Redoute’s Choice & Snitzel make Premiership history

Redoute’s Choice and Snitzel are now only days away from completing an unprecedented quinella in the 2014 Australian General Sires’ Premiership.

It is the first time since the inaugural publication of the Australian General Sires’ table for the 1883/84 season that a father and son have finished first and second. Their residence at the same farm, Arrowfield Stud, adds an extra level of difficulty for stallions seeking to emulate them in the future. 

It is the third Australian General Sires’ title for Redoute’s Choice following his successes in 2005/06 and 2009/10.

The great son of Danehill will end the season with Australian earnings of more than $10.2 million and at least 96 winners headed by 10 stakeswinners, five of them from his superlative 2009 crop. That group includes three-time Group 1 winner Lankan Rupee, Australia’s top-rated horse of the season and the world’s best sprinter in 2014 with a figure of 123 on the LONGINES World’s Best Racehorse Rankings.

Lankan Rupee’s Timeform rating of 132 is also the best figure awarded to an Australian performer this season and ranks him above past champions Lonhro, Makybe Diva, Northerly, Strawberry Road, Sunline & Weekend Hussler.

Snitzel has secured the runner-up position on the General Sires’ Premierhsip with more than $9.8 million prizemoney, largely earned by his 82 winners from five crops of racing age. He jointly leads the Premiership table by stakeswinners with a total of 13, including Group 1 winners Shamus Award (Cox Plate & Australian Guineas) and Arrowfield graduate Snitzerland (Lightning Stakes).

Arrowfield’s success with sons of Redoute’s Choice does not stop there. Not A Single Doubt approaches the end of the 2013/14 season as Australia’s leading sire of 2YOs by winners with 24, a tally unmatched in the past dozen years. Snitzel, Stratum and Not A Single Doubt make a powerful trio of Redoute’s Choice sire sons in the top 20 on the General list.

Redoute’s Choice is the only active Australian sire to win more than two Premierships and he is the only son of Danehill to head the table more than once, surpassing the single title victories of Flying Spur (2007), Fastnet Rock (2012) and Exceed and Excel (2013).

The three Premierships won by Redoute’s Choice in nine years measure a rare period of dominance exceeded in the past century only by Better Boy (four titles between 1966 and 1977) and Danehill (nine titles between 1995 and 2005).

Redoute’s Choice is also having a major impact as a broodmare sire. He will finish the Australian season with $9.8 million prizemoney, 12 stakeswinners (most notably Sacred Falls & Zoustar), and third position on that table, behind Zabeel and Danehill. That surpasses the achievement of Danehill’s final Australian stallion premiership season in 2004/05, when he finished fifth on the Broodmare Sires’ list.

The 2013/14 Sires’ Premiership is the sixth won in the past 21 years by a stallion based at Arrowfield in the season of his success. Those titles have been won by Last Tycoon (1994), Danehill (1995), Flying Spur (2007) & Redoute’s Choice (2006, 2010, 2014).

Arrowfield’s 1-2 finish is also historically significant. That was last achieved by Kia Ora Stud 61 years ago when Delville Wood and Midstream claimed the first two positions on the 1953 Premiership list.

Arrowfield Chairman John Messara says, “The toughest contests are always the most exciting to win, so this Premiership quinella, achieved in our industry’s most competitive era, means a great deal to me, my family and my team.

“We are especially proud to share this success with every breeder, owner, trainer, jockey and buyer associated with the progeny of Redoute’s Choice and Snitzel. Only our collective investment, skills, work and ambition can make history like this.

“Redoute’s Choice and Snitzel represent the exceptional stallion performance that Arrowfield aims for with every horse we choose to stand. I believe our current roster is the best group of stallions we have ever presented to breeders, so our heads are turned with confidence to the future.  

“It’s wonderful to stand briefly at the top of the mountain, but the battle for next season’s prizes begins on Friday!”