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Gio Ponti retired to Castleton Lyons

Gio Ponti recorded seven Grade 1 wins (Bob Newell/Horsephotos.com) Three-time champion Gio Ponti, an earner of more than $6.1 million during his five seasons of racing, has been retired to his owners' Castleton Lyons. The six-year-old son of Tale of the Cat will stand the 2012 season for a $20,000 fee. "We are delighted to welcome Gio Ponti back home to the farm where he was bred and raised," said Shane Ryan, president of Castleton Lyons. "The horse has had an amazing racing career with seven Grade 1 wins, three Eclipse Awards and in the money 23 out of 29 lifetime starts.

"Gio Ponti displayed great consistency, versatility and class, and retires completely sound after five very successful years on the track. I would like to thank Christophe Clement and all of his staff for handling Gio Ponti with such expertise and I hope that breeders will back him and get rewarded in the future with his offspring. We will be strongly supporting Gio Ponti with our best mares as we endeavor to give him every opportunity to succeed as a stallion and feel that a stud fee of $20,000 represents very good value for the breeder."

Gio Ponti recorded his first stakes win in the 2007 Bourbon Stakes at Keeneland and made the first of four Breeders' Cup appearances in that year's Juvenile Turf, checking in a troubled eight. He captured the Grade 2 Virginia Derby, Grade 3 Hill Prince and Grade 3 Sir Beaufort as a three-year-old and also recorded runner-up efforts in the Grade 2 Del Mar Derby and Grade 2 Jamaica Handicap.

His four-year-old campaign was tremendous as Gio Ponti reeled off Grade 1 wins in the in the Frank E. Kilroe Mile, Manhattan Handicap, Man o' War Stakes and Arlington Million before ending the season with an excellent second to Zenyatta in the Breeders' Cup Classic. He was named champion turf horse and champion older male in 2009.

As a five-year-old, Gio Ponti captured the Grade 1 Shadwell Turf Mile and repeated in the Man o' War. The bay horse was also second in the Breeders' Cup Mile, Arlington Million and Man 'o War, and fourth in theGroup 1 Dubai World Cup.

Gio Ponti posted consecutive runner-up finishes in the Man o' War and Arlington Million before repeating in the Shadwell Turf Mile this year. He concluded his racing career with a fourth in Saturday's Breeders' Cup Mile.

The hard-hitting veteran compiled an overall mark of 29-12-10-1, with $6,169,800 in earnings.

Out of the stakes-placed Alydar mare Chipeta Springs, the Kentucky-bred Gio Ponti is a half-brother to Grade 1-placed multiple stakes queen Bon Jovi Girl and multiple Grade 3-placed stakes winner Fisher Pond. Further back in the family one finds Hall of Famer Cigar.

Gio Ponti is available for inspection at Castleton Lyons between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. (ET) during the Keeneland November Sale.

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