A Champion-making, Everest-conquering, Sale-topping year
Four-time Champion Sire Snitzel is at the top of his game with 32 stakes performers this season including Group 1 winners In The Congo, Wild Ruler & Yearning. (PHOTO: Bronwen Healy)
Thank you to everyone whose work, investment and passion supported the Australian thoroughbred industry, including Arrowfield, in 2018. We wish you all a generous share of success, happiness & prosperity in 2019 and look forward to welcoming clients, visitors & guests to our Magic Millions Sale marquee from Friday 4 January.
At the end of a truly remarkable year in Arrowfield Stud’s 33-year history, it’s not hard to identify 10 very special moments from 2018, in chronological order:
SALE-TOPPING SUCCESS AT MAGIC MILLIONS
13 January 2018 – Gold Coast, Queensland
Arrowfield and Champion Sire Snitzel complete a leading vendor & stallion double in Book 1 of the record-breaking 2018 Magic Millions Gold Coast Sale.
Arrowfield is the Leading Vendor by aggregate sales for the third consecutive year with $13,680,000 paid for 46 of 49 lots sold. Results include two 7-figure sales: the top-priced filly, by Snitzel out of Flidais ($1.8 million, named EVENING SLIPPERS & placed at Randwick at her first start in October) and the Redoute’s Choice-Cat By The Tale colt ($1 million).
Snitzel heads the Sires’ table by average for the first time at Magic Millions with 33 lots sold for an average price of $483,788.
THE SENSATIONAL SPEED FILLY
3 March 2018 – Randwick, Sydney
SHOALS (Fastnet Rock-The Broken Shore by Hussonet) gave us one of our best moments in the 2017 VRC Myer Classic G1 and she does even better in 2018 with two elite victories, notably the first Group 1 running of the ATC Surround Stakes. Sent out at double-figure odds by the punters, the brilliant filly, bred & raced by Arrowfield in partnership with Jonathan Munz, proves simply too swift and too classy for her rivals.
Two months later Shoals lands the SAJC Robert Sangster S. G1, with another top-flight Arrowfield graduate SECRET AGENDA (Not A Single Doubt-Negotiate) filling the quinella. Thirteen starts, 7 wins (6 in Group & Listed company), 4 placings and $2.4 million prizemoney – Shoals is right up there among the very best horses to race in Arrowfield’s ownership. Best of all, she remains in training for 2019.
GOLDEN SLIPPER GLORY
24 March 2018 – Rosehill, Sydney
Northern Farm-bred, Arrowfield-sold filly ESTIJAAB (Snitzel-Response by Charge Forward) fills the one serious gap in Snitzel’s CV with a scintillating, all-the-way win in the ATC Golden Slipper G1 for owner Emirates Park & trainers Michael, Wayne & John Hawkes.
Estijaab is the 7th Arrowfield-bred and/or –sold Golden Slipper winner after DANZERO (1994), FLYING SPUR (1995), CATBIRD (1999), BELLE DU JOUR (2000), MISS FINLAND (2006) and FORENSICS (2007).
THE YOUNG GUNS FIRE UP
31 March 2018 – Rosehill, Sydney
Spendthrift Australia’s Hawkes-trained 2YO colt IRUKANDJI (ex Cerberus Gal by General Nediym) wins the ATC The Schweppervescence G3 to give his sire, 6-time Group 1 winner Dundeel that all-important first stakeswinner.
Dundeel has kept up the good work and at year’s end has 22 winners on the board, a second stakeswinner in New Zealand Derby favourite CUTADEEL, and plenty of rapidly emerging talent in major stables including Lincoln Falls, Dealmaker, The Closer, The Inevitable, 2YO debut winner Yourdeel, Global Exchange, Miss Einstein & Nordicus.
Olympic Glory has been just as busy building an excellent first-crop record in Europe where he’s posted 21 2YO winners, including his first stakeswinner WATCH ME (ex Watchful by Galileo) in France on 10 November.
