In his ninth career start, Gio Sammy scored perhaps the most convincing victory of the year for any son or daughter of First Dude, with an eye-catching performance in the first race at Mahoning Valley yesterday.

With Luis Rivera aboard, the 3-year-old gelding bred in Maryland by Ocala’s Best A Luck Farm led every step of the way in the one-mile race, and prompted track announcer John McGary’s stretch call, “Gio Sammy is crushing this field today.” After opening up an eight-length lead in mid-stretch, the gelding’s final margin was just shy of 15 lengths.

Gio Sammy finished off the board in his first two career starts this year, but he’s now 2-0-3-2 in his last seven, and he added $6,180 to his bank account yesterday. That was enough for First Dude to slip past Brethren again in their heated battle for the second spot behind Khozan on Florida’s leading sire list.