No doubt a tough task

Six-year-old gelding, Samadoubt has earned himself a special kind of respect from trainer Bjorn Baker, and rightly so.

In his last preparation, he pulled off the best race campaign of his career - 4 wins from 9 starts, including his first black-type title in the Canberra Cup.

Samadoubt with trainer Bjorn Baker before heading to the spelling farm

The gelding returned to training at the Warwick Farm stable in June following a well-deserved spell.

Since then he has had one public barrier trial at Rosehill on the 6th August where he cruised in the lead to win the Group & Listed heat by an impressive 6.3 length margin.

The stable then gave Samadoubt a dash-up on the course proper at Canterbury as his final solid hit-out before picking out a race.

Initially, Bjorn Baker had some concerns about finding the right first-up target as the handicapping from his prior campaign saw Samadoubt’s rating go up 22 points, taking him from mid-week grade through to Group race company.

The plan was to nominate for him to resume on Saturday 24th August at Randwick in the Show County over 1200 but a backup nomination went in “just to have a look” in case the entries were lighter than expected for the Group One Winx Stakes over 1400m on the same day.

With only 9 acceptors for the Group One, Baker elected to resume Samadoubt in the Winx Stakes, conceding that although it is a big ask, he was happy to get the ball rolling this Saturday against the class field.

The slower tempo of the 7-furlong race should also allow the front-running galloper to establish the lead more easily and suit his natural race pattern better than the 1200m Show County.

One thing is certain, regardless of where Samadoubt finishes on Saturday, he will pick up at least a small cheque to add to his prizemoney of over half a million and lose no admirers in doing so.

Not bad for a $40,000 yearling purchase.

For anyone interested in becoming involved in racing Samadoubt’s half-sister with the team, check out her latest video and profile here - https://www.darbyracing.com/rothesay-x-isadora

Get in quick – only limited shares available!