Aeliana’s late charge into second place in the $1.5million Group I MRC Thousand Guineas last Saturday stamped her as the filly to follow out of the race, but it wasn’t quite enough to put her sire Castelvecchio to the top of the second season sires list and he is now out of service at Arrowfield following surgery last week.
Castelvecchio presented initially with symptoms of colic, but further investigation revealed the presence of an enterolith, a rare stony mineral mass that forms and then can block the colon requiring surgery. It’s a rare condition for a horse in the sort of environment that Castelvecchio enjoys, however is recoverable and expectation is that he will resume service next spring.
As a result, breeders are missing out on late season covers to one of the most progressive sires on the second crop table with division leader Too Darn Hot (GB) a no show in Australia this spring for Darley.
