Ken Casellas | Photo: Pacepix
Pinjarra trainer Madeliene Young looks certain to have a leading contender for the $150,000 WA Oaks on October 13 in exciting filly Castella Dellacqua, who made an impressive West Australian debut at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
But the 28-year-old Young was 19,000km away in New Jersey when her elder sister Jocelyn drove the Victorian-bred filly to victory in the $20,250 Jani-King Cleaning Pace.
Madeliene, anxious to improve her skills as a trainer, has been in America for the past three weeks gaining invaluable experience at the New Jersey stables of prominent trainer Richard Norman.
She left the preparation of Castella Dellacqua in the capable hands of her sister, who drove a perfect race to win Friday night’s 1730m event, watched by the filly’s owners Peter and Sue Gianni, who travelled the 600km from their home in Kalgoorlie.
Castella Dellacqua, a big, strong filly, was a $7.60 chance from barrier No. 2 on the back line, and Jocelyn quickly manoeuvred her into the prime one-out, one-back position, following the $4.60 favourite Our Sandy Shore, who was forced to race in the breeze after an unsuccessful early bid to take the lead from the polemarker and $5.50 chance Our Lililou.
Our Sandy Shore got to the front 220m from home before Castella Dellacqua got the upper hand 100m from the post and went on to beat Our Sandy Shore by a length, rating 1.54.8.
This gave Castella Dellacqua her second win from eleven starts, which included five placings in good company in New South Wales. Peter Gianni, who owns two gold mining companies in Kalgoorlie, bought the filly for $52,000 at the 2021 APG Melbourne yearling sale, and he named her after the Italian town of Castello, 55km north of Perugia, the ancestral home of the Gianni family.
“I named her Castella because it rhymed better with Dellacqua,” said Gianni. “I bought her on breeding, and she ticked all the boxes. And Act Now, the first foal out of her dam Mollys Ideal, was showing a lot of promise.”
Act Now had won at six of his first nine starts as a two-year-old, and he now boasts a fine record of 19 wins and 11 placings from 39 starts for stakes of $696,185, including two heat wins and a third placing behind I Cast No Shadow in the final of the 2022 Interdominion championship at Melton last December.
Gianni had no hesitation in sending Castella Dellacqua to prominent Sydney horseman Blake Fitzpatrick, who had trained and driven pacers for him, including Its Only Rocknroll, whose wins included the Group 1 New South Wales Breeders Challenge at Menangle in June 2014.
“Castella Dellacqua performed well in Sydney in strong company, and I always planned to bring her to WA,” said Gianni, who has enjoyed wonderful success in recent years with Mister Ardee, who has raced consistently for Madeliene Young and has had 246 starts for 32 wins, 71 placings and stakes of $368,815.
“Mister Ardee is now eleven and is almost ready to retire, and I needed another horse to take his place.” Among other successful pacers for Gianni have been Rockyourbaby and Mein Guy.