Perfect start for Deep Impact’s $1.9 million son Profondo
Ottavio Galletta’s phone was ringing so incessantly in the hours after Profondo (Deep Impact), the $1.9 million colt he bought “on a whim” last year, made the perfect start to his highly touted career that he told trainer Richard Litt to wait to give him the post-race rundown until last night.
One of the first on the phone to Sydney-based Galletta and his wife Wendy after the colt’s victory in the opening race on yesterday’s Kensington card was Arrowfield Stud’s John Messara, who sent Widden Stakes (Gr 3, 1100m) winner Honesty Prevails (Redoute’s Choice) to Japan in 2017 to be covered by the now late Japanese champion sire Deep Impact (Sunday Silence), a mating which produced Profondo, the 2020 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale-topper.
Profondo ($3.60), an alarming late drifter in betting, lengthened in the straight to maintain a head margin over the Clarry Conners-trained Mokolua (Redoute’s Choice) ($14), with French Emperor (Tavistock) ($41) a further one and a half lengths away in third in the 1st Crop Magna Grecia Foals Handicap (1400m), a three-year-old maiden.
Profondo had barrier trialled on four occasions across two preparations and the Gallettas were well aware of the public expectation placed on the colt but now he’s a winner, he could follow the path set by their Group 1 winner Castelvecchio (Dundeel) and target this year’s Cox Plate (Gr 1, 2040m) at Moonee Valley.
“I was a bit nervous with all the expectation but we were very confident. The horse has been going well and he has been trialling well,” Ottavio Galletta told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“We have got the Caulfield Guineas, we’ve got the Cox Plate, we’ve got the Spring Champion.
“Richard will know where we go with him, whether that’s Melbourne or not, but we have a lot of options with him.”
Litt would not be drawn on an immediate plan for Profondo despite the apparent merit of the colt’s win.
“My team at home and our support group is wonderful,” he said.
“We thought we presented him very well and he showed that today.
“He’ll take a lot of improvement out of that, I know that for sure. Fourteen hundred metres first-up isn’t easy for any horse, but he seems to have handled that really well.
“Onwards and upwards.”
Profondo, ridden by Robbie Dolan, was caught wide in the early stages after jumping from barrier seven. The jockey was then able to settle the colt and find a midfield position with cover through the middle stages of the race.
It was a winning return for Dolan, who had not ridden in a race since May after suffering from a nerve injury in his arm.
“First ride back you always feel a few butterflies in your stomach,” he said.
“Everyone I know has been ringing me about this horse and I just kept saying the same thing, ‘you’ll have to wait until the race’.
“He came off the bit there and just got a little bit lost with the other horses around him.
“But he stuck his nose out right through the line and even up a furlong after the line, he was strong again trying to pull up.
“He’s up there with one of the nicest young horses I’ve sat on, I’ll say that.
“For him to do that and still be very green, he’s definitely got a lot of upside.”
While yet to speak to Litt, Galletta could see for himself that his decision to not pressure Profondo to get to the races as a late two-year-old could pay off.
“Richard was ringing me up but I haven’t been able to speak to him (yet) with the number of phone calls coming through,” Galletta said.
“John Messara and everyone has been ringing so I said to him to speak to me tonight.
“We were always going to be patient. The horse will get better with age. If you don’t pressure them too much, then the patience will pay off.”
Galletta made the decisive decision to buy Profondo at the 2020 Gold Coast sale after keeping his interest hidden from Messara. He sought feedback at the time from Duncan Grimley and Dane Robinson before ordering Litt to get on a flight from Sydney to the Gold Coast in the hours before the Deep Impact colt went through the ring.
“I bought him over the phone. He was bought off the cuff really,” he said.
“Bon Ho was the under bidder, but I was always going to buy him.”
The second foal out of Honesty Prevails, who was trained by the late Rick Worthington, by Arrowfield shuttler Shalaa (Invincible Spirit) sold to James Harron for $1.15 million at this year’s Gold Coast sale.
She also has a Dundeel (High Chaparral) colt born last year but she did not get in foal in 2020.