Castletown (horse)


Castletown was a New Zealand thoroughbred racehorse who won over $2 million in prize money and is best known for winning one of New Zealand's toughest staying tests, the Wellington Cup, on three occasions. He had over 100 starts, from two to eight years of age, including a record 13 races over 3,200 metres, a distance at which he excelled. Over the distance, he won the Wellington Cup in 1991, 1992, and 1994, and the Auckland Cup in 1992. In his third win in the Wellington Cup, Castletown carried topweight of 58 kilograms, and won a special place in New Zealand racing history, accompanied by the memorable "the dream bursts into reality" commentary from Tony Lee. Castletown could also be effective over shorter distances, especially earlier in his career, where highlights included wins in the New Zealand Derby, the Kelt Capital Stakes, and the Caulfield Stakes, and he was placed in stakes races as short as 1,600 metres. In Australia, he contested the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups three years in-a-row, from 1991 to 1993, and the Sydney Cup in 1991 and 1992. He was placed in both Sydney Cups, and finished third to Subzero and Veandercross in his second Melbourne Cup, in 1992. He failed to recapture his best form after his last Wellington Cup, and ran his last race in November 1994. He died in December 2017 of cardiac arrest.