Alpha One will launch his latest campaign in a benchmark race at Randwick but as the saying goes, ‘it’s not where you start, it’s where you finish’.
And if co-trainer Peter Snowden is correct in his assessment, the three-year-old could end up in Group 1 company.
While the stable has taken a more conservative approach to begin Alpha One’s campaign by opting to run him in Saturday’s Merry Christmas Members Handicap (1000m) at Randwick over a Listed sprint at Flemington, it is purely with the bigger picture in mind.
“If we give him the benefit of a run up here, I think he could go to a good level this time in,” Peter Snowden said.
“I’m open minded about a few races and if he happened to win on Saturday, there is an 1100-metre race (in Melbourne) two weeks later that I’d look at.
“Races like the Oakleigh Plate, even the Galaxy, they’re an option. I know it sounds pie in the sky stuff at the moment, but I do believe at some stage he will get to that level.”
Snowden has good reason to be optimistic.
Having initially pegged Alpha One as a “speedy squib”, Snowden still wasn’t convinced when the colt posted back-to-back wins at Newcastle and Hawkesbury last winter due to his lack of race smarts.
He sent him to Melbourne “thinking he will either sink or swim here” and Alpha One responded by zooming around Moonee Valley in a near four-length romp before his winning streak was ended in the Vain Stakes.
“Damian Lane rode him and said, ‘I can’t believe I got beaten. I was going that easy and then he kicked that hard, I can’t believe a horse beat me’,” Snowden recalled.
“As it turns out, the horse who beat him (Giga Kick) won an Everest, so it’s good form.”
Stablemate Stoical will contest the same Randwick race on Saturday and while Snowden expects a competitive showing, he can’t see him to toppling his barn mate.
“It’s unfortunate he’s got to run into Alpha One. He will run well but he might not have the class to beat him,” he said.
Chad Schofield will partner Alpha One from barrier six and after opening at around $4 he has been backed into $2.50 favouritism.