Snitzel joins the Greats with his third Championship
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)
The 2018/19 Australian Sires’ Championship win by Arrowfield Stud’s Snitzel sets him apart from the majority of Australia’s Champion Sires – even his own legendary sire Redoute’s Choice.
That’s because he joins Star Kingdom, Bletchingly, Sir Tristram and Danehill as the only stallions to win three consecutive Australian General Sires’ titles in the past 60 years. (Redoute’s Choice also won three titles, but across a nine-year period, in 2006, 2010 & 2014 – itself a notable feat.)
Snitzel has compiled serious numbers with his Australian runners since 1 August 2016:
- 367 individual winners of 870 races, including 87 stakes wins, 10 of them at Group 1 level.
- 49 individual stakeswinners, including 30 Group winners – five of them Group 1 winners: Champion Sprinter and two-time Everest hero Redzel, Champion 3YO Colt Trapeze Artist, Champion 2YO Estijaab, Russian Revolution & Invader.
- 68 2YO Winners (15 2YO Stakeswinners, 2 Group 1 winners)
- Almost $70 million prizemoney.
Snitzel has set a whole new standard for prizemoney and is the first and only Australian stallion to breach the $20 million mark – twice. His best figures for stakes wins (43 in 2017/18) & 2YO winners (32 in 2016/17) remain all-time records, and his best tally of stakeswinners (26, achieved in both 2016/17 and 2017/18) equalled Danehill’s 15 year-old record before I am Invincible surpassed it this year.
It takes a stallion of rare quality to compile these achievements and Snitzel is that stallion, as his lifetime statistics show:
| SNITZEL’S LIFETIME STATISTICS SH Crops only | WINNERS & % WRs/RNRs | SWs G1 WINNERS % SW/RNRS | STAKES WINS G1 WINS | 2YO WINNERS STAKESWNRS G1 WINNERS | TOTAL PRIZEMONEY (PER RUNNER) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 675 73.7% | 89 13 9.7% | 171 19 | 196 36 4 | $126.1 million ($138,831) |
Source: Arion Pedigrees, at 31 July 2019
Even more compelling for owners and trainers is a stallion’s record in marquee Group 1 races such as the Cox Plate, Golden Slipper, TJ Smith, Galaxy, Oakleigh Plate, All Aged, Golden Rose and Inglis Sires. As Arrowfield’s John Messara points out, “These are races that owners dream about winning and Snitzel can make those dreams come true – his sons and daughters have already won them all.”
Snitzel’s career and three Premiership victories are all the more remarkable because he is competing against arguably the strongest group of stallions ever assembled in Australia. For example, there are five past Champion Sires (8 titles among them) behind him in the top 20 on the 2018/19 Premiership: Street Cry (3rd), Fastnet Rock (4th), Redoute’s Choice (9th), Lonhro (12th) and Exceed and Excel (14th).
The top 20 sires have also become a more dominant group since the turn of the century. In 2000/01 their progeny won 28.9% of Australia’s Group & Listed Races; in 2018/19 they won 40.9% of those races.
To lead such a stellar cohort of stallions across three seasons has demanded exceptional racetrack performance and that is exactly what Snitzel has delivered. His powerhouse sprinting son and double Everest hero Redzel has been his leading earner in all three Premiership seasons, but completing the 2018 Everest quinella with Trapeze Artist neatly made the point that Snitzel’s success is not dependent on a single superstar.
Trapeze Artist subsequently added his fourth Group 1 victory when he set a track record in the ATC Canterbury Stakes before retiring as Snitzel’s second-highest earner with $5.5 million, while the indomitable Redzel remains in training for a third Everest campaign.
A Showcase of Snitzel’s Stars
Snitzel’s ten other Australian stakeswinners in 2018/19 were headed by Group-winning sprinters I Am Excited, Showtime (now standing alongside him at Arrowfield) and his 90th worldwide stakeswinner Irithea.
Already a two-time Champion Sire of 2YOs, Snitzel enjoyed another fine season in that category with 23 winners in a lively crop that is poised to step up again in 2019/20. The Godolphin filly Exhilarates ticked off an important prize on his wish-list when she won January’s GCTC Magic Millions 2YO Classic (R) LR, while Bella Rosa (VRC Ottawa S. G3) and Cheer Leader (MVRC Valley Pearl S. LR) added victories in Melbourne. His only stakeswinner outside Australia during the season was also a 2YO – that was Bavella, successful in the Counties Challenge S. LR in New Zealand.
Snitzel’s dominance of the last three General Sires’ Championships has been matched by his high profile at the major Inglis & Magic Millions yearling sales. His $107 million total sales since 2017 have had a significant positive impact on many livelihoods and businesses. His 18 seven-figure yearlings in that period include Golden Slipper winner Estijaab and Australia’s top-priced yearling of 2019, Corumbene Stud’s striking colt out of Ichihara bought by James Harron for $2.8 million at Inglis Easter.
Arrowfield’s confidence in Snitzel was evident when the Stud paid $1.7 million for dual Group 1 winner Norzita, in foal to him, at the Inglis Chairman’s Sale in May. Later that month David Redvers and Widden Stud paid $1.2 million for Listed winner Bonny O’Reilly, also in foal to Snitzel, at the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale.
There is understandably a degree of poignancy for Arrowfield, celebrating Snitzel’s historic third Championship less than six months after the death of Redoute’s Choice – who wins his first Broodmares Sires’ title with $23.2 million.
As John Messara says, “Our overwhelming feeling about Redoute’s Choice, past the grief of losing him, is gratitude for all that he gave us, and all that he left us to go on with. Snitzel is a very large part of that legacy and we’re so proud of him, and so excited about what still lies ahead of him.”
