Perfect Season End for No Excuse Needed

1 August 2011

No Excuse Needed ended his season on a high note when his son Snow Excuse grabbed his final chance at black-type for the season. The WS graduate was a deserved winner of the Listed Ryder Stakes when he inflicted a first defeat on the filly Testa Secret in a driving finish at Otaki on Saturday.

Trained at Cambridge by Ralph Manning, whose parents Bob and Kathleen share in the ownership, Snow Excuse had won on debut at Ellerslie in April and was then unluckily when third in the Listed Castletown Stakes at Foxton where he was tightened for room in the straight. His only other appearance resulted in a runner-up finish at Awapuni where he struggled with a deep and testing track.

A measure of his ability was regular rider Michael Coleman’s willingness to forego mounts at Te Rapa to continue his association with Snow Excuse at Otaki. They now look a genuine pairing to challenge for early season three-year-old honours in the 2011-2012 term.

Snow Excuse was purchased as a weanling by Manning at WS’s unreserved auction at Karaka in 2008 for $4500. He is out of the stakes-winning Mighty Avalanche mare Kirkberg and is a half-brother to three winners, including Johnny Knoxville who won nine races in New Zealand and Australia.

The Corner with Garry Chittick

We live in a vastly different world to the world I was born into 80 years ago. Of course, I would not feel the effects of the political values of the time with any likelihood of understanding, perhaps for 30 years, and yet the environment in which my cousins and I were raised in has had an entrenched effect on our lives.

27 August 2025

Ocean Park sires Wednesday winner for Sargent

Ocean Park’s son Hooligan Tommy made it three wins on the bounce with an impressive first-up Randwick victory, further boosting the credentials of his sire, already responsible for four Group 1 winners.