SNOWY Winter is something of a rarity or minority these days, a stakes-winning filly who has no inbreeding going back five generations. As such she is an ideal broodmare candidate, and all the more so following her recent success in the Listed Irish Stallion Farms EBF Hurry Harriet Stakes at Gowran Park.

This was another notch on the belt of her up and coming trainer Archie Watson.

Watson is in his third season with a licence and last year he trained a pair of stakes winners in Petite Jack and Absolute Best. This year he has won listed races in Ireland, England and France and these winners include Corinthia Knight, Soldier’s Call in the Windsor Castle Stakes at Royal Ascot, and Shumookhi.

Snowy Winter was originally in training with Saeed bin Suroor but did not race and was sold as a three-year-old to Blandford Bloodstock for a mere €7,500 at the Goffs February Sale in 2017. She joined Watson and has been a wonderful servant, winning six times and earning that most valued stakes success on her 24th start.

She has also been placed in listed races at York, Ayr and Kempton and her earnings of more than £80,000 has seen her repay her purchase price many, many times over.

Elusive Quality (Gone West), the sire of Snowy Winer, died this year at the age of 25. He had a long and successful career as a sire at Jonabell Farm in Kentucky where his stud fee peaked at $100,000. His sons include Smarty Jones, winner of two legs of the American Triple Crown, the world champion sprinter and now sire Sepoy, Breeders’ Cup Classic winner and champion European miler Raven’s Pass, leading US sire Quality Road and Group 1 winning juvenile and sire Elusive City. His best daughter was the four-time Group 1 winner Elusive Kate.

Snowy Winter was bred by Darley and she is a full-sister to a winner in the USA and UAE. At the time of her purchase Snowy Winter had two winning siblings. Now she is the best of four winners for her dam Pamona Ball (Pleasantly Perfect) and the other new winner is the Grade 3 placed Pamina (Street Cry), a three-year-old currently racing in the USA.

Pamona Ball won the Listed Sharp Cat Stakes at Hollywood Park and was runner-up in the Grade 2 Barbara Fritchie Handicap at Laurel, She is only 12 years of age and her young stock include a yearling colt by Girolamo (A P Indy) and a colt foal by Hard Spun (Danzig).

Were Snowy Winter to be offered for sale this autumn, the only question would be how many multiples of her purchase price of €7,500 would she make?