Castelvecchio the Cox Plate colt
At the pressure point of the 2019 Cox Plate, Castelvecchio (green cap) leads a stellar field into the straight as Japan's champion Lys Gracieux (red cap) looms outside him. (PHOTO: Bronwen Healy)
Castelvecchio has put himself centre stage in the past fortnight with two impressive first-crop 3YO stakeswinners on major racedays at Rosehill and Randwick: Gloaming S. G3 winner El Castello on 12 October and Reginald Allen LR winner Aeliana on 19 October.
Both horses have big goals in front of them. El Castello is second favourite for the $2 million Spring Champion S. G1 at Randwick this coming Saturday, and Aeliana is on the second line of betting for the $1.5 million Thousand Guineas G1 on 16 November. A third Castelvecchio 3YO, debut winner Double Market, is currently a $4.80 chance in Saturday’s Moonee Valley Fillies Classic G2.
Castelvecchio’s First Stakeswinners (PHOTOS: Darren Tindale & Sportpix)
It’s not surprising that Castelvecchio’s progeny are stepping up as Spring 3YOs, because that’s what he did himself.
Yes, he was a high-class, Group 1-winning, record-setting 2YO. But the peak performance of Castelvecchio’s meteoric career came in October 2019, nine months after his juvenile debut. It tells us a lot about what he’s capable of as a stallion.
That peak performance was in the 2019 Cox Plate over The Valley’s famous 2040-metre course – rated among the world’s top 10 Group 1 races of that year, and one of the 3 top-rated editions of the Cox Plate since 2013.
It’s even more obvious now what a spectacular field it was: 14 runners with Group 1 form in 10 countries, 37 Group 1 victories among them, and most of them posted their career-best ratings in 2019.
The winner Lys Gracieux returned to Japan to defeat an all-star field by 5 lengths in the Arima Kinen G1, clinching her Horse of the Year title and a top 5 world ranking. Five years later Castelvecchio’s 2nd, only 1.5 lengths behind her, has not lost any of its shine.
Lys Gracieux has been named @HorseRacing_JPN Horse of the Year – lets take a look back at her @CoxPlate…. it would be rude not to! #リスグラシュー #JRA #競馬 #騎手 pic.twitter.com/JWx59maEb2
— Racing.com (@Racing) January 8, 2020
Remembering all of this made us curious about how the pace of Castelvecchio’s stud record in Australia compares with other Cox Plate colts Savabeel, So You Think & Shamus Award.
It turns out that with two Australian stakeswinners in the Spring of his progeny’s second racing season, Castelvecchio is tracking ahead of that illustrious trio – now the sires of 227 stakeswinners including 50 G1 winners – at the same stage.
And by fate or co-incidence, his first Group 1 runner El Castello is set to contest the Spring Champion Stakes on Cox Plate day…
