There was a heavily backed favourite in the $100,000 3YO Super Maiden (1200m) at Warwick Farm on Wednesday and while punters were tearing up their tickets with a furlong to run, something miraculous happened in the last 50m.
The Peter Snowden trained Deep Field gelding Nitro has had a good grounding at the trials and was second at the official 2YO trials last spring behind subsequent stakes-winner North England.
He’s taken his time to get to a race day, but a patient approach looks like paying dividends and with Tom Sherry in the saddle he made it a winning debut.
Drawn one, he ended up back in the field and cluttered away with no room to move after the leaders skipped away, but when Nitro did get daylight there was an impressive response.
A $270,000 Magic Millions purchase for Darby Racing from the Gilgai Farm draft, Nitro has some real depth of pedigree being from stakes-winning Ocean Park mare Ocean Jewel and Peter Snowden believes there is more to come from the talented gelding.
“I was a little bit worried today. He did a few things wrong and they did go along quick, and I thought there's a chance you'll pick them up as he's very good late. When he started getting those runs he was getting I thought it was a great chance to do what he did… and he did it,” said Snowden.
“He’ll get a lot further and he’s very genuine.
“We'll just go through the grades now and get him a bit more race savvy, and I'm sure there's a good race in him.”
Bred and offered for sale by Gilgai Farm, Nitro is the second foal and second winner from Ocean Jewel, whose third foal is a colt by Extreme choice that they sold at Inglis Easter this year to Yulong for $1.15million.
Ocean Jewel is a grand-daughter of Group I winner Marquise, a daughter of legendary blue hen Eight Carat (GB) and interestingly Nitro’s sire Deep Field also traces back to Eight Carat, so he has a double cross of this influential matriarch.
