January 3 - Horses rarely win a race anywhere by a margin of ten lengths but it happened at Eagle Farm on Saturday when the open three year-old event over 1200 metres was won in a cakewalk by unbeaten Castagnola, a $220,000 purchase for Keiran Moore Bloodstock from the Southern Cross Breeders at the 2007 Magic Millions Yearling Sale.

Trained at the Gold Coast by Bryan Guy for prominent owner Ron Wanless, Castagnola looked impressive when winning his maiden at the Sunshine Coast on December 14 and the son of Untouchable ran right up to that form in giving his rivals in this tougher assignment a good old fashioned thrashing.

He led from the jump and relished the slow conditions, drawing away to make it two wins in as many starts, stamping himself as a horse of considerable potential.

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.

His dam Safe Hit (NZ) is a half-sister by leading broodmare sire Straight Strike (USA) to Group Three winner Zafar, while his sire Untouchable has yet to really make his mark, although Castagnola (pictured above as a yearling) was his third most expensive yearling sold from his debut crop so is entitled to be above average.

Southern Cross Breeders will present another outstanding consignment for Magic Millions starting on Wednesday with all pedigrees and photos available here.