Snowden Wins Third Autumn Stakes

Saturday, 11 February 2012 07:30

Pied A TerreLightly-raced three-year-old Pied A Terre is unlikely to clash with celebrated stablemate Helmet in the Australian Guineas despite winning the Group Two Autumn Stakes at Caulfield.

Ridden by Mark Zahra, the three-year-old made it four wins from five starts in Saturday's 1400-metre feature but it may not be enough to convince trainer Peter Snowden to run him against his Caulfield Guineas winner at Flemington on March 3.

"It would be good to have two good chances in the Guineas but I'm not sure if I will run him (Pied A Terre) yet," Snowden said.

"He is still a bit soft and hasn't furnished yet.

Pied A Terre"There are options back in Sydney for him, probably more than down here really, but we will decide in the next couple of days what we do.

"The key to him is to keep him fresh."

Pied A Terre suffered his only defeat against the older horses last start when second to At The Heads in the Listed Chester Manifold Stakes (1400m) at Flemington on January 14 after opening his campaign with a dashing win at Moonee Valley.

Back against his own age on Saturday he was able to settle on the outside of the leader Collar and held off challengers Proliferate, who was unbeaten in three starts, and Admantium to score a three-quarter length win.

Pied A Terre's stablemate Benfica finished ninth and will target longer races at the Sydney autumn carnival.

Pied A Terre's win was the third victory in four years for Snowden in the Autumn Stakes after Fravashi scored in 2009 and Denman in 2010.

Photo: Quentin Lang