Bright future predicted for Arrowfield’s exciting stallion Castelvecchio
Second-season sire enjoyed breakthrough stakes win courtesy of El Castello’s Gloaming Stakes triumph
On a red letter day for Arrowfield in which two horses they bred made the biggest headlines in the country, this may have escaped some notice: their young stallion Castelvecchio (Dundeel) appears to have officially launched as a sire.
Much attention focused elsewhere on Saturday, with Private Life (Written Tycoon) winning the Caulfield Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) and another Arrowfield-bred colt Switzerland (Snitzel) storming back to top form with a two-length win in Rosehill’s Roman Consul Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m).
But John Messara and company were just as delighted when El Castello (Castevecchio) became his second-season sire’s first black type winner in the Gloaming Stakes (Gr 3, 1800m), his third straight victory.
For good measure, 90 minutes later his Anthony Cummings-trained stablemate Motoscafo (Castelvecchio) became Castelvecchio’s eighth winner when she flew home to score by a length in her second start in a 1200-metre Kembla Grange maiden.
After a quiet first term of runners, Castelvecchio woke up on Sunday sitting fourth on Australia’s second season sires’ table, with six winners this season and among five sires on those standings with a stakes victor.
And with El Castello now a $4.50 second-favourite for Randwick’s Spring Champion Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) on October 28, and on the fourth line at $11 for the VRC Derby (Gr 1, 2500m), the future is looking bright for the eight-year-old stallion.
“Castelvecchio’s a beautiful horse, a magnificent horse, who was great on the track and has a terrific outcross pedigree behind him,” Arrowfield’s bloodstock manager Jon Freyer told ANZ.
“These races at this time of the season give breeders a clearer picture of what sort of trajectory these stallions are on, and a performance like that by El Castello would indicate to everybody that Castelvecchio is on an upward trajectory.
“If El Castello can go well in the Champion Stakes and VRC Derby, not only would it be good for Castelvecchio’s numbers, but he’d take some catching on the second season sires’ table.
“El Castello reminds me of Castelvecchio a lot, actually. He’s got the same beautiful flowing action, and his colour and markings are very similar too.”
Castelvecchio is also the sire of the Phillip Stokes-trained, Arrowfield-retained Comanche Miss, who ran a length second at Listed level to the smart Dawn Service (Justify) at her fourth start, and is bound for the VRC Wakeful Stakes (Gr 2, 2000m) on Derby Day.
Once the world’s top-rated three-year-old after his superb 1.5 length second to outstanding Japanese mare Lys Gracieux (Heart’s Cry) in the Cox Plate (Gr 1, 2040m), Castelvecchio had just two winners from 17 runners in his first season.
That came despite the stallion’s own success at two, winning the Inglis Millennium (RL, 1100m) and the ATC Champagne Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m).
This reads similarly to his barnmate and another Arrowfield legacy sire in The Autumn Sun (Redoute’s Choice), who was also a Group 1 winner at two but whose progeny have boomed at three.
“It can be a longer road to hoe with horses who aren’t going to get obvious pre-Christmas two-year-olds. Breeders sit back and wait for the results like he got yesterday [Saturday],” Freyer said.
“But you would hope that off the back of these results his numbers of mares will head upwards, and we are getting that feeling.
“Castelvecchio’s first crop sold very well. They were attractive, athletic horses and so a lot of trainers and agents like him as a prospect.
“Now he’s got runners out there and a couple of crops running in the next few months, his numbers will significantly increase I’m sure.
“There’s been good interest in him, but there’s nothing like a big Group win. We’ve had good enquiries about him since El Castello emerged, and I’d expect he’ll cover a lot more mares at the end of this season than some other stallions.”
Having covered books of 142, 106, 89 and 86, Castelvecchio remains on the bottom rung at Arrowfield, price-wise, at $22,000 (inc GST) alongside dual Derby winner Hitotsu (Maurice), whose first foals are hitting the ground, and Japanese shuttler Admire Mars (Daiwa Major), whose oldest are two.
