Cannonball will take his place alongside Coolangatta in the King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot on Tuesday night Australian time, or just after midnight on Wednesday morning to be technically correct, and we caught up with Paul Snowden to talk about his galloper.

“He’s travelled over really well, the same weight upon landing as he was when leaving, which is very unusual for a horse over a 24 hour ordeal, so we’re extremely pleased,” said Snowden. “The most important thing is their fluids, so you want to keep them drinking water, which he did quite successfully.”

Cannonball doesn’t quite have the profile as other Australian sprinters that have gone over to tackle the King’s Stand, in that he hasn’t won at Group 1 level, or down the Flemington straight, but the Snowden’s aren’t worried.

“He does have a straight track profile already with a very unlucky run behind Giga Kick in the Danehill, so we feel that is one boxed ticked. We also feel that the sprinters in the UK this year are a bit below par – we’ve only had him for two runs and he’s won at Group level against the older horses and been a bit unlucky while running third in the Group 1. He’s not going there to make up the numbers, we think he is going to be right up to the mark.”

A horse looking to race internationally doesn’t just have to travel well, but also acclimatize to local conditions.

“We couldn’t be happier with how he’s going, his last piece of galloping was at Ascot on the circuit itself, and he acquitted himself well. But we’re under no illusions as to where he sits. He’s got to put up his hand and prove that he’s up to that level.”

They also don’t want any rain around, given he has had three goes on soft tracks and never run a place.

“The harder the track, the better he goes, so we’ll want it nice and firm underfoot, but for him to be trialling so well on rain-affected ground in the lead-up to this underlines just how well he is going.”

Connections always have to weigh up whether to go with a local jockey that knows the course and conditions but may not know the horse, or stick with a jockey that knows the horse but without as much experience at the track. The Snowden’s have opted for the latter with Brett Prebble.

“Brett has ridden this horse a few times, even before we got him, and he gets along with him very well. He is a colt that you have to know. Brett has ridden at Ascot before in his Hong Kong days, and it is a unique and tough track, which brings a lot of horses undone. We won’t know how the horse handles it until raceday.”

Going back to their Darley days, the Snowden’s have always had a lot of success preparing colts for a stallion career, hence their reputation as a “grand final” stable.

“He’s so lightly raced, he’s still a colt, and if he was to run top three over there, his value goes through the roof from a commercial perspective. To win it would be an absolute dream for connections, who have been with the stable from the very beginning. As a son of Capitalist, there is a lot of interest in him because of the speed dimension that he brings.”

In any sport, you’ve got to be adaptable and so it was with the Royal Ascot plans for Cannonball.

“It all happened quite quickly, his owner James Harron gave us a call about eight weeks ago, he had some local knowledge that suggested the local horses may not have massive wraps this year. It went from that to being loaded on plane quite quickly, it’s been quite surreal.”

Cannonball goes over to England without the credentials of previous Australian horses, but we have seen the three-year-old’s dominate the sprint races here this season, and he has form around Giga Kick and other serious types. Coolangatta deserves to be the number one seed, but the Snowden galloper is more than capable of springing a surprise.