New Group Two Winner for Northern Meteor
Northern Meteor three year-old Shooting to Win has been making steady progress this spring and capped it with a resounding win in the Group II ATC Stan Fox Stakes at Rosehill on Saturday.
Prepared by Peter and Paul Snowden, Shooting to Win was previously trained by John O’Shea and is the latest success story for popular Sydney owners Trevor Stuckey and Penny Yan of Racing to Win and Reigning to Win fame.
A fast finishing third in the Group I ATC Golden Rose after being slowly away, Shooting to Win made amends for that defeat when travelling sweetly for Tim Clark before surging clear to beat hot favourite Scissor Kick by three lengths.
“He’s kept improving and we were confident that today he could show us what we’ve been seeing at home,” Peter Snowden said.
“We’ll have to have a good look at the Caulfield Guineas now. A lot will depend on how he pulls up from this.”
Winning rider Tim Clark has partnered Shooting to Win at his past three runs and was impressed with his performance on the better surface after recent runs on rain affected tracks.
“He was very explosive today,” he said.
“Dry tracker for sure, he’s got a great turn of foot.”
A $160,000 Magic Millions purchase from the draft of Edinglassie Stud, Shooting to Win has the overall record of three wins and two placings from six starts with prizemoney just shy of $300,000.
A full brother to boom four year-old Deep Field, who has won each of his three starts by a combined total of 20 lengths and lowered the track record at Canterbury last Wednesday, Shooting to Win is the first stakes-winner for stakes-winning Elusive Quality (USA) mare Listen Here.
She comes from the Cotehele House (GB) branch of the Eight Carat (GB) family that has produced multiple Group I winner Danewin and leading sire Commands, so there is a lot of depth to this pedigree.
Shooting to Win is the 11th stakes-winner for ill-fated Northern Meteor, whose final crop of yearlings will sell in 2015.