over 1800, so the further I think the better she will go, if she settles like that,” she said.

“We’ve got some better races in store for her, for sure.”