Arrowfield Diamonds are Forever

If the Inglis Easter Yearling Sale is viewed as a mine of potential wealth, then colts offer the irresistible prospect of pure gold, if they can add Group 1 performance to their stallion-grade pedigrees.

However, the 27 fillies Arrowfield will present at Riverside Stables next week offer the timeless value of diamonds, already desirable and potentially priceless.

There is no better current example than last Saturday’s Golden Slipper winner Estijaab, bought by Emirates Park and Bryan Carlson for $1.7 million from Arrowfield’s 2017 Inglis Easter draft.  Less than a year later she has earned $2.3 million and is one of the most valuable fillies in Australia. Miss Finland is another Arrowfield-produced diamond, as a Golden Slipper winner and Group 1-producing broodmare.

Other gems bought as yearlings from Arrowfield include:

• Champion 2YO Filly Majmu (Redoute’s Choice-Spontaneous), bought for $300,000 & joined the Shadwell Stud broodmare band
• Champion 2YO Filly Forensics (Flying Spur-Prove It), bought for $900,000, earned $3.5 million & joined the Darley broodmare band
• Group 1 Oaks winner Sunday Joy (Sunday Silence-Joie Denise), bought for $1 million, dam of 8-time G1 winner More Joyous
• Group 1 winner Sweet Idea (Snitzel-Flidais), bought for $240,000, earned $2.4 million and re-sold as a broodmare for $1.6 million
• Group 1 winner Snitzerland (Snitzel-Monte Rosa), bought for $125,000 and earned $1.9 million.
• Group 2 winner Scarlet Rain (Manhattan Rain-Double Ranga), bought for $100,000, earned $340,000 and re-sold for $950,000
• Group 2 winner Colorado Claire (Hussonet-Lunaspur), bought for $220,000 and dam of $850,000 colt Gunnison (ATC Todman S. G2)
• Group 2 winner Flying Snitzel (Snitzel-Hula Flight), bought for $25,000, earned $340,000 and re-sold for $410,000
• Listed winner Ygritte (Snitzel-Deputy Lil), bought for $135,000, earned $317,000 and re-sold for $800,000
• Listed winner Members Joy (Hussonet-Rosa’s Spur), bought for $85,000 and re-sold for $500,000
• Listed winner Hijack Hussy (Hussonet-Joy Ride), bought for $62,000, earned $300,000 and re-sold for $400,000.
• Sunday Service (Sunday Silence-Lady’s Delight), bought for $400,000, dam of two Listed winners & grand-dam of Ace High (VRC Victoria Derby G1, ATC Spring Champion S. G1)
• Bubble Below (Hussonet-Lunaliona), bought for $150,000 and dam of Group 1 winner Lucky Bubbles.

In this year’s Arrowfield offering at Inglis Easter consider Lots 17, 103, 199 & 460, all by three-time Champion Sire Redoute’s Choice, now Australia’s leading active sire of broodmares. Classic-winning colts Ace High, D’Argento and Kementari are the latest of nine Group 1 winners out of Redoute’s Choice mares. 

It’s not hard to imagine this quartet of fillies as future stakeswinners and Group 1 dams. One is  a three-quarter sister of leading sire Not A Single Doubt from the great Easy Date family, another is a member of the Aga Khan family of multiple Group 1 winner Manighar and two of them are bred on the magic Redoute’s Choice/Hussonet cross, responsible for five Group winners from 12 runners.

Arrowfield’s yearling team can expect to be very busy parading the two fillies by Japan’s supersire Deep Impact, who has added Tosen Stardom and Real Impact to his extensive global Group 1 record.  

A glance down the pair’s catalogue pages only increases their glamour factor. Lot 11 is the daughter of Group 1-winning sprinter Alverta, also third in the Newmarket July Cup G1, and Lot 70 is out of Charming Estelle, a full-sister to Horse of the Year and five-time Group 1 winner Lankan Rupee.

“Snitzel filly” is a description already borne by 30 stakeswinners, including Group 1-winning speed queens Snitzerland and Sweet Idea, and now Golden Slipper star Estijaab – all sold by Arrowfield.

Arrowfield has never offered a group of Snitzel fillies quite like the eight lots in this year’s Inglis Easter consignment. Their dams include US Group 1 winner Miss Match and stakeswinners Senator Beck & Fictional Account. Their relatives include Champions Samantha Miss, Designs on Rome, Azamour, Afleet Alex, Miss Linda & Mikki Isle, and Group 1 winners Aerolithe, Carina Mia & Tizway.

Mare quality is also evident in ten fillies by Arrowfield’s new generation sires Animal Kingdom, Dundeel and Champion European sprinter-miler Olympic Glory.

Lot 526, the Dundeel-Darvaza filly, is out of a half-sister to Europe’s Champion 3YO Colt Almanzor, from the family of Champion 3YO Filly Darjina.

Similarly bred in-the-purple is Lot 426, the Animal Kingdom-Victory Party filly, from a half-sister to Champion US Filly Beholder and 2017 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf G1 winner Mendelssohn.

Olympic Glory’s first Easter Sale yearlings include Lots 469 and 203, the first daughters of Group 3 winners Ocean Challenger, and Let’s Make Adeal, descended from Horse of the Year Let’s Elope.

Another first-season sire with an appealing filly in the Arrowfield barn is the Japan-based dual Group 1 winner Epiphaneia. The first yearling ever to be offered at public auction by her sire, Lot 405’s dam Travessia is by Deep Impact, and is a half-sister to the only other stallion to win a Japanese premiership in the past eight years, King Kamehameha. Travessia has since produced a Snitzel filly and is in foal to him again.

Five stakeswinners, three of them fillies, since New Year’s Day have raised the profile of So You Think and Arrowfield’s draft includes one of his daughters. She is Lot 26, out of Astral Flower, a half-sister to Group 1 winner Redwood, all descended from a Champion sister to one of the greats of late 20^th century racing, Dancing Brave.

The 2018 Arrowfield Inglis Easter draft will start parading at Riverside Stables on Monday afternoon, 2 April. View all 47 yearlings here.