Sarti (NZ)
4 g Snitzel – Guiseppina by Johar
O: Sir Peter Vela
B: Pencarrow Thoroughbreds
T: Ken and Bev Kelso
W: Keith Stringer Maiden 1200, 1200 metres, January 8, Tauranga
Regally-bred gelding Sarti (Snitzel) made the perfect start to his career when winning impressively on debut at Tauranga on Thursday.
A son of the late four-time champion sire Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) and Group 1-winning Johar (Gone West) mare Guiseppina, Sarti is a half-brother to Group 3 winner Tavi Time (Tavistock) and was bred by his owner Sir Peter Vela under his Pencarrow Thoroughbreds banner.
Trained by Ken and Bev Kelso, the four-year-old had three trials prior to his debut, with his latest being a winning performance over 800 metres at Pukekohe last month.
Despite his breeding and promise, there was greater fervour surrounding fellow debutant Pilates (Savabeel) in the 1200-metre maiden contest, with the filly backed into a $1.40 favourite on the back of two trial victories late last year.
From his outside draw, jockey Vinnie Colgan took Sarti straight back to settle at the rear of the field. Turning for home, the gelding unleashed a good turn of foot to run over the top of his rivals and win by a length over Deep Pursuit (Deep Field), with a further length back to Pilates in third.
“He drew a bit niggly and we elected to go back,” Colgan said. “We were going to be happy with him punching through the line, and he did a bit more than that, so it was pretty impressive.”
Ken Kelso was also impressed with Sarti’s debut performance.
“I wouldn’t say it is a surprise. His trials have been okay, but trials are trials,” he said. “We have just had to wait for him, he is a big, lean machine and has taken time, but he has always shown ability.
“I told Vinnie to let him find his feet, get him balanced up and hopefully he can find the line, and that is what he did.”
Kelso has tasted plenty of success with horses he has trained for Sir Peter Vela, most recently Group 1 performer Supera (Savabeel), and he is hoping Sarti can reach similar heights.
“We have had a lot of luck for Sir Peter and it is good to get another one,” Kelso said. “Hopefully he can go on and be as good as some of the others.”
While he holds high hopes for Sarti, Kelso said he will continue his patient approach.
“He is a four-year-old and a gelding, so we will just take our time with him and he will go through the grades,” he said. “Hopefully he will keep developing as we go along.”
Pencarrow Stud will offer the current yearling from Guiseppina, a colt by U S Navy Flag (War Front) at Karaka Book 1 as Lot 465.