Gangell hopes Im Eugene can be a Warragul show stopper

Young Tasmanian-born harness racing horsewoman Samantha Gangell will have mixed emotions as she harnesses up her in-form pacer Im Eugene (Artspeak) in Sunday’s Downtowner Warragul Pacing Cup.

The six-year-old took out the first heat of the cup at Cranbourne completing a hat trick of wins from three starts in Gangell’s care.

Gangell revealed that the horse was sold to WA interests this week.

“I decided to strike while the iron is hot and put him up for sale and people from WA purchased him,” Gangell said.

Gangell bought the son of Artspeak last month.

“He was advertised on Trading Ring for $8000 and he sparked my interest when he won at Melton in January going 1:55, so I thought he was worth a try,” she said.

Gangell enjoyed immediate success when Im Eugene led all the way on his home track at Cranbourne and promptly followed up with another front running win at the same track five days later.

Gangell believes a change of shoeing and allowing the pacer to run has proven a winning formula.

“He is a strong horse and in all three runs he’s found the front and been allowed to bowl along and feel more comfortable,” she said.

The step daughter of prominent Tasmanian trainer Eric Jacobson, Gangell moved to Victoria with her partner Zeke Slater 12 months ago.

“There are more employment opportunities over here and I have a good job working in Disability Services and there are a lot more race meetings over here compared to racing twice a week in Tasmania,” she said.

Gangell is realistic about Im Eugene’s chances in the Cup from his inside second row draw.

“I’ll leave it up to James (Herbertson) but we’ll need a bit of luck as he can fired up and you can’t afford to over 2600 metres,” she said.

The Warragul club’s decision to stage cup heats at Cranbourne and Ballarat for horses with a national rating up to 55 has ensured a field with a plethora of winning form.

The Andy Gath trained ex Kiwi Our Hampton scored an impressive win at his Australian debut sprinting hard from back in the field on the home turn in his heat win at Cranbourne.

The Alex Ashwood prepared three-year-old Tooram Magic, also a Cranbourne heat winner, is unbeaten in two starts while Keayang Tokyo resumed from a short spell with a victory at Ballarat after sitting parked.

Lightly raced three-year-old Maxnjax sprinted quickly off a three wide trail in his heat at Cranbourne for Philip Chircop and Jodi Quinlan.

by John Dunne, for Harness Racing Victoria