Gangemi’s Find Right Formula For Success
Gangemi’s Find Right Formula For Success
Epic celebrations, bear hugs, high-fives and winning horses being led back to scale by ownership groups the size of football teams have become a common theme at WA racecourses. At a time when racehorse ownership is in need of a boost, there is no better advertisement for the thrills and joy the game can bring than seeing the Gangemis after their famous Italian-themed white, red and green silks salute.
Interestingly, trainer Chris Gangemi, 33, and his brother, Michael, 41, could be described as chalk and cheese. Chris, a quietly-spoken introvert, and Michael, an exuberant larger-than-life personality, are different in almost every way. Except their passion and approach for training racehorses.
The contrasting Gangemi siblings have worked together to build their racing stable into one of the state’s most astute operations in recent years. Their father, John, a long-time hobby trainer and founder of successful glazing company, Armani Aluminium Windows, introduced his sons to the industry at an early age. Growing up, Chris was a keen watcher of races and avid form-studier, however, Michael took more of a liking to working hands-on with the horses.
“Chris was right into his footy and I was more involved with the horses and riding trackwork in the mornings and mucking out yards in the afternoons.” Michael said.
Despite his sporting interests, the racing bug soon got hold of Chris and, upon leaving school, he shocked his father when advising him of his intentions.
“When Christopher left school, he said ‘I want to train’ and I said ‘you’ve never even been involved!’,” John said. “I made him do a four-year glazing apprenticeship and the deal was that he starts helping me and goes to work and then, when he gets his trade certificate, he can train. The day he got his certificate he came to work at two o’clock and dropped it on my desk and said ‘there it is’ and packed his tools up. I said, ‘you don’t finish until four o’clock’ and he said ‘that wasn’t the deal’ and he hasn’t worked a day glazing since.”
Fast-forward many years and Chris is now the head trainer of Gangemi Racing, while Michael, the business owner and majority share-holder of most of the horses in their stable, is the man behind the scenes purchasing horses and servicing their 100-plus clients. Also the owner-operator of three building companies, Michael says being able to generate other income enables him to fund their racing operation and ensure their horses and owners get the best of everything. Asked if the brothers ever clash with their differing personalities, the brothers share a laugh.
“95 per cent of the time we agree on everything and, when we don’t agree, we do it Michael’s way because he pays the bills,” Chris smiled.
After learning the basics of training thoroughbreds from their father throughout their younger years, the Gangemi brothers sought the assistance of close family friend and legendary Hong Kong trainer, Caspar Fownes, to fine-tune their craft. They made several overseas trips to stay with Fownes, a multiple leading trainer who has prepared more than 800 winners in Hong Kong, to learn his training methods first-hand. Michael credits Fownes as their mentor and attributes much of their success to the champion horseman.
“We met Caspar through the Hutchinson family about 15 years ago,” Michael said. “We forged quite a strong bond with the family and although Caspar is a pretty private guy, he was straight away willing to help Chris and I and pretty much be a mentor to both of us. When we get stuck with a question and you need to lean on someone, to be able to ring someone of that calibre and get advice at a drop of a hat is pretty special. We keep in touch every week.”
Looking back at when he first took out his training licence in 2010, Chris admits he wasn’t filled with knowledge. However, eight years and a wealth of experiences later, Gangemi Racing completed the 2017/18 season with 33 wins and 53 minor placings from 160 starters, giving the stable an impressive winning strike rate of almost 21 per cent. Within the last 12 months alone, the Gangemis’ boutique stable has won races with 12 individual tried horses purchased from other stables, including eight feature events, six of which were at Group or Listed level. Despite the incredible achievements, Michael says many people may still disagree with their alternative training methods.
“After going to Hong Kong and learning different ways to do it, we definitely do things a hell of a lot different to other people,” he said. “There’d be a lot of old-school trainers who would look at what we do and shake their heads. A lot of people think the fittest horses wins the race, but we think the horse who feels the best does.”
