Gangemis’ Magic touch with tried horses on show in Winterbottom
Life left in veterans as trio line up in Perth’s $1 million feature sprint at Ascot
Perth-based brothers Chris and Michael Gangemi have made an artform out of raiding eastern-state stables searching for relative diamonds in the rough in order to uncover horses capable of being rejuvenated in the west.
The exercise has been rather lucrative for the West Australia training partners who could have up to three runners, all of them tried horses sourced from NSW or Victoria, in Saturday’s Winterbottom Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) at Ascot.
Gangemi-trained veterans Rock Magic (Redoute’s Choice), a former Arrowfield-owned gelding who has won 12 races and had multiple Group 1 placings since since switching stables, and nine-year-old near $1 million earner Durendal (Medaglia d’Oro) are guaranteed starts in the $1 million feature sprint.
Relative stable newcomer Condor Heroes (Not A Single Doubt), a former Sun Stud-raced six-year-old gelding, is the emergency for the Winterbottom having already paid his new owners back “tenfold” since being purchased for just $10,000 in October last year.
The Gangemis’ trio all clashed last start in the Colonel Reeves Stakes (Gr 3, 1100m) at Ascot last Saturday week when striking a heavy track.
Rock Magic, Durendal and Condor Heroes ran fifth, sixth and eighth respectively.
The wet track counted against Rock Magic, according to Michael Gangemi, and he is positive the 11-year-old can run another big race in the Winterbottom, having ran third in 2016 and again last year.
“Jarrad (Noske, jockey) said that he travelled into it but that he just couldn’t hit that top gear that he’s got, so we’re really looking forward to getting him on top of the ground this week again,” Gangemi told ANZ Bloodstock News yesterday.
“It was only 12 months ago when he ran fourth in a Manikato behind Loving Gaby and behind Hey Doc in a Winterbottom, and he’s only 12 months older than that, He’s 11 but if he managed to do that at ten there’s no reason why he can’t do it again at 11.”
In 2014, a deal was negotiated between the Gangemis and Arrowfield’s John and Paul Messara, who was training Rock Magic at the time, and the new owners have enjoyed a tremendous ride ever since.
“He was a Redoute’s Choice who had shown a really good form early, but then he dropped right off the boil at his last few and he’d had a few issues,” Gangemi recalled.
“He was the sort of profile we look for – a horse who had shown a lot but gone off the boil. We were lucky enough to get him back and he has just been a Godsend to the family and all his owners for a long period of time.
“He’s taken everyone on an amazing ride. He has run fourth in a Newmarket, fourth in a Manikato, a William Reid, a Lightning Stakes. Third in two Winterbottoms, second in a Schillaci, if anyone deserves to win a Winterbottom, it is probably him.”
Durendal, a horse initially raced by prominent Victorian owner-breeder David Moodie and trained by Mathew Ellerton and Simon Zahra, has also been a good investment for the Gangemis.
“He always takes a few runs to come right and, now that he is older, he’s taken even longer but he wanted to do it the other day,” Gangemi continued.
“He showed he had that zest back for racing and we wanted to see that because his first two runs this preparation were pretty plain, but we were really happy with his run the other day and he doesn’t really stretch out on the heavy, either.
“He’s only small and he’s up in the ratings, so he always has to carry weight and he needs things to go his way in races. He is just shy of a million dollars in prize-money, so he’s been a super horse.”
As for Condor Heroes, a sprinter who spent time firstly with Gerald Ryan before a brief stint at Lindsay Park, has already put his new owners in front.
He led the Colonel Reeves field up before tiring late.
Gangemi said: “He has several issues and it’s very hard to get runs into him and get him fit, which probably told on him last start, but he had also missed the Prince Of Wales and he had missed a few weeks’ work as well.
“But now that he has got that 1100-metre run on a bog track under him, I expect him to improve dramatically from a fitness point of view Saturday.”
While there is arguably now more competition from buyers seeking tried horses than there was previously, Gangemi says the digitisation of the marketplace has helped them find more horses to syndicate.
“To be honest, it was a lot harder previously because they were only (being sold) through a few bloodstock agents and it was really hard to find a nice one,” he said.
“We have a good relationship with Arrowfield where we bought a few of their tried horses with a fair bit of success, and that is where Rocky (Rock Magic) came from.
“But just recently, with these online digital platforms with Inglis Digital, Gavelhouse and places like that, it makes these tried horses more available, but you’ve still got to sift through to find the diamonds amongst them.”
The brothers rely on some trusted contacts to help them identify the right candidates they believe they can turn around and others who are unlikely to meet their criteria.
“We have a lot of mates over east, which comes in handy, so we ask them a lot of questions. We ask around and see what we can find out,” he said.
“There’s certain things we know that we can’t fix and there are certain things that we might be able to patch up, so it comes down to horses for courses. There are certain things we try to avoid, particularly if they have had certain injuries.
“We don’t win them all but we have managed to have a little bit of success.”
At the other end of the scale, the Gangemis are also behind King’s Troop (Redoute’s Choice) – another tried horse purchase from Arrowfield Stud whose career did not reach the heights in Perth of his stablemates – but his pedigree demanded he find a home at stud.
Runner-up to subsequent Group 1 winner Japonisme (Choisir) at his first start as a two-year-old, he was also runner-up to the same horse at three in the San Domenico Stakes (Gr 3, 1100m) before another seven runs for Sydney trainer Gerald Ryan before being sold to the Gangemis.
He ran three times, all at Listed level, in Perth before being retired to Oakland Park Stud in 2017 where he has covered small books of mares.
“We bought him off Arrowfield and he had a couple of runs over here in the west, but unfortunately he succumbed to an injury,” says Gangemi.
“Being a three-quarter brother to Snitzel, there was definitely no blood like him over here in the west, so we thought we’d stand him.
“He’s thrown some unbelievable types and his oldest are two-year-olds at the moment and there’s massive raps on them already.
“He hasn’t had any triallers or runners yet, but we’ve got a couple and we’re taking our time as we’ve got a massive opinion of them.”