Gandi Becomes First Winner for Royal Artillery

Royal Artillery , a group 3 winner in England, sired his first winner when 3-year-old Gandi  went wire-to-wire to capture a maiden special weight at Penn National Race Course April 8.

Bred in Pennsylvania by Dr. William Solomon, who also owns the gelding, Gandi set splits of :22.60 and :45.74 before drawing away down the lane to score by 3 1/2 lengths at the wire. He clocked the six furlongs on a good main track in 1:11.35.

Out of the winning Coastal Storm  mare Rebel Rosemary , Gandi is trained by George Albright and was ridden by Emilio Flores.

Royal Artillery, a son of War Front   and out of the grade 2-winning Dynaformer  mare Masseuse , was retired to stand stud in 2018 after earning $144,789 on the track. Initially trained by John Gosden in Europe, he was then sent to North America as a 5-year-old and placed on the dirt in the 2019 Champions Day Marathon Overnight Stakes Presented by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance at Churchill Downs.

The 9-year-old stallion initially stood at Solomon's Pin Oak Lane Farm in New Freedom, Pa., in 2018. He was then transferred to Hidden Spring Farms in Indiana in 2020. For the 2021 breeding season, he stood at the Indiana Stallion Station in Anderson, Ind., for a fee of $1,500.

Royal Artillery was the second-highest-priced weanling at the 2013 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky November sale, bringing a final bid of $450,000 from Aisling Duignan.