Australia: Samoot looks for repeat in Royal Randwick handicap

Last June, Samoot finished second of 21 as the 5-1 favorite in the Sandringham Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Royal Ascot in England.

Nearly a year later, Samoot is quickly establishing a reputation as a filly to watch in Australia. Samoot won her debut in that country in a handicap at 6 1/4 furlongs at Canterbury Park on Feb. 25 and will be favored to win her second start in a seven-furlong handicap on the infield Kensington course at Royal Randwick Racecourse in Sydney on Wednesday.

In early betting Monday, Samoot was the 8-5 favorite in a field of 11 that included two other recent imports – Old Flame also from England and Verona from New Zealand.

Samoot was trained by Michael Stoute last year and is now based with Kris Lees in Australia. In the Feb. 25 race at Canterbury, Samoot closed from seventh in a field of eight to win by slightly more than three lengths.

On the Kensington course, Samoot will start from post 9 and will be ridden by Jason Collett, who was aboard at Canterbury.

The 4-year-old British-bred colt Old Flame will have his Australian debut at Randwick, and first start since a fourth-place finish in an 18-runner handicap at seven furlongs at Newbury Racecourse, west of London, last October. Old Flame won 2 of 4 starts in England, with the wins in minor races. He never ran in anything resembling a Royal Ascot race.

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Verona was fourth in consecutive Group 2 races in New Zealand in January at distances of 1 1/4 miles and a mile. This is her sixth start. She won her debut in a maiden race at seven furlongs last October.

Now trained by the powerful team of Ciaron Maher and David Eustace, Verona was not helped by drawing the outside post against Samoot and Old Flame.

The Kensington program at Randwick includes eight races beginning at 10:45 p.m. Eastern, or 7:45 p.m. Pacific, on Tuesday. Wagering is available through DRFBets.com.