Shipwreck staying put as Snow kennel scoops QGOLD features

By Alex Nolan

Ned Snow says Shipwreck will remain in Queensland, both for the long and short-term.

The Purga trainer, who scooped the two features at Thursday’s $250,000 QGOLD meeting at Albion Park, revealed he has fended off a lucrative $200,000 offer for his kennel star, as well as further invitations to race the dog in the southern states over summer.

Shipwreck showed his customary strength to overpower a brave Power Moves in the concluding stages of Thursday’s $38,600 QGOLD Summer Sprint over 520 metres at Albion Park.

After being heavily backed into $1.60 favouritism prior to exiting box three, Shipwreck jumped fast and utilised space left by a vacant box to his inside to trail early leader Power Moves throughout.

Power Moves, who is always dangerous from box one at Albion Park, sped clear down the back and at one point, looked to have established a winning break for new trainer Graham Hall.

But, the current star of the Out Of Range and Aussie Diamond Litter, Shipwreck, proved too powerful in the end as he drew clear to beat Power Moves by 1.5 lengths in 29.78 seconds, with the Jean Hose-trained Springtime Jet a further 2.25 lengths away in third.   

In winning, Shipwreck handed Snow a feature double just one race after he jagged the quinella with Oh Oh Range and Come On Aussie in the $38,600 QGOLD Summer Chase over 600 metres. 

“It’s terrific,” Snow said in reference to the QGOLD race night concept.

“It’s a real boost to the industry.

“Anybody who’s unhappy shouldn’t be in the game.

“We’re definitely going ahead.”

Snow revealed he had received an offer from southern trainer Harry Sarkis to purchase Shipwreck prior to this year’s Million Dollar Chase semi-final at Wentworth Park.

Shipwreck finished third in the semi but had posted a winning time of 29.32 seconds there in July.

“I said ‘Harry, I’m in the Million Dollar Chase’ and he said ‘you won’t win that, if I had the dog he would’,” Snow said.

“It was tempting but I love the dog and he might earn that much.”

Indeed, Thursday night’s win took Shipwreck’s career earnings beyond $188,000, as Snow also revealed he would decline an offer to return to Melbourne with Shipwreck later this month.

The gun sprinter has made three interstate trips among 31 race starts this calendar year, which is why the trainer will instead look to give him a break in readiness for February’s Group 1 Gold Bullion at Albion Park.

“They wanted him to go to Melbourne on the 17^th, there’s two races down there but they’re only $15,000 and $10,000 so I’d rather give him a break because there are a lot of good races here,” Snow said.

“He just can’t keep going.”

Oh Oh Range’s win over litter mate Come On Aussie in the $25,000 QGOLD Summer Chase over 600 metres signalled his return to the winners’ circle for the first time since early October.

The noted stayer was second when returning from a one-month lay-off in last week’s heat won by Pebble’s Girl and Snow said he had derived plenty of benefit from the run.

“He’d been underdone because he split his webbing and I couldn’t work him, that’s why he couldn’t win last week,” Snow said.

“But, I thought he’d win tonight and he was well drawn in the eight.”

Heat winner Pebble’s Girl ran a terrific third after struggling to secure clear running between the litter mates approaching the final turn.

Oh Oh Range and fifth-placed litter mate Pocket Money will now head to Sydney on December 17, after being invited to contest the $25,000-to-the-winner ‘Christmas Cheer’ Invitational over 720 metres at Wentworth Park.

Earlier, honours for the best of night time went to the Robert Cooke-trained Cash Master, who took out the QGOLD Emerging Sprinters over 520 metres in a slick 29.58 seconds.

Jumping cleanly from box three, the son of Aston Dee Bee sped to the front exiting the straight for the first time and put the race to bed early, speeding clear down the back and bolting away to score by 11 lengths. 

Cooke arrived at Albion Park confident of a bold showing from his rising star, who now boasts a career record of eight wins from 12 starts.

“Last week was the first 500 he’d ever had in his life,” Cooke said of Cash Master’s second to Hidden Agenda in the heats.

“All he’d had was a box-to-box. That was his first 500 and he ran 30.10 seconds on a bog track.”

Cooke said Cash Master’s litter, the second out of his brilliant producer Cashpot, were all talented but that Cash Master was the one who had things figured out mentally.

He said it was now likely the 26-month-old would have a crack at the Group 2 Queensland Derby heats on December 29.