3 minute read

Australia is well-represented at this year's Royal Ascot meeting and training duo Peter and Paul Snowden will be hoping Cannonball can make an impact in the Group 1 King's Stand Stakes.

Australia is well-represented at this year's Royal Ascot meeting and training duo Peter and Paul Snowden will be hoping Cannonball can make an impact in the Group 1 King's Stand Stakes. 

The three-year-old colt has shown improvement since joining the Snowden yard with a victory in the Group 3 Handicap Maurice McCarten Stakes at Rosehill preceding a third in the Group 1 Handicap Galaxy Stakes over the same course and distance. 

Cannonball worked individually at Ascot Racecourse on Wednesday morning over just short of five furlongs. After the gallop, Peter Snowden said: "Cannonball did a routine piece of work this morning. He is quite a gross colt and he needed that. He arrived here on Friday and had a few easy days, which he had taken the benefit of. The gallop today will bring him back up to the mark somewhat. He will do a bit more on Saturday morning and then he will be ready to go.

"My expectations are always exceeded! He is an inexperienced horse but, in his two starts for me, he has shown that he is well above average. He won the Maurice McCarten in a very fast time and backed up a week later in a Group One, when he probably could have won. He is climbing up the ladder pretty quickly.

"He is a fast horse, he is a tough horse, and he has handled this trip over here like it's nothing. This is his first time away from home, and the longest he has been on a truck before is two hours. He has just had 24 hours on a plane and it did not faze him one bit. That attitude will carry him a long way.

"It is great to be here. Ascot is a world renowned racecourse and everybody knows about next week. The King's Stand is a big race and, given the Aussies have won it a few times, there is a bit of expectation. There are no guarantees in racing but we will give it a good shot."