Despite getting shuffled back behind a wall of horses in Sunday’s Hong Kong Vase (G1), Giavellotto burst through a gap and flew to a new career high at Sha Tin. The Marco Botti charge furnished the only score for the visitors at the 2024 Hong Kong International Races while topping a British-based exacta with Dubai Honour. The favored Japanese filly, Stellenbosch, placed third.
Giavellotto was making just his second attempt at about 1 1/2 miles, and the son of Mastercraftsman is now 2-for-2 at the distance. His prior success came in the Princess of Wales’s (G2) during Newmarket’s July Festival, where a demanding pace on good-to-soft ground played to his strengths as a stayer.
But Giavellotto had neither of those conditions in the Vase. A tepid early tempo on a livelier surface posed a test of his acceleration at this trip, and he answered it with a blistering final 400 meters (about a quarter-mile) in :22.82.
Indeed, Giavellotto’s first Group 1 coup prompts the question of whether he should still spend the bulk of his time in the staying ranks. The winner of the past two runnings of the 1 3/4-mile Yorkshire Cup (G2), he placed third in the 2022 St. Leger (G1) at Doncaster, the 2023 Lonsdale Cup (G2), the Feb. 24 Red Sea Turf H. (G3) on Saudi Cup Day, and the Sept. 15 Irish St. Leger (G1) at the Curragh.
It was that latest placing to Kyprios during the Irish Champions Festival that persuaded jockey Oisin Murphy to suggest the Hong Kong Vase.
“Credit to Oisin,” Botti said, “because first thing after the Irish St. Leger, he mentioned this race, and he was adamant that we should come here. We followed Oisin’s advice, and it worked out well.”
Murphy settled Giavellotto in a ground-saving midpack position as Japan’s Pradaria doled out a slow pace. But he got stuck behind rivals going nowhere on the far turn, and as a result, he found himself in a distinctly unpromising spot near the back upon straightening.
Meanwhile, Stellenbosch was circling the field in a bold move from last, and Aidan O’Brien’s Luxembourg was lifting into contention. Just as they rolled past the weakening Pradaria, and Stellenbosch began to put Luxembourg away, Giavellotto was finally seeing daylight.
The 11-1 chance scythed through the field and rapidly drew away by 2 1/2 lengths. Finishing in 2:27.53, the chestnut returned $24.50.
“It was all very comfortable until he got to the turn,” Murphy recapped, “then I had to wait. And, of course, then you’re worried that the race is going to get away from you. But he showed an incredible kick to get going. He was always going to win from a furlong out, so I was really able to soak it up.”
Dubai Honour surged belatedly on the inside to grab second, relegating Stellenbosch to third, another length astern. Hong Kong’s Ensued performed with great credit in fourth in a race that the locals have historically found difficult.
Luxembourg tired to fifth in his career finale. The Ballydoyle stalwart will now retire to stud as a National Hunt stallion at Coolmore’s Castlehyde in County Cork.
Concluding the order under the wire were Marquisat, Five G Patch, Iresine, Continuous, La City Blanche, Pradaria, Without a Fight, and Ka Ying Generation, who bled from both nostrils.
Giavellotto, a homebred for Francesca Francini’s Scuderia La Tesa Ltd., picked up a new co-owner in Vaibhav Shah in March. His first run for the partnership was a fifth in the Dubai Gold Cup (G2) over two metric miles, a distance that’s just beyond him. Botti has since kept him within his wheelhouse, but cutting back again worked wonders for him. His resume now stands at 18-7-2-5.
“The owner was very brave to resist some very good offers,” Botti said, “and most of the time they get sold and we lose the horses. Then to find the next one is not easy.
“Credit to the owner, who has a lot of faith in this horse and it has paid off. It’s just a dream come true. He was in Saudi early in the season and ran a solid race, and then went to Dubai. He’s just got better and better and he loves traveling.”
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