Casamento was himself a top juvenile, winning the G1 Racing Post Trophy having gone down by just a head in the G1 National Stakes on only his second start.
It was no surprise that his first crop caught the attention of many renowned judges at both the foal and yearling sales. At the foal sales in 2014, his first crop was headed by a filly purchased for €210,000 and they averaged a mighty eight times their conception fee of €5,000. A year later, the sales ring judges remained equally impressed by Casamento’s stock as his average climbed to over nine times his fee and were headed by eight six-figure purchases.
It was perhaps then little wonder that his first crop continued to attract attention when they reached the racecourse in 2016.
His tally of 15 winners of 21 races in Europe includes winners in no fewer than six countries.
Casamento’s leading runners include the highly-regarded Kings Gift, who caught the eye when breaking his maiden at Ayr in August, before following up with a four-length victory in a nursery at Redcar a month later. Even better was to come when the colt took on a field of 12 rivals for the G3 Horris Hill Stakes at Newbury in October and finished a strong second.
In the same month, Kings Gift’s paternal half-sister Stamp Collecting, also a dual scorer, achieved nearly the same feat in Italy when finishing third in the G3 Premio Dormello in Milan. The filly went on to finish a close second in Listed company on her final start of the season in early November.
Other notable runners include Glastonbury Song, the easy winner of his maiden in September who holds an entry for the Irish 2,000 Guineas in May; Noivado, another of Ger Lyons’ charges, the impressive winner of a competitive Fairyhouse maiden in July who followed up at Naas in September; Silver Casina who recorded a hat-trick of victories in Italy; and Rythmique, who saw off a large field in a nine-furlong Deauville maiden in eye-catching fashion in December.
Casamento has covered large books in all of his seasons at stud to date, meaning there is plenty to look forward to in the coming months from both his three-year-olds and his latest crop of juveniles.
