Castagnola Catches The Eye At Ballarat

First up from a spell and first up for new trainer Peter Moody, highly talented four year-old gelding Castagnola could not have been more impressive when bolting in at Ballarat on Sunday.

Rockmount pretrainer Castagnola made it three wins from four starts when he cruised clear to win the Ratings 78 event over 1200 metres by more than three lengths.

Previously trained at the Gold Coast by Bryan Guy for prominent owner Ron Wanless, Castagnola won by 10 lengths at Eagle Farm back in January and has obviously brought a good deal of that ability with him to Melbourne.

Bred by Senga Bissett and Ivan Woodford-Smith of Ashleigh Thoroughbreds, Castagnola is a half-brother to Group Two placed Silver Ninja, who is also a Hong Kong winner under the name of Lhojong.

The third most expensive yearling from the first crop of his sire Untouchable, Castagnola is from Safe Hit (NZ), a half-sister by leading broodmare sire Straight Strike (USA) to Group Three winner Zafar.