Safe Passage (AUS)
2 f Snitzel – Travessia by Deep Impact
O: Jamieson Park Ltd
B: Arrowfield Group Pty Ltd, Jungle Pocket Pty Ltd
T: Murray Baker & Andrew Forsman
S: Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale V: Arrowfield Stud P: Bruce Perry Bloodstock/Jamieson Park, $380,000
W: 2YO Maiden Plate, 1200m, March 11, Matamata
Blueblood Safe Passage (Snitzel) is potentially on a Group 1 path as soon as the end of the month after she scored an emphatic win at her debut outing at Matamata for trainers Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman.
Racing in the colours of James Chapman’s Jamieson Park, Safe Passage showed good early gate speed to sit outside the leader, her stablemate Oneroa (Shooting To Win). Shaken up upon straightening, she quickly put a margin on her rivals, holding almost four lengths at the line; the Emma-Lee and David Browne-trained Autobahn (Charm Spirit) closed off strongly late to grab second.
Baker suggested that the Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) at Awapuni on 28 March could be the filly’s next target after that dominant debut.
“It was a good win. She is a promising filly,” Baker said. “She is nominated for the Manawatu Sires’ so we will see how she comes through this and assess where we go next.”
By Australia’s three-time champion sire Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice), Safe Passage is out of the unraced Deep Impact (Sunday Silence) mare Travessia, who is herself a half-sister to Japanese champion stallion King Kamehameha (Kingmambo) and Santa Anita Derby (Gr 1, 9f) winner The Deputy (Petardia). With both Deep Impact and King Kamehameha prevalent in her pedigree, Travessia is one of Japan’s hottest broodmare prospects. Both of Safe Passage’s third and fourth dams, Pilot Bird (Blakeney) and The Dancer (Green Dancer), won the Listed Sir Charles Clore Memorial Stakes (Listed, 1m 2f), now the Newbury Fillies’ Trial Stakes, while others in the family include 2010 UAE Derby (Gr 2, 1900m) winner Musir (Redoute’s Choice).
Safe Passage, who was knocked down for $380,000 to Bruce Perry Bloodstock and Jamieson Park at last year’s Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale in Sydney, is the second of Travessia’s foals to race. The first, Admire Form (Kurofune), was unplaced on the flat but has won two steeplechases at Fukushima.
She was bred by the Arrowfield Group and Jungle Pocket combination that has seen the mixing of high-class Australian and Japanese bloodlines. Some of their notable stars have included this season’s Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Tagaloa (Lord Kanaloa), 2018 Golden Slipper Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) heroine Estijaab (Snitzel) and dual Group 2 winner Showtime (Snitzel).
Safe Passage’s brother will be offered as Lot 250 at next month’s Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale. Travessia slipped to both Snitzel and Not A Single Doubt last season, while she visited new kid on the block The Autumn Sun in 2019.