Wait over for Snowden as Lunaite makes country championships bid

When Paul Snowden was setting up his stable in Port Macquarie the first horse offered to him was Lunaite. She was also his first runner and winner, so it’s fitting she’ll be his first foray into the Evergreen Turf Country Championships.

But it’s also been quite a wait for Snowden, who prepared 20 Group 1 and two TAB Everest winners in partnership with his father Peter, to be eligible to tackle the series having decided on the move in late 2024.

Trainer Paul Snowden.Credit: Getty Images

Lunaite has won three races for Snowden, including a TAB Highway, and he says she arrives at the $150,000 Evergreen Turf Mid North Coast Country Championships (1200m) on Sunday in good order.

“We had to sit out last year because we hadn’t done enough time. It was like a prison sentence, so it’s been a long time coming,” Snowden said.

“She’s a well above average mare so it’s a nice race for her.

“We were always going to go two runs then a freshen-up into this. She has the residual fitness and she had the ability to have a couple of weeks in the paddock before we put her under saddle again.

“It was a mind freshen for her, not that she really needed it, and she’s ticking over nicely.”

The four-year-old had one run after her Highway win for a close fourth behind Hyperbolic in a 1400m Benchmark 78 back at the end of November and showed her readiness with a Taree trial win last week.

Snowden says it’s a plus to be able to start Lunaite’s Country Championships bid at 1200m on her home track.

“Most of her form is around 1200m but I think maybe in time she might even run a mile,” he said.

“There’s two things that entice me. We’ve always spaced her runs out and the timing between this and the final doesn’t worry me.

“And with the 1200m I know she can bounce off this and have a PB over 1400m in six weeks.”

Mitchell Bell, who won the inaugural Country Championships Final in 2015 on Artlee, rode Lunaite in her first two wins and in her Taree trial and will be on board on Sunday and Snowden said it’s important to him to have a jockey that’s familiar with the horse.

What Snowden likes about the make-up of the race is being at 1200m he expects a high-pressure race and says from a middle draw Bell will be able to have last call when they straighten.

“When there’s money on offer and plenty at stake it promotes a lot of pressure and there’s going to be a lot of early speed,” he said.

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“There’s a long run at Port Macquarie down the back straight until you start to turn.

“I dare say there will be a fair bit of pressure, and we can mop up a bit of that excess they pour on early. I’d love to be three back in a stalking role, that’d be perfect for me.”

The first two from Port Macquarie make their way to the $1 million Evergreen Turf Country Championships Final (1400m) at Randwick on April 4, Lunaite is an $8 chance in TAB’s market on the Final.

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