The colt that got away – Portelli eyes Coolmore payback with Castelvecchio’s daughter

Gary Portelli still wrestles with the torment of a rare misstep in a training career that has delivered two Golden Slipper triumphs among almost 1200 winners.

But he is at least thankful he can get himself on the right side of racing’s ledger in the $1 million Coolmore Classic with Verona Rose, the daughter of a stallion that could have easily had his name adorned on the honour board of his Warwick Farm stable.

For almost a decade now, Arrowfield Stud’s resident sire Castelvecchio has never been far from Portelli’s thoughts – of the worst and best kind.

To this day, Portelli is convinced Castelvecchio could easily have been in his stable if one instant at the 2018 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale had gone differently.

It remains one of those sliding-door moments that replays endlessly in his head – the horse that got away before he even had the chance to bid for him in the auction ring.

Portelli had seen the colt and loved him, particularly because of a link to a family he already knew well through a Redoute’s Choice mare called Mirrasalo, which he had trained years earlier.

But when the horse came up for sale, chaos intervened.

“It was early in the sale and someone bought me a horse and I got dragged away and completely lost concept of time,” Portelli said.

By the time his racing manager called asking if he had bought the colt, the hammer had already fallen.

“Did you buy that colt? She said. I said, ‘what colt?’ She said, ‘the Dundeel colt’ – and I said ‘you’re kidding, has he gone through?’”

The price only added to the frustration.

“At $150,000 it wasn’t a lot of money,” Portelli said.

Ottavio Galletta, a high-profile construction industry figure, was the successful bidder, and before Portelli could track him down, the colt had already found his way into the stable of fellow Warwick Farm trainer Richard Litt.

“He (Galletta) had deep pockets. He might have challenged me and he might have been too strong but I certainly feel like I would have liked to have the chance. It could have been a different story,” Portelli said. 

What followed was Portelli’s worst nightmare.

An eye-popping win in the Inglis Millennium was parlayed into a Group 1 success in the Champagne Stakes, the final leg of Sydney racing’s triple crown for two-year-olds.

Castelvecchio’s record blossomed even further as a three-year-old, finishing runner-up to Japan’s Lys Gracieux in the 2019 Cox Plate before winning the Rosehill Guineas in a penultimate start before retirement.

“At his first start, I had to watch him beat a horse I trained and then win the Millennium and go around in the Cox Plate,” Portelli said.

“He just taunted me senseless that horse.”

Now, Portelli finally has a piece of Castelvecchio in his stable – and she is giving him a genuine Group 1 chance.

Verona Rose, a $40,000 purchase, heads into the Coolmore Classic after winning the Guy Walter Stakes at Group 2 level, building a preparation that has convinced her trainer she belongs at the elite level.

“She goes into the race in form and that’s very important with mares because some mares race consistently and don’t win, but some mares like to win and that’s one thing she does like to do,” Portelli said.

The mare’s rise to Group 1 company has been gradual rather than explosive.

Portelli said she briefly lost her way as a three-year-old when asked to stretch out in distance before she was physically ready to match a stamina-laden bloodlines.

“She just developed and she’s a different horse now … she’s come back every preparation faster and stronger,” Portelli said.

“Her pedigree is just littered with stayers and mile-and-a-quarter horses.”

A Group winner last March and successful in the Inglis Bracelet in November, Verona Rose has snared the Group 2 Guy Walter Stakes at @royalrandwick with a sizzling finish over the 1400m.

A 4YO mare by @ArrowfieldStud’s Castelvecchio, Verona Rose takes her earnings over $700k… https://t.co/OWJnKH3GAo

— Aushorse (@Aushorse_TBA) February 28, 2026

Even so, she is not the typical yearling Portelli buys.

The trainer has long built his stable model around precocious two-year-olds — the type of horses owners can see racing early and potentially targeting rich juvenile races.

“They’re the ones I can sell easier,” Portelli said.

“I’ve learned over the years what my market is and what people expect when they buy one from me.

“I’m buying them by (Golden) Slipper winners and fast stallions because I’m trying to buy horses that can run early,” Portelli said.

But in 2023, that year he deliberately decided to change tack.

“I sent an email to my clients saying I was going to try and buy a potential Oaks filly and do something different,” he said.

Verona Rose’s rise as a legitimate Group 1 horse comes during a season where Portelli’s usually powerful two-year-old team has not produced the same early fireworks.

“I’ve got a lot of horses with ability but they’re going to take a bit of time so they’re probably going to be three-year-olds before we see the best of them,” he said.

That only adds to stable expectation around Verona Rose in the Coolmore Classic – Australia’s only Group 1 race for fillies and mares decided under handicap conditions.

And if she does, it will also give Portelli the smallest measure of revenge on the horse that slipped through his fingers.

“I’ve got one of his (Castelvecchio) progeny now that’s a top chance in a Group 1, so hopefully I might get a little bit of redemption,” he said.