A standard week for a Gangemi-trained galloper would consist of one or two slow-work days in the sand at Ascot, a gallop on the grass at Belmont and a variation of walking and swimming at their Henley Brook property for the remainder. Chris believes their diverse training regimes and rural environment helps revitalise seasoned gallopers.
“Most horses we get are from big stables over east and come out of a stable environment and have been boxed their whole life,” Chris said. “The property and the green paddocks here are probably a good start, but the way we train, the horses probably go from galloping two or three times a week to galloping with us once a week and only going to the track a couple of times.”
Michael says a specific type of horse is needed to get the most benefit out of their unique training methods.
“It doesn’t work on every horse but sometimes you get those older horses who can get rejuvenated,” Michael said. “I purposely target the sprinters. It’s horses for courses, they suit the way we do things.”
Top Perth jockey Jarrad Noske was given his first ride for John Gangemi as an apprentice when booked for the family’s first stable star, Werd, in 2010. Noske won the race aboard the eventual $572,825 stake-earner in what was, inevitably, the birth of one of the strongest associations in WA racing. Now the Gangemis’ leading stable rider and close friend of the brothers, Noske says they have found the right formula for success.
“Michael is definitely buying the right horses and he knows what horses to buy that will suit them,” Noske said. “I think they work on the horse’s headspace more than other stables do. Chris is also the best trainer I’ve ridden for on race-day. When I come out from the jockey’s room, his form and ideas always line up with mine.”
After purposely reducing the amount of horses they have in training at a time, Michael says the stable’s attention-to-detail is a significant factor for their race-day improvement.
“I dare say that every single horse we’ve bought has had an issue,” Michael said. “I think horses are like a sinking ship. You’ve got to find those issues, plug the holes and it’ll float. If you can’t find those holes, it’ll sink. Eight years ago, we were going to the yearling sales and buying six to ten yearlings and the stable was overflowing with the amount of horses we had here. We filled this place up and I wanted to have four or five runners every Saturday, but then we realised that it’s easier to go to the races with one or two that you’ve got cherry ripe, than taking big numbers.”
Chris, a renowned hands-on trainer who prides his stable on catering for the individual needs of each horse, says he has seen a noticeable difference since restricting their training numbers to a maximum of 20.
“It’s incredible how much a few more horses changes things,” he said. “I don’t think more horses means more winners. It can be quite the opposite, actually.”
Chris and Michael’s grandfather, Michele, was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for his service to the Italian community and has been knighted by the Italian government. The former President of the Perth Italian Club also introduced the famous Roma Cup to WA racing in 1966, making it a long-time family ambition to win the iconic feature race. In 2017, the Gangemis lived that dream when preparing Rock Magic to win and Durrendal to place third in the $250,000 Group Three event. 12 months later, the brothers went one better when achieving a Roma Cup trifecta with Rock Magic, Battle Hero and Durrendal.
“It was great to trifecta it, but it was very sweet to win it the first time because we’d been trying to do it,” Michael said. “It was probably better than any Group One to have our Nonno there. He was read his last rights within 12 months prior to that. I was there when the priest was blessing him and I told him we were going to win him that race one day, so to do that with him in the mounting enclosure was pretty bloody special.”
Michael believes enjoying the experience is essential to racehorse ownership and loves seeing the sport bring family and friends together.
“I remember a day very clearly of a horse called Three Amigos,” Michael said. “He won a Saturday race and it was Chris, Dad and myself in the mounting enclosure. It was a buzz, being a Saturday at Ascot, but I thought ‘this is great, but it would be more fun to share it with people’. We just love having fun and that’s what it’s all about, that’s why we do it. It’s not easy to win a race and I think that the owners we have on board know that the expectation isn’t to win all the time so, when it does happen, everyone gets on board and has a good time.”
John Gangemi, fresh off an astonishing Broome season where he prepared 11 winners from 22 starters, including the $150,000 Broome Cup, summarised his sons’ success by crediting them for altering his own training methods.
“Five years ago, I’d tell the kids what to do,” John said. “Now I ring Chris and say ‘what do I do here’. The times have changed and gone full circle!”
Michael Heaton