Bred by Arrowfield – like Hitotsu and The Autumn Sun – Castelvecchio continues in the farm’s style by standing alongside his own sire Dundeel (High Chaparral). The Scone stud also has both Hitotsu and Maurice, and is into their third generation sparked by Danehill (Danzig)-Redoute’s Choice, with both Snitzel and The Autumn Sun.
Freyer said Arrowfield was confident in moving to stand Castelvecchio, whose stakes-winning, dual Group 1-placed dam St. Therese (Dehere) threw another Group 1 winner in Maid Of Heaven (Smart Missile) and Group 3 victor Mirrasalo (Redoute’s Choice), who in turn produced Group 3 scorer Mirra Vision (Lonhro) and stakes winner Mirra View (More Than Ready).
“He was a horse we knew really well. He’s got a great pedigree behind him, being a nice outcross out of a Dehere mare who’s been a great producer herself. She was a high class mare out of a high class mare. It’s a really top class family, and it’’s Danehill-free blood that will work with a lot of the blood we see here,” said Freyer, noting El Castello’s damsire was a son of Danehill in Fastnet Rock.
“Dundeel was emerging as a leading sire at that time, and we really like that High Chaparral line. It’s been one of the most dominant lines in this country.”
Freyer said the gelding who ran second to Private Life in the Caulfield Guineas – Feroce (Super Seth) – was by another second-season son of Dundeel. Super Seth is in fact now number 2 on the second season sires’ table behind Too Darn Hot (Dubawi), with four winners from 14 runners.
Another two sons of High Chaparral – Swettenham Stud’s Toronado and Coolmore’s So You Think – sit eighth and ninth on the general sires’ standings.
“The High Chaparral line is one that’s done very well here and I think it’ll breed on, as evidenced by what’s happening with those two new horses going to stud in Castelvecchio and Super Seth,” Freyer said. “We bought an interest in Militarize (Dundeel) for the same reason.
“When you get dominant sires like High Chaparral, and the line has been a success in terms of breeding on, you’d have to think a sire like Castelvecchio will be an attractive prospect.”
Arrowfield still believes Castelvecchio’s progeny can fire at two, given the right mares. El Castello did, after all, run second to the outstanding Broadsiding (Too Darn Hot) on debut at two, in Randwick’s Fernhill Stakes (Listed, 1600m).
While Dundeel has a reputation as a Classics sire, three of his eight Group 1 winners have ascended the top level at two. He’s had significantly more three-year-old than two-year-old runners – 515 to 157 – but his stakes winners to runners ratio is higher for his juveniles, at 4.45 per cent to 3.68 percent.
“I think they’ll be back-end two-year-olds, clearly,” Freyer said of Castelvecchio’s stock. “But like a lot of horses, it’ll be a bit mare dependent.
“We’ve seen what a good sire of three-year-olds The Autumn Sun is, but out of the right mares he’s getting Group winning two-year-olds.”
Meanwhile, Arrowfield were also delighted to see Saturday’s important victories for two Chris Waller-trained purchases from their drafts by Coolmore’s Tom Magnier – the $1.5 million Inglis Australian Easter Yearling buy Switzerland, and the $650,000 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale colt Private Life.
On top of that, South Australia’s first juvenile race of the season, Murray Bridge’s Moorundi Classic (900m) was taken out by a daughter of Arrowfield’s four-time champion sire Snitzel in Hiatus, trained by Team McEvoy.
Private Life is the third Group 1 winner sired by Written Tycoon from his one season standing at Arrowfield under arrangement with his former owners Woodside Park in 2020, before his sale to his current home Yulong.
He follows Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Lady Of Camelot and New Zealand’s Sistema Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) and Karaka Millions 2YO (RL, 1200m) winning filly Velocious, who helped the now 22-year-old Written Tycoon to champion two-year-old sire honours on both sides of the Tasman last season.
“It’s great to see Written Tycoon having such success from his one season with us,” Freyer said.
“That gave New South Wales breeders the opportunity to to get behind him, plus we got behind him very strongly and it’s worked out really well.”