Due to Sydney’s big wet, just four of the ten acceptors went to the post for Saturday’s $1,000,000 Group II Arrowfield 3yo Sprint (1200m) at Randwick, but there is no denying they were a high-class lot.
Since being gelded, the Peter and Paul Snowden trained Mazu has been a revelation.
The son of Maurice (JPN) came up the Randwick rise under a double handful by Sam Clipperton and found enough in the closing stages to fight off the stubborn, Group 1 winning, Snitzel colt In The Congo, denying Snitzel a third consecutive winner of the race.
In an easy watch for the sponsors, Mazu defeated In The Congo by one and a half lengths with a further two and a half lengths back to the Dawn Approach (IRE) colt Paulele in third.
The progeny of Arrowfield stallions have won the last four runnings, beginning in 2018 with Classique Legend (Not a Single Doubt), Splintex (Snitzel), and Wild Ruler (Snitzel)
It was the fifth consecutive win for Mazu advancing his record to six wins and a third from 10 starts with earnings of $1,041,350.
To go unbeaten in a preparation is hard to do in this day and age,” Paul Snowden said.
“He has deserved his right to win a Group Two and beat some handy horses in their own right. We can look forward to the spring with him and see what we do.”
“He can absorb the pressure and that is his biggest attribute. The horse can run seven furlongs any day of the week and possibly further, but what he has a tendency to do is over-race.
“We spent so much time just trying to get this horse to back off. Just how he absorbed that pressure and then released off the back of that, that is certainly a special horse.”
“He’s got that ability to absorb pressure and we all know how good an asset that can be at the top level, especially one race in particular (The Everest).”
“When he can absorb pressure like that and kick off the back of it and respond, that’s a very good attribute to have.
“We had to do that (gelding) to that horse (Redzel) as well. He was doing things a little bit upside down, and he got gelded. We had to start from scratch, and we came away with a superstar. He is earning the tag, but he’s still not there yet. But when he keeps ticking these boxes and picking off the opposition the way he is doing along the way, we’re going in the right direction.”
A $180,000 purchase by Triple Crown Syndications out of the Parsons Creek Pastoral draft at the 2020 Classic Yearling Sale, Mazu is a half-brother to Headway (Charge Forward), who was crowned the 2008-09 Champion 2yo Filly in Australia. Her four wins included the Group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes, and was runner-up in the Golden Slipper.
Mazu is out of the multiple stakes-placed Flying Spur mare Chatelaine, who has a weanling colt by Toronado (IRE) and was covered by King’s Legacy last spring.
