Total dominance by Gocciadoro in Orsi Mangelli as Axl Rose wins in Turin

by Thomas Hedlund

Alessandro Gocciadoro dominated the $405,000 Orsi Mangelli for 3-year-olds in Turin, Italy on Friday afternoon.
Two eliminations and a final resulted in the figures one, two, one, two, one, two, three and four for the Italian trainer and driver.

Alessandro Gocciadoro’s yellow racing colours are well known all over Europe by now and in his home country he dominates the sport completely. When the prestigious Orsi Mangelli was scheduled with two eliminations in Turin, Gocciadoro had seven out of 19 contenders behind the gate.

In the first heat, German bred Juan Bros (Muscle Mass) won, paired with Pietro Gubellini ahead of Alessandro Gocciadoro’s choice Aramis Ek.

Heat two resulted in victory for Amon You SM (Love You), driven by Antonio Greppi and runner up was Axl Rose (Love You) and Gocciadoro himself.

Axl Rose, who has been one of the most dominant 3-year-olds in the Italian crop ahead of this particular race, hit the lead after 500 meters in the final and behind him, beside him and everywhere around him, Gocciadoro trained horses made sure that Orsi Mangelli edition 2019 should be a total success for the “yellow” stable.

Axl Rose fought well when Amon You SM tried to challenge seriously at the stretch and Alessandro Gocciadoro had picked the right horse to make sure that he could celebrate the big victory in the bike. Axl Rose won in stake record 1:54.4 and behind the winner, stable mates Amon You SM, Aramis Ek and Ares Caf made the dominance total for Alessandro Gocciadoro.

Ready Cash mare Arnas Cam, trained by Erik Bondo and driven by Santo Mollo, sprinted to safe victory in $98,000 Orsi Mangelli Filly for 3-year-old mares. A second over trip was perfect for the speedy Ready Cash daughter who disarmed a brave first over racing Amber Prad over the home stretch. 1:57.1 was enough to win by three lengths.

Timo Nurmos won silver in gold

The $83,000 Silverhästen (silver horse) closed the V75 gamble at Solvalla on Saturday night and many great trotters were gathered for the final in the gold division. Recent Swedish champion Milliondollarrhyme (Ready Cash) was the first choice in the 1.3 miles long race, but a post position in second line made the trip difficult for Fredrik B Larsson’s horse. Milliondollarrhyme could never get close contact with leader Global Trustworthy (Muscle Hill), trained by Timo Nurmos and driven by Jorma Kontio.

Global Trustworthy was sent to the lead as soon as the car left the field of twelve trotters and it by looking at the race, it felt like the season has been long for many of the contenders. Horses such as Nadal Broline and Milligan’s School were never to the fore in the race and although Milliondollarrhyme made a strong last 5/8ths of a mile three wide, he could never reach more than a fifth place.

Global Trustworthy held on to a safe win in mile rate 1:56 ahead of Elian Web and Digital Ink.

Duo Nurmos / Kontio was successful even in the $52,000 Stoeliten for mares when Italian bred Une Etoile Gar (Varenne) picked up several lengths to leader Mellby Free (Muscle Hill) from fourth over during the last kilometer. Une Etoile Gar came to Nurmos’ stable this summer and after her second last victory, driver Jorma Kontio communicated that he strongly believes that Une Etoile Gar is a horse that will run a mile in 1:51 or below in Europe next summer.

Distance in Stoeliten was 1.6 miles and Une Etoile Gar came home in mile rate 1:58.

Peanuts in Finland

The $110,000 St Leger was held at Pori racetrack in Finland on Saturday afternoon and the winner was Peanuts (Andover Hall—From Heaven Above) and Jukka Torvinen.

Peanuts started 40 meters ahead of first choice Lexus Dream and took a clear wire to wire win in mile rate 2:01.2 over 1.6 miles.

Peanuts’ mother, From Heaven Above (S.J.’s Caviar), is bred by Dean A Hoffman in USA.