LEVATI DIMEZZO CONNECTIONS ARE LAUGHING ALL THE WAY TO THE BANK AFTER THE PLACID ARK PRELUDE

By Graham Potter | Saturday, October 31, 2026

It certainly was no laughing matter for the followers of the hot favourite when the King Of Comedy gelding Levati Dimezzo upstaged Afireofgidgeecoals in the Placid Ark Prelude at Ascot.

Afireofgidgeecoals was all the rage pre-race. The Daniel Morton trained colt was very much alone at the top of the betting boards, jumping at the restrictive odds of $1,40 … with the next runner, Morning Thunder, quoted at $7.50 … yet the predicted dominance of the Karrakatta winner never materialised in spite of being given what looked to be a comfortable run by Lucy Fiore.

Fiore had the favourite in third spot in the first half of the race, and Afireofgidgeecoals was still tracking the two leaders on the approach to the home turn, just two lengths back and angling two wide in clear air, seeming perfectly poised to strike.

At that stage Levati Dimezzo ($12) was double that distance behind the leader, racing in last place where he had been throughout the running.

Shortly after straightening, Fiore asked Afireofgidgeecoals to get to work and that brought the first sign that all might not go according to script as the two early leaders Hansadios ($11) and Gaintree ($19) … who enjoyed a 6kg and a 5kg weight advantage over the Morton trained runner respectively … kicked on with meaning, leaving Afireofgidgeecoals working harder to try and close the gap than anyone would have anticipated.

It was a grind the whole length of the straight for Afireofgidgeecoals, but, to his credit, he did get to the front with 25m left to run, but he was still going to be denied victory.

Fiore would not have seen Levati Dimezzo coming.

Clint Johnston-Porter had bided his time aboard the Chris and Michael Gangemi trained runner all the way until the 200m where he still raced at the rear of the field.

With plenty of horse underneath him, Johnston-Porter then had to find a safe path forward for Levati Dimezzo, and that route came in two parts.

First Levati Dimezzo took a gap between two tiring runners, and he did that by responding to Johnston-Porter putting his foot on the accelerator, quickly building enough momentum to take a marginal switch outwards in full stride as he moved across the heels of the duelling trio in front of him … then got up alongside Afireofgidgeecoals … and then went past the favourite to claim a well-timed victory by a widening 0.49 length margin.

In defence of Afireofgidgeecoals, the weight differential … he did carry a steadying 4kg more than Levati Dimezzo … and the fact that his best runs have come over more ground, underlined the merit of his run, even if it did not produce the result the betting had predicted.

All credit must go to Levati Dimezzo though, not only for the win (this was the first time he was saluting in five starts) but for the manner in which he achieved the success, coming from well off the pace.

The win was also a just reward for Levati Dimezzo’ consistency as he had finished in second place in three of his previous four starts.

The decision by the stable to scratch Levati Dimezzo from a race at Belmont three days earlier proved to be a very lucrative call as Levati Dimezzo added $54 000 to name to take his prize-money pool to $121 830.