Esperance trainer Joanna Offen enjoyed the fruits of her labour when Mr Snips won the opener at Sunday’s Kalgoorlie-Boulder Racing Club meeting, the McCreeds Classique Jewellers Maiden (1100m), at $41.
It was Offen’s first win at the track for 2023 and rewarded several months of hard work since acquiring the gelding.
Offen, who has been training thoroughbreds for about five years, said the riding skills of Lisa Staples was a big factor in the victory.
“I was a little bit picky on who I wanted to ride him because he’d been a difficult horse, which is how he ended up coming to me,” Offen said.
“He had a pretty bad reputation from what I can gather in Perth and I wanted a nice, kind rider on him who’d nurse him around because I’d put a lot of work into getting him to where we were.
“I must admit, I wasn’t completely confident that he’d behave himself on the day, but he did which was a big plus.
“I’d always planned to start him that weekend and had it in the back of my mind that Lisa would hopefully ride him because she’d look after him and treat him like a young horse.
“And that’s exactly what she did.”
Offen currently has six horses in work for the KBRC season, scaling back from last summer’s Esperance campaign.
“That’s a mixture of older horses and some other young ones I’m breaking in,” she said.
“It’s basically just a nice little team for the winter,”
Pete Fernie-trained Trigger Finger was the $1.45 favourite in the race, but ran third behind Mr Snips and Aidan’s Choice ($7.50).
Fernie, however, dominated the remainder of the seven-event card with three winners.
Love Drunk Baby ($3.60 favourite) held off Shadow Boom ($9) over 1100m for the first leg of Fernie’s treble and he followed up with Honest Legend ($7) and Nurhaci ($7.50).
Staples emerged with a riding double after also piloting Californication ($2 favourite) to victory in the last race of the day over 1400m.