Castelvecchio honoured at Riverside Stables
Arrowfield-bred-&-sold Castelvecchio is the first Group 1 winner to emerge from the magnificent new Inglis Riverside Stables at Warwick Farm. (PHOTO: Arrowfield)
Among the special features of the historic Newmarket complex which Inglis has brought to the Riverside Stables is the tradition of plaques celebrating Group 1 winners sold from particular boxes.
The first auction held at Riverside was the 2018 Classic Sale and Lot 137, offered by Arrowfield and bought for $150,000 by Ottavio & Wendy Galletta, turned out to be Castelvecchio, the first Group 1 winner to emerge from that Sale, and from the new venue.
The Gallettas & Arrowfield’s Messara family joined Inglis Managing Director Mark Webster in the Big Barn at Riverside during this year’s Classic Sale to unveil the plaque honouring the colt’s achievement.
The son of Dundeel and St. Therese burst onto the Sydney racing landscape with a stunning long-odds debut win at Canterbury on 18 January 2019.
Twenty-two days later Castelvecchio won the $2 million ATC Inglis Millennium RLR for the Gallettas and his 29 year-old trainer Richard Litt.
Just over two months after that, on 20 April 2019, Castelvecchio displayed brilliant acceleration to take out the ATC Champagne S. G1. At season-end he was Timeform-rated 121 alongside Sires’ Produce G1 winner Microphone.
He resumed as a Spring 3YO to finish runner-up in the ATC Spring Champion S. G1 behind another 2018 Inglis Classic graduate, Shadow Hero, before stepping up to world-class weight-for-age company in the MVRC W.S. Cox Plate G1.
That resulted in a next-level performance for second, only 1.5 lengths behind Japan’s subsequent Horse of the Year Lys Gracieux. The mare was rated 126 on the 2019 LONGINES World’s Best Racehorse Rankings, with Castelvecchio awarded 120 in the Intermediate category, alongside two other Australian-bred 3YOs, Everest winner Yes Yes Yes and Hong Kong-based sprinting star Aethero.
Arrowfield has now bred and sold three of the first 7 Group 1 winners that have occupied boxes at Riverside: Alabama Express & Super Seth from 2018 Inglis Easter, and Castelvecchio.
Now raced by Arrowfield and partners with the Gallettas, Castelvecchio is set to open his Autumn campaign in the ATC Hobartville S. G2 on 22 February.
