Klawervlei Stud’s increasingly successful sire Pomodoro was once again in the news over the past weekend, with the multiple G1 winner’s progeny shining both on the racetrack and in the sales ring.
Pomodoro’s stellar first crop includes the very talented Riverton Stud bred colt Cirillo. The latter, without doubt unlucky not to have at least one graded victory to his name, showed his class when making all to land Saturday’s R2.5 million CTS Ready To Run Stakes at Kenilworth as the tote favourite.
A remarkably tough colt, Cirillo has already raced in all of KZN, Johannesburg and Cape Town and continues to thrive in racing.
Trained and owned, like Pomodoro himself, by Sean Tarry and Chris Van Niekerk, Cirillo took his tally of wins to three and his earnings to in excess of R1.76 million with a facile, front running two and three quarter length win over the very progressive Majestic Mozart in Saturday’s race, with his beaten rivals including some very promising and well-bred three-year-olds.
His previous efforts include placings in all of the G2 SA Nursery, G3 Cape Classic, and G3 Protea Stakes Stakes, and Cirillo (beaten just a short head into second in the 2018 Kuda Sprint) looks likely to pick another major feature race in the not too distant future.
Out of a Lake Coniston mare who never won a race (Cirillo is his dam’s first winner), Saturday’s CTS Ready To Run Stakes winner is a tremendous tribute to Pomodoro’s worth as a stallion!
Himself a R60 000 buy from the 2017 CTS Ready To Run Sale, Cirillo is now a likely contender for December’s G1 Cape Guineas.
Winner of the 2012 G1 Vodacom Durban July, the Jet Master sired Pomodoro also made waves at Friday’s CTS Ready To Run Sale.
South Africa’s Champion First Crop Sire of 2017-2018 ended the one day auction as the second Leading Sire by Aggregate, with Pomodoro’s Ready To Run draft grossing nearly R1.9 million.
One of the best and most versatile gallopers of his generation, Pomodoro’s first crop proved a sensation last season with his early runners including Equus Champion and G1 Thekwini Stakes winner Return Flight.