Cellini (horse)

Cellini was a "strongly-made, medium-sized"[2] bay horse with white socks on his hind feet bred in Kentucky by Claiborne Farm. His sire Round Table was one of the most successful grass specialists in American racing history, winning forty-three races and being named Horse of the Year in 1958.[3] He became a highly successful breeding stallion, being the Leading sire in North America in 1972.[4] Cellini's dam Gamely was an outstanding racemare who was rated the best of her generation in the United States at the ages of three, four and five.[5] She was one of numerous major winners to be descended from the British-bred broodmare Rough Shod.[6]

On the death of Claiborne Farm's owner Arthur B. Hancock, Jr. in 1972 Cellini was offered for auction. He attracted strong interest from bidders including Alec Head and Bernard van Cutsem but was bought for $240,000 by the British Bloodstock Agency on behalf of Charles St George. The colt was sent to race in Europe and was sent into training with Vincent O'Brien at Ballydoyle.[7] He was named after the sixteenth-century sculptor Benvenuto Cellini.

Cellini's background was remarkably similar to that of his contemporary Apalachee. Both horses were bred by Claiborne Farm and were sired by Round Table: both horses' dams (Moccasin and Gamely) were champion daughters of Bold Ruler and were respectively the daughter and granddaughter of Rough Shod: both were sold as yearlings and sent to Ireland to be trained by O'Brien.

At the end of his racing career Cellini was retired to become a breeding stallion at Gainesway Farm in Kentucky.[2] He proved to be almost entirely infertile and was returned to the racetrack under the ownership of William S. Farish III. Trained by Del W. Carroll he raced in the United States in 1976, winning once in an allowance race at Delaware Park Racetrack in June from five starts.[10]

There was no International Classification of European two-year-olds in 1973: the official handicappers of Britain, Ireland and France compiled separate rankings for horses which competed in those countries. In the British Free Handicap, Giacometti was assigned a weight of 127 pounds, placing him in third place behind Apalachee and Mississipian. The independent Timeform organisation gave him a rating of 125 p, (the "p" indicating that he was likely to make more than the usual improvement), twelve pounds below their top-rated two-year-old Apalachee. Despite the ratings, there were reports that Cellini was regarded as being at least as good as Apalachee by the Ballydoyle team.[7] In the following year he was rated 118 by Timeform, commenting in their annual Racehorses of 1974 that he might have achieved more had he been allowed to compete over longer distances.[2]