Justin Snaith’s 2023 Hollywoodbets Cape Guineas winner Snow Pilot kept the punters happy and his unbeaten record as a 4yo intact when he stormed home as the best bet of the afternoon to win the R135 000 Progress Plate at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth on Saturday.
The scratching of Zil Morris at the start reduced the field to 9 runners, with Ridgemont rider Richard Fourie taking the son of the ill-fated Lancaster Bomber to the front.
The free-striding machine was never seen again and he waltzed home to beat staying stablemate Triple Time (25-1) by 6 lengths in a time of 84,18 secs.
Justin Snaith explained that he may have to consider widening Snow Pilot’s stable entrance door in view of the way the 4yo has grown.
“We will have to see whether he can do the same thing over a mile on the longer run-in of the Hollywoodbets Kenilworth summer course. But we will worry about that later,” quipped a delighted Snaith in an obvious reference to the L’Ormarins King’s Plate on 4 January.
Snow Pilot’s newly invigorated rise in the ranks again underscores the huge void left by his 2018 Gr1 Tattersalls Gold Cup winner Lancaster Bomber (War Front), who died suddenly at the age of 7 in 2021.
The Drakenstein bred and raced galloper is out of the Cape Fillies Guineas winner Snowdance, and there must be hopes that he will stand at Drakenstein when the day comes.
Now a winner of 4 races with 9 places from 16 starts, Snow Pilot took his earnings to R1 674 151.