Czech star and French classic-placed Shamalgan found success in Italy as he captured the Premio Vittorio di Capua (Ity-I) in convincing fashion Sept. 29 at San Siro in Milan.
French trainer X. Thomas-Demeaulte secured the services of Maxime Guyon for Shamalgan, a 6-year-old Footstepsinthesand horse, who won by 2 1/2 lengths from Saint Bernard to secure his first group I win in the 1,600-meter (about one-mile) test.
Saint Bernard, a Three Valleys colt seeking to halt a 12-race winless drought, outfinished Italian stakes winner Nabucco by two lengths for second. Nabucco was aiming for a second successive win at San Siro and a breakthrough group I win.
Three starts back, Shamalgan won a listed stakes at Bordeaux le Bouscat in France, where in 2010 he finished third in the Prix d'Essai des Poulains (Fr-I, French Two Thousand Guineas). In 2011, he finished fifth behind winner Dick Turpin in the Vittorio di Capua. He made amends this in year's edition following a fourth-place finish in the Grand Prix de Vichy-Auvergene (Fr-III) July 17 and a seventh in the Celebration Mile (Eng-II) Aug. 24 at Goodwood in his previous start.
Czech Horse of the Year in 2010 and 2011, Shamalgan won the 2011 Darley Oettingen-Rennen (Ger-II) for Kazakh film director Ardak Amirkulov, who also campaigned Darsalam, Czech Horse of the Year in 2004 and 2005. Both were conditioned by Arslangirej Savujev. Czech-based Russian trainer Artur Resulov now trains most the owner's runners.
French-bred Shamalgan, who has raced in five nations, is out of the winning Unfuwain mare Genevale and is a half brother to Czech champion Chardonney Tcheque. He is from the second crop of Footstepsinthesand, an 11-year-old son of Giant's Causeway, who stands in Ireland for Coolmore. He is among 31 stakes winners for his sire.
