Trish Dunell
Multiple Group Two winner Saracino has recently joined the stable of Chris Gangemi and the five-year-old impressed the Western Australian trainer with his first outing in the Golden State.
The son of Per Incanto won his 950m trial comfortably by two and a half lengths at Lark Hill on Monday and will now be set towards black-type assignments.
“It was what we wanted to come here and see,” Gangemi said.
“He was a horse that Michael (Gangemi) picked up cheaply in an online auction a few months ago. His form had gone off, but he was a very nice three-year-old, he won the Gr.2 Danehill Stakes (Gr.2, 1200m) down the straight (at Flemington).
“From the time we have had him, he has done nothing but impress us. We just gave him a spell and started from scratch. He has been working like a top-class horse for the last month or so now, so it was good to see him do it at the trials, now he has got to do it race day.
“Saturday-week he will start in the Prince of Wales (Gr.3, 1200m) and all going well he will start in the Winterbottom (Gr.1, 1200m).”
Bred and formerly owned by Lib Petagna under his JML Bloodstock banner, Saracino was initially trained in New Zealand by Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman for whom he won three Group Two races and placed in the Gr.1 NRM Sprint (1400m) and Gr.1 Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m).