Belated debut a winning one for richly bred Sarti

Regally bred gelding Sarti has a long way to go to live up to his pedigree, but he made the perfect start to his career when winning impressively on debut at Tauranga on Thursday.

A son of champion sire Snitzel and Group 1-winning mare Guiseppina, Sarti was bred by Sir Peter Vela, under his Pencarrow Thoroughbreds banner, and races in his familiar blue and white silks for trainers Ken and Bev Kelso.

The Matamata couple have taken a patient approach with the four-year-old.

From his outside draw, jockey Vinnie Colgan took Sarti straight back to settle at the rear of the field.

Turning for home, Colgan was able to extricate his charge off the rail and work their way to clear running room out wide where Sarti unleashed a good turn of foot to run over the top of his rivals to win by a length over Deep Pursuit, with a further length back to Pilates in third.

The Kelsos have tasted plenty of success with horses he has trained for Sir Peter Vela, most recently Group 1 performer Supera, and he is hoping Sarti can reach similar lofty heights.