Son of Group 1 winner Samantha Miss heads to Birdsville

By Glenn Davis

It will be a rare event when the son of a multiple Group 1-winning mare starts at the iconic two-day Birdsville Cup meeting which gets under way on Friday.

That will be the case when the Corey and Kylie Geran-trained Sammy lines up on day one in the Open Handicap over 1200 metres.

Sammy is a son of the Kris Lees-trained Samantha Miss.

Samantha Miss won three Group 1 races and earned more than $1.75 million in prize money before being sold as a broodmare for $3.85 million.

As a three-year-old Samantha Miss won all four legs of the famous Princess Series in Sydney in the Silver Shadow Stakes, Furious Stakes, Tea Rose Stakes and Flight Stakes.

Sammy was bred and raced by John Singleton earlier in his career before he was sold for $40,000 at an Inglis digital sale and moved to 'Team Geran'.

Now a six-year-old, Sammy will be starting for the seventh time for the Toowoomba co-trainers.

Sammy is having his first start since beating one home in a Benchmark race over 1625 metres at Toowoomba on April 6.

“He’s first-up but he’s had two barrier trials in Toowoomba,” co-trainer Corey Geran said. 

“He races well fresh and he’s come back better than ever this preparation.”

Corey has made the long-haul to Birdsville a few times but will remain at home in Toowoomba to look after the stable.

“Mum and Dad are going to Birdsville this year while I look after our runners here,” Corey said.

“They’ve been to Birdsville four or five times and Dad (jockey Gary Geran) has won the Cup twice.

“Sammy won for us at the Sunshine Coast in February and then ran second at Eagle Farm, so we’re hoping he’ll race well if he handles the dirt.”

Meanwhile, jockey Gary Geran will get the chance for a third Birdsville Cup trophy when he partners on Torbreck on Saturday.

Torbeck won the Nanango Cup over 1600 metres last start but has never raced on a dirt track.

“He raced on the sand track at Roma once and didn’t go too good but he's never been on the dirt,” Corey said.

“He’s being set for the Country Cups Challenge in Brisbane later this year.”

Gary Geran’s Birdsville Cup wins were aboard Dancefloor Prodigy in 2012 and Just A Touch in 2011.