Samizdat Excites In Brilliant Beginning
22 July, 2018
Thoroughbred
Exciting juvenile Samizdat lived up to the pre-race hype when he started his career in spectacular fashion at Belmont on Saturday.
Starting a $3.20 favourite after showing great promise in two barrier trial wins, Samizdat stamped his class in the Crown Towers Plate (1200m).
The Not A Single Doubt gelding, trained by Chris Gangemi and ridden by Shaun O’Donnell, unleashed a strong finishing burst from back in the field.
The half-brother to Perth and Melbourne winner, Samovare, Samizdat held a comfortable ¾ length margin over Rebel Knight with Ngawi running third.
Kiss The Breeze ran an unlucky fourth after getting held up in the home straight.
Gangemi said Samizdat, the $325,000 sale topper at last year’s Magic Millions Perth Yearling sale, had delivered on the stable’s high expectations.
“With a horse like him it’s been a stressful couple of weeks, but he got here in the right order,” Gangemi said.
“He is still very green and I thought that was the only thing that was going to get him beaten, but moving forward he is going to be a good horse.
“We have taken our time with him, but it’s good to get a win on the board and prize money in the bank so we can come back for the big ones.
“We have had a big opinion of him for a big time and it’s a relief.
“He will go out now and come back for a Guineas prep, starting in the Belgravia Stakes (1200m).
The Group 2 WA Guineas (1600m), Perth’s elite race for three-year-olds, will be run at Ascot on November 24 with the Listed Belgravia Stakes (1200m) on October 27
Julio Santarelli