TWO MIGHTY SPRINTING CONTESTS
7 April 2018 & 13 October 2018 – Randwick, Sydney
The rivalry of Snitzel’s super sprinting sons delivers two mighty contests, six months apart. The Vieira family-owned & Gerald Ryan-trained TRAPEZE ARTIST (ex Treppes by Domesday) is too strong on Good4 ground in April, racing away from Redzel in the ATC TJC Smith S. G1 and setting a new race record of 1:08.29.
Six months later, the powerhouse, front-running pace of Triple Crown-owned & Snowden-trained REDZEL (ex Millrich by Rubiton) prevails in The Everest on a Heavy9 track, with Trapeze Artist sticking on bravely in second. It’s an unforgettable $8.6 million quinella that once again gives Snitzel early-season control of the General Sires’ premiership.
A RARE VENDOR ACHIEVEMENT AT INGLIS EASTER
11 April 2018 – Riverside Stables, Warwick Farm, Sydney
The move from Newmarket to Riverside Stables was a major commitment for Inglis, vendors and buyers and Arrowfield honours the privilege of occupying the beautiful new “Big Barn” by heading the inaugural Book 1 Easter Sale vendor list on aggregate for the fourth consecutive year with 31 lots sold for $18,265,000 – that’s 15.7% of total sales from 9.3% of the yearlings sold.
Arrowfield also heads the table by average with $589,194, becoming the first vendor to achieve that rare double for at least a decade. The Stud’s eight million-dollar lots include the sale-topping full brother to Shoals, knocked down for $2.3 million to Anthony Freedman and now named GROUNDSWELL. In all, Arrowfield & its stallions are responsible for 13 of the Sale’s 22 $1 million+ yearlings.
SHOWTIME TURNS IT ON AT CAULFIELD
18 August 2018 – Caulfield, Melbourne
Carrying the famous silks of the great Japanese owner-breeder Katsumi Yoshida and trained by Team Hawkes, SHOWTIME (Snitzel-Flidais by Timber Country) is capable of outstanding performances when races unfold to suit him as the MRC P.B. Lawrence S. G2 does. He lands close to the pace and, relishing the contest as the leaders round the turn, fights like a tiger to defeat multiple Group 1 winner (and previous Lawrence Stakes winner) Hartnell.
FIVE WINNERS AT RACEHORSE OF THE YEAR AWARDS
4 October 2018 – The Forum, Melbourne
Winx’s well-deserved elevation to three-time Horse of the Year status, alongside Sunline & Black Caviar, was easy to predict at the 2018 Australian Racehorse of the Year Awards. Equally newsworthy is Arrowfield’s association with five of the 7 national awards that Winx didn’t win:
SNITZEL – Champion Sire of Australia for the second time with staggering all-time record prizemoney of $29.2 million and a record-equalling 26 individual stakeswinners.
ESTIJAAB – Champion 2YO
TRAPEZE ARTIST – Champion 3YO Colt
REDZEL – Champion Sprinter
SHOALS – Champion 3YO Filly
MAID DELIVERS SPRING CHAMPION MILESTONES
6 October 2018 – Randwick, Sydney
At her 5th start and backing up a week after an unlucky 6th in the Flight S. G1, Inglis Classic graduate MAID OF HEAVEN (Smart Missile-St. Therese by Dehere) carries the Arrowfield silks to a thrilling last-stride victory in the ATC Spring Champion S. G1, becoming only the second filly to win the race in its 47-year history. It’s also a heart-warming maiden Group 1 victory for trainer Mark Newnham & jockey Rachel King.
A NEW STAR RISES
13 October, 2018 – Caulfield, Melbourne
Going into the MRC Caulfield Guineas G1, the class of THE AUTUMN SUN (Redoute’s Choice-Azmiyna by Galileo) was well-established by his superlative victories in the BRC JJ Atkins S. G1 as a 2YO, and then September’s ATC Golden Rose S. G1.
But there is much more at stake for Arrowfield this time, after buying back into the glorious colt the Stud had sold for $700,000 on behalf of its partnership with HH The Aga Khan to Hermitage Thoroughbreds, trainer Chris Waller & agent Guy Mulcaster at the 2017 Inglis Easter Sale. And The Autumn Sun exceeds all expectations, winning the Guineas by 4.5 lengths in breath-taking style. The colt’s return for a major Autumn campaign is set to be an early highlight of 2019.
