From every angle, 2015-16 was a spectacular season for Arrowfield’s powerhouse stallion roster.
Redoute’s Choice and his sons Snitzel and Not A Single Doubt all end the year in the Top 10 on the Australian General Sires’ Premiership. The trio also achieved Top 10 finishes on the 2YO and 3YO Sires’ lists.
Not A Single Doubt is Australia’s leading active sire, headed off only by the deceased champion Street Cry. He also heads the table on Winners (154), Wins (257), matches Street Cry and Fastnet Rock with 12 stakes winners and is the nation’s leading sire of 3YOs.
Redoute’s Choice sired 15 southern-hemisphere stakes winners headed by his three latest Group 1 winners Abbey Marie, Howard Be Thy Name and Peeping.
Snitzel’s flagship performer Sun Jewellery broke new ground for him in Hong Kong as a dual Group 1 winner and recipient of the Champion Miler Award.
At home Snitzel equalled Without Fear’s 40-year-old record of 30 individual 2YO winners in a single season and provided the top lots at all three major sales, including the season’s highest-priced yearling, the $2.30 million half-brother to Winx.
Smart Missile has won Arrowfield its third First Season Sires’ title in the past dozen years, following Redoute’s Choice (2004) and Charge Forward (2009). One of the most popular young stallions in recent Australian history, Smart Missile was represented by 8 first-crop winners, including New Zealand Listed winner Sassy ‘N’ Smart. Four other stakes performers rounded out the season for the son of Fastnet Rock.
Arrowfield’s third season sire Manhattan Rain continued his excellent progress with the impressive 2YOs Scarlet Rain & Manhattan Street, smart Melbourne sprinter Wild Rain and six other stakes performers.
It’s easy to think that after three decades in the stallion-making business, Arrowfield’s Chairman John Messara might be blase about such an extraordinary year, but he isn’t.
“What experience gives you is a deeper appreciation of just how hard it is to build a strong stallion roster, and breed and sell successfully at any level, so the highs seem even bigger to me now than they did thirty years ago.
“It’s difficult to pick out just a few highlights but the flourishing of the Redoute’s Choice dynasty, while he’s still expanding his own record, here and in Europe, is something I’m privileged to witness.
“Sharing success with breeder friends and partners always means a lot, and for that reason the performances of Contentment in Hong Kong, Sassy ‘N’ Smart in New Zealand and Stay With Me and Weatherly in Australia stand out for me.
“I’m also grateful for the immense support we receive from breeders, owners, trainers, agents and syndicators. We start each stallion’s story, but their investment, skill and hard work completes it.”
REDOUTE’S CHOICE