The 2022/23 season wasn’t a bad one for trainer Jamie Snowden.
A second Cheltenham Festival winner with You Wear It Well as well as victory in the Coral Gold Cup at Newbury with the sadly ill-fated Datsalrightgino were just two of several big race wins for the Lambourn-based handler and it continues an upward trajectory which sees Snowden punching above his weight time and time again.
And the new season has been no different with a Grade 2 at Wetherby and a big handicap chase at Cheltenham plundered already and, as the trainer recaps, it’s a very exciting time at Folly House.
“The last five or six years we’ve been on a really nice upward trajectory and our prize money haul of £600,000 is a record for us at this stage of the season,” Snowden said. “We just need to keep pushing on for the next couple of months.”
You Wear It Well was of course the highlight last season and it was a day Snowden won’t be forgetting in a hurry: “Festival winners are very very hard to come by, so it was a very special day. To do it for such a brilliant owner like Sir Chips Keswick, with Gavin [Sheehan] on board and to be the horse that my head girl rides out every day was fantastic.
On to this year and, while You Wear It Well might be considered an outsider for the Mares’ Hurdle on the opening day, her trainer believes quotes of 50/1 might be a touch unfair for a horse he believes is peaking at just the right time.
“Everything that could go right, did go right last season with her,” Snowden added. “This season it has been a little bit different because while she has run well in decent races, we’ve missed engagements due to the weather meaning races have been rescheduled or abandoned.
“Trying to get any good horse to peak on a particular day is always hard, but when that goalpost is always changing and moving, it becomes even harder.
“She certainly hasn’t disappointed this year, and she looks good in her coat and is in great form. I think she’s a touch overpriced but that’s probably largely because the season hasn’t quite gone her way just yet. She looks great and I’m very happy with her ahead of next week.”
Last year’s Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle winner headlines the Snowden team, but she’s not the only one without a chance over the four days, with Ga Law, soon to be supplemented for the Ryanair Chase on Thursday, another the trainer believes isn’t without a chance.
“To win a handicap at the Festival you need to have seven or eight pounds in hand, so if he does have that off his current mark, we’ll be winning the Ryanair.
‘He’s in tip-top order and, while he was a decent fifth in the race last year, he’s in far better form this time around. He’s had a far better preparation and is in a great place physically and mentally. I found out the other day from the guys at RaceiQ that he gained 15 lengths from his jumping during that win at Cheltenham in January. If you put that into context, he’s got to be in with a decent chance in the Ryanair.”
Throw in the likes of “winning machine” Git Maker, who has won six of his 10 starts, and Hardy Du Seuil in the handicaps, and it’s fair to say Snowden has some serious firepower this year.
Could it be back-to-back years with a Cheltenham Festival winner? Well, you certainly wouldn’t write it off.
Jamie Snowden was speaking to City AM on behalf of BetVictor.