Jockey Joe Azzopardi is brimming with confidence and excited to be teaming up with Snow God for a second campaign, a three-year-old that he thinks has plenty of upside
Azzopardi has a big opinion of the Playing God gelding and believes he can deliver a late season victory when he returns to racing at Bunbury on Saturday.
After an impressive set of trials, Snow God started a red-hot favourite on debut and lived up to his rating with a stellar first up performance in January.
He gave punters heart palpitations when he appeared to be running for second after Niccimota kicked clear with a handy lead in the straight, but he was able to quickly gather her in and score by just under a length.
Snow God couldn’t back up and repeat the performance next start when fourth to Want A Winner but may not have been at his best and was immediately spelled after returning with an elevated heart rate.
Snow God resumes in the Tabtouch Past The Post Handicap (1000m) and after a strong gallop earlier in the week, Azzopardi is confident he can make his presence felt strongly.
“I galloped him on Tuesday morning and he went really good,” Azzopardi said on Tabradio.
“The barrier makes it a little tricky and we are going to need a little luck from the draw, but if we get the right run, off his work, he should be very hard to beat.
“He’s a nice horse and still has to put it all together, but you don’t see many horses work better than him.
“He’s got a big motor; he goes good and I have a lot of time for him.
“He’ll win some nice races quickly, I think.”
Snow God is $4.80 with Tabtouch and second favourite behind Terratif ($2.90).
Azzopardi is also bullish about the winning prospects of Amazing Cheat in the Swan Draught Handicap (2231m).
The Donna Riordan-trained mare has won two of her past three races and tackles her first trip beyond 1800m.
“She’s so honest and so consistent,” Azzopardi said.
“She never runs a bad race and up to the 2200m for the first time.
“She’s shown all the signs that she’ll stay.
“Drawn soft, no weight, so she gets every opportunity to run out the trip.
“The way she’s going, I think it’s a real winnable race.”
At $5.50, Amazing Cheat is on the third line of betting.
Dun With The Blues holds $3.10 favouritism and Snazzler is $4.60.
Azzopardi doesn’t discount Planet Cash running a cheeky race in the Nixon Electrical Handicap (1400m).
Julio Santarelli