‘Castle’ Family Produces Royalty
One of the eye catching performances from this weekend’s races came from a three year old colt in the Grade Three Untouchable Stakes. Run at a mile on the turf for three year olds, the race attracted a field of twelve including grade three winner and grade one placed Pirogue as well as grade three winner Buzz Year. Buzz Year led from the start but it was the up and coming Sea the Stars colt Inveraray Castle, a lightly raced colt who closed from ninth to win going away. Inveraray Castle looks like a horse on the rise and comes from a family that suggests there is more to come.
When your dam is a grade two winner by Sadler’s Wells and your sire is Giant’s Causeway there are big expectations on your shoulders from the get go. So it was for Esterhazy Castle when she debuted as a two year old in 2009. Her dam Clifden Castle (Sadler’s Wells x Thatching) did not start her career until late in her three year old season. She was a consistent stakes performer at four and a graded winner at both five and six years old. When the time came for her to retire to the breeding shed Giant’s Causeway seemed like an easy choice. Esterhazy Castle debuted in November of 2011. She won easily at first asking going seven furlongs but it took a while for her to find her stride in her career. By July of 2012 she was hitting the board consistently. She ended up with a preference for turf sprinting and as a four year old she won two grade threes going six furlongs. She finished the year with a third place finish in a grade one, beaten only one length. As a five year old she added another grade three victory. There are few grade one opportunities for fillies in turf sprints and so it was that Esterhazy Castle took on the males in the Grade One MGD Special at six and one half furlongs. The field was very competitive and included six eventual grade one winners plus three grade two winners. In the end four horses finished on the wire together with less than a length separating them but it was Esterhazy Castle’s head that was in front. That win earned the mare a spot in the Breeders’ Bowl Turf Sprint and she acquitted herself well by finishing second behind champion Cabsarehere.
Esterhazy Castle continued racing into 2013 but she seemed to have lost a step at age six. Although she did finish third in a grade three she missed the board more often than she hit it and it was time for her second career to begin. Esterhazy Castle was bred to Street Cry and produced Cardiff Castle, a colt. Cardiff Castle was an unremarkable two year old but by age three he began routing and put together a five race win streak. He ran through his allowance conditions before adding the Grade Two Dante’s Inferno at a mile and five sixteenths and the Grade One Queen’s Dish at a mile and one quarter. But when he tried a mile and one half the fireworks really went off. He won the Grade Two O’Neal against fellow three year olds as a prep for the Grade One Coffeefields Cup against older horses. He ended the year with a second in the Grade One Japan Classic. He entered his four year old season with great expectations and though he didn’t win another grade one he did finish second in the Canada Turf and third, beaten only one quarter length in the Breeders’ Bowl Turf. He was bred to King Kamehameha at the end of the season, producing the winning colt Linderhof Castle who is a three year old this year.
Clifden Castle went on to produce grade two winner Arundel Castle and stakes winner Bittenburg Castle. In addition to her two graded stakes winning offspring Esterhazy Castle has an allowance winning son by Dalakhani and an unraced two year old filly by Lonhro. She’s only nine years old and it will be interesting to see how her broodmare career continues.