Less than two months into a training venture with his son Paul, Peter Snowden is rightly making plans to be a force during the spring carnival.
The Snowdens trained their second two-year-old winner in 24 hours and their third in a week when first starter Inkling made short work of his rivals in the More Than Ready Plate (1100m) at Warwick Farm on Wednesday.
For a stable which didn't properly exist until the end of the Sydney autumn carnival, the Snowden partnership is making tremendous inroads.
"We have been very lucky," Snowden said. "Paul and I can't believe how big the support has been. It's been unbelievable."
Prominent owner Peter Moran has been at the forefront of industry backing for the fledgling Randwick stable.
"Getting horses the quality of Inkling and Cluster and a few of the young ones has been fantastic," Snowden said.
"Peter has given us horses who have great pedigrees and they are good types like Inkling."
On the same day his half brother Diamond Jim won a jumps race in Melbourne, Inkling stamped himself as a horse with considerably more brilliance, enough for Snowden to consider setting the colt for better races than a Sydney midweeker.
"We've got races like the Golden Rose coming up and (the spring carnival in) Melbourne is just around the corner so we'll be mindful of all of those," Snowden said.
"He's had plenty of time in the paddock and he's now mentally mature and strong enough."
Jarrod Austin shared a hometrack win with Chris Waller when their fillies dead-heated in the Ibis Milano Restaurant Maiden Handicap (1100m).
"I thought she had won but when the number didn't go up straight away I thought something was going on," Austin said after Bonee Tess shared the result with the fast-finishing Wine Tales.
Kembla Grange trainer Geoff Hall gained an insight into the future when Percules broke a run of placings in the TAB Early Quaddie Maiden Handicap (1300m).
A $4.80 to $6 drifter, Percules didn't begin as well as Hall thought he would and settled just off the speed for Tim Clark instead of taking up his usual front-running role.
"Today showed he can come from behind in his races and that's how he will be ridden next time in," the veteran horseman said.