Accolades a-plenty for Arrowfield stallions in 2024/25
Castelvecchio's daughter Aeliana & Damian Lane are completely in control at the end of their astonishing 2025 Australian Derby G1 at Randwick. (PHOTO: Bronwen Healy)
The highs and lows of breeding & racing were extreme for Arrowfield’s stallion roster in 2024/25, but at season-end it’s not difficult to focus on the highs, with so many achievements to celebrate and much to anticipate in the new season.
Arrowfield’s 5 stallions with racing progeny – in number terms, one of the smaller major farm rosters – notched up an imposing 624 winners, 52 stakeswinners, 8 Group 1 winners and more than $88 million prizemoney in 2024/25.
Newcomers Classic 3YO superstar Hitotsu, whose first yearlings sell in 2026, and Champion 2YO Vandeek, who serves his first book this Spring, will have every opportunity to make their contributions in the coming years.
Racing fillies & stallion sons rule for Dundeel
Dundeel’s 10 winners of 12 Group & Listed Races put him in the very select group of 6 sires with double-figure Australian stakeswinners, but his biggest stories in 2024/25 were the rise of his fillies & mares who supplied 8 of those black type victories, and the emergence of his Group 1-siring sons Castelvecchio & Super Seth.
His star fillies were headed by his 9th Group 1 winner FEMMINILE, winner of the South Australian Derby G1 before her $1.5 million sale at Magic Millions, plus Group winners KONASANA, CINCH, LITZDEEL, MARE OF MT BULLER & JASMIN ROUGE.
Dundeel’s 30 yearlings sold at the Magic Millions, Karaka and Inglis Classic & Easter Sales averaged $250,268, with Arrowfield, Gilgai, Curraghmore & Sledmere all achieving $400,000 or more for 9 lots.
Maurice’s first Group 1 2YO winner
The most telling result for Maurice last season came in the Inglis Easter sale-ring where his 10 yearlings averaged $503,000, with a median price of $450,000. This reflects the top-drawer support he has attracted from breeders since he resumed shuttling in 2021, and especially at his peak fee of $82,500 in 2022 (just-turned 2YOs) and 2023 (now yearlings).
His notable track results were supplied by a pair of 2YOs among his 22 worldwide stakes performers. The colt ADMIRE ZOOM won the Kyoto Futurity S. G1 and in Australia & New Zealand, where Maurice had no 3YOs racing in 2024/25, he posted 7 juvenile winners including ETHEREUM GIRL, impressive winner of the South Australian Sires’ Produce S. G3. Multiple Group performer MATCHA LATTE also made a splash, winning the ATC Provincial-Midway Championships Final and taking his earnings past $1.1 million.
Castelvecchio’s spectacular arrival
A year ago Castelvecchio didn’t make the list of Australia’s top 20 First Season Sires, finishing 21st with two winners from 17 starters and $167,000 prizemoney.
And then, 438 days into his stud career, 3YO colt EL CASTELLO won the Gloaming S. G3. The cork had popped and the champagne kept flowing, as AELIANA & DOUBLE MARKET chimed in before El Castello swept to victory in the Spring Champion S. G1 on 26 October.
The Autumn brought further stakes success, courtesy of VERONA ROSE, COMANCHE MISS & SHANGRI LA SPRING while Aeliana stamped herself as a first-magnitude star with an imperious 5-length victory in the Australian Derby G1.
Castelvecchio has ended 2024/25 in 3rd spot on Australia’s 2nd Season Sires’ Premiership with $6.1 million prizemoney, 31 winners and six stakeswinners – and all with only 65 runners.
The Autumn Sun continues to glow
3YO filly AUTUMN GLOW kept The Autumn Sun in the news during much of the season, as she swept unbeaten through two limited campaigns, claiming the Tea Rose S. G2, Up And Coming S. G3 and Darby Munro S. LR.
The Autumn Sun extended his black type record with 4 other stakeswinners, SNOW IN MAY (also Group 1-placed), PRIVATE LEGACY, MATUSALEM and 2YO colt AUTUMN BOY, who won his debut in Sydney for Glenn Ritchie & Chris Waller, before a stylish victory in the Tattersall’s S. LR at Eagle Farm.
A long list of metro winners included KNOW THYSELF, winner of the $1 million Country Championships Final at Randwick and 4 winners in Hong Kong headed by Champion Griffin SKY JEWELLERY, whose rating rose from 52 to 79 with 3 wins and a second for champion trainer John Size and owner Tung Moon Fai.
The Autumn Sun also had a strong year in the sale-ring, posting a $900,000 filly (ex Carry On Alice) at Magic Millions, a $340,000 average at Inglis Easter and the $1.2 million sale of his Group 1-winning daughter Coco Sun.
Snitzel wins his 5th 2YO Sires’ Premiership
Arrowfield’s grief after the 11 June death of incomparable Champion Sire Snitzel remains deeply felt, but the consolations are many and will not end anytime soon.
The last season of his life proved to be one of the best of his career, delivering 21 stakeswinners, including 4 Group 1 winners: outstanding 3YO filly LADY SHENANDOAH, his 3rd Golden Slipper winner MARHOONA, brilliant sprinting colt SWITZERLAND and New Zealand 2YO colt RETURN TO CONQUER.
The 31 stakes wins Snitzel has recorded since 1 August 2024 is the third-highest tally of his 16-season career, putting him on top of the Australian Black Type Stallions Premiership, just ahead of earnings champion Zoustar.
He also nailed his 5th Australian 2YO Sires’ title – leading on prizemoney, winners & wins – as well as top 4 finishes on the General and 3YO Sires’ Premierships. And in a sign of things to come, he finished 3rd, behind Fastnet Rock & his own sire Redoute’s Choice, on the Broodmare Sires’ table.
The racetrack performance was matched in the sale-ring by 11 million-dollar yearlings, among them the equal top-priced lot of Snitzel’s career, Widden Stud’s $2.8 million colt out of Humma Humma, purchased at Magic Millions by Ciaron Maher Bloodstock.
Thanks to his exceptional fertility, wonderful breeder support and the expert, loving care he received at Arrowfield, Snitzel’s final 3 crops will total about 300 foals, all conceived on his peak fees. The dancer may be gone, but the dance will go on…
And a final hat-tip, to Champion Sire Written Tycoon whose progeny conceived during his sojourn at Arrowfield in 2020 have earned him this season’s Australian 3YO Sires’ Premiership.
His 2021 crop has so far produced 13 stakeswinners (4 G1 winners) from 122 runners, nine of them winning in Australian stakes company this season including Arrowfield graduate PRIVATE LIFE (Caulfield Guineas G1) and Group 2 winner FIRST SETTLER, both now at stud.
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