Maurice, Snitzel & Dundeel decorate a rich 2YO cake
Superstar racehorse Maurice is now a leading sire in Japan, and Australia where he has left 18 stakes horses (9 of them 2YOs) from 133 runners. (PHOTO: Bronwen Healy)
Results from the past week highlight the strength of both Arrowfield’s stallion roster and its broodmare band when it comes to producing smart 2YOs.
Three highly progressive juvenile winners were headed by Maurice’s daughter Azula (ex Shutout by Redoute’s Choice), winner of Saturday’s $160,000 BRC The Phoenix 1500m LR at Eagle Farm. Arrowfield Inglis Easter graduate Cap Ferrat (Snitzel-C’Est Beau La Vie) was third.
The tenacious Azula rallies and gets up from Flying Trapeze.@RachelK11 takes out the opener with a pick up ride for the @GaiWaterhouse1-Bott stable. pic.twitter.com/1dDc7y5Nic
— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) June 3, 2023
Bred by Stuart Watt, Serafino Marinelli, Paul Pezzolesi and Lisa, Kerrie & Julie Stonehouse, Azula was offered by Twin Hills Stud at Inglis Classic where Gai Waterhouse, Adrian Bott & Bruce Slade’s Kestrel Thoroughbreds secured her for $100,000. She is the 14th stakeswinner for Maurice, also sire of Saturday’s Queensland Oaks G1 third Noah ‘N’ A Deel (ex Double Deel by Dundeel).
Back in Sydney, a colt & a filly bought from Arrowfield’s Inglis Easter 2022 draft fought out the finish of the 1300-metre opener at Rosehill. Congregation (Snitzel-Response), a $2.25 million full brother to Champion 2YO Estijaab, narrowly defeated Tutta La Vita (The Autumn Sun-Negotiate), a three-quarter sister to Group 1 winner Secret Agenda.
The pair is trained by Chris Waller who said, “Both connections have nice horses. I think the filly will win a good race, a real Flight Stakes type of horse.
“Congregation is a lovely colt that keeps improving. You are seeing a baby in comparison to where he will end up. Both have exciting futures.”
On Wednesday at Doomben, a gritty win over 1350 metres by Arrowfield’s home-bred filly Miracle Of Love (Dundeel-Miss Finland) confirmed the promise she showed when stakes-placed on debut at Scone last month. Another Dundeel 2YO, Et Tu Brute (ex Caesar’s Princess) was third.
Trained by Paul Messara, Miracle Of Love is a lovely prospect for next season’s Classics but will first be given a chance to earn Group 1 status in next Saturday’s $1 million J.J. Atkins, the last Group 1 juvenile race of the Australian season.
Miracle Of Love is one of 9 Arrowfield-sired 2YOs – six of them also bred and/or sold by the Stud – among the final 25 weighted runners for that contest. Victory by one of them would complete a near-clean sweep for Arrowfield stallions of Australia’s elite 2YO features, after Shinzo’s Golden Slipper and Militarize’s Sires’ Produce/Champagne Stakes double.
In all, Snitzel (on track for his fourth 2YO Sires’ Premiership), Dundeel & Maurice have compiled 29 Australian winners (inc. 6 SW) from the 77 members of their 2020 crops that have raced so far this season.
