A Singularly Successful Year
One weekend in June 2010, Arrowfield’s Communications Manager Susan Archer went to Sunday Stables at Tulloch Lodge.
Susan recalls, “Of course, I was keen to see the young Arrowfield-sired talent in Gai’s stable, and we inspected several horses including a Not A Single Doubt colt for Star Thoroughbreds that the stable really liked.
“That was music to my ears because back in the winter of 2010 Not A Single Doubt was struggling to attract bookings, despite leaving lots of winners and receiving lots of praise from trainers who loved the straightforward ‘eat-sleep-train-race’ attitude of his progeny.”
The son of Redoute’s Choice had produced the respectable tally of 52 winners from his first two crops, seven stakes performers and several good city winners among them, but he needed stakeswinners, preferably out of major Sydney or Melbourne stables.
The tide finally turned for Not A Single Doubt when that 2YO colt Squamosa, bought for $140,000 from Arrowfield’s 2009 Magic Millions draft by Star Thoroughbreds’ Denise Martin, won his July debut, then progressed rapidly to Group 3 success and a narrow second in the ATC Golden Rose G1.
Along with first-crop gelding Doubtful Jack in Melbourne, he helped to fill Not A Single Doubt’s 2010 book with 192 mares and ignite the spectacular stud career that now includes three top 10 finishes on the Australian General Sires’ Premiership.
Not A Single Doubt has ended the 2016/17 season in fifth spot with $11.7 million prizemoney, slightly less than the $12.5 million that secured him the runner-up position behind Street Cry last year. However, in terms of top-level racetrack performance and sale-ring results, 2016/17 has been Not A Single Doubt’s best ever season – so far.
Fourteen winners of 25 Australian stakes races (17 Group races) include four Group 1 winners in four states, at distances from 1000 to 1600 metres: 3YO Extreme Choice (MVRC Moir S. G1), 4YOs Scales Of Justice (WATC Railway S. G1) & Secret Agenda (SAJC Robert Sangster S. G1) and 5YO Clearly Innocent (BRC Kingsford-Smith Cup G1).
Over the past seven years, Not A Single Doubt has become a permanent fixture among Australia’s top ten 2YO sires and he closed out the 2016/17 season in 7th position. His 2014 crop produced a career-high four juvenile stakeswinners: Group winners Gunnison & Single Bullet, Moonee Valley Listed winner Doubt I’m Dreaming (sadly since deceased) and New Zealand stakeswinner Qiji Phoenix.
Gunnison was the star of Not A Single Doubt’s remarkable week at the Inglis Sales when he was knocked down for $1.4 million at the inaugural Chairman’s Sale of Racing Prospects on 30 March. He’s now in the stable of Champion Hong Kong trainer John Size.
At Inglis Easter, Arrowfield’s Quiet Maggy yearling colt made $1.25 million, helping Not A Single Doubt top the Sale’s sire averages for the first time. Finally, on 7 April, his grand Group-winning daughter Don’t Doubt Mamma was bought for $1.1 million by Arrowfield for its joint venture with Katsumi Yoshida’s Northern Farm.
In all, Not A Single Doubt’s 57 yearlings sold in 2017 averaged almost $250,000 off the $33,000 fee asked for him in 2014.
Now with 43 stakeswinners (7 at Group 1 level) on his CV and a full book of mares at his new fee of $88,000, Not A Single Doubt has come a very long way from the winter of 2010.
As Arrowfield’s Bloodstock Manager Jon Freyer says, “Not A Single Doubt is a wonderful Arrowfield home-bred success story and we’re very grateful to all the breeders who have supported him, the buyers who’ve turned that support into profitable sales, and the owners, trainers and jockeys who have given his sons and daughters their racing opportunities.
“He’s also a great reminder that we need to be very careful not to judge young stallions prematurely. Despite being an outstanding sire of juveniles, it took him 708 days to leave his first stakeswinner!
“Best of all, though, Not A Single Doubt has already shown how much he benefits from quality mares and his latest books are just superb. We’ve very excited about his future.”
That future might get off to a sensational start if his top-class son Fell Swoop, selected for the slot purchased by William Inglis & Son, can take out the inaugural $10 million The Everest at Randwick on 14 October.
