Snitzel on His Way to Juvenile Record

Snitzel | Arrowfield Stud

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Competition is fierce at the head of this season's Australian General Sires' Table. With many valuable races set to be run in both Melbourne and Sydney over the next couple of months, we are likely to see the lead change a few more times between now and the end of July. At present, though, Snitzel (Aus) (Redoute's Choice {Aus}) holds a narrow lead over Fastnet Rock (Aus) (Danehill). Each is an excellent sire, notable for both quality and quantity of winners. Along with I Am Invincible (Aus) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) and Not A Single Doubt (Aus) (Redoute's Choice {Aus}), they are on the way to posting remarkable seasonal totals of individual winners and races won. Of the quartet, though, Snitzel is streets ahead of his peers in one category: success with 2-year-olds. As so much of the focus in Australia is currently directed towards juvenile races, it is easy to see why Snitzel is making as big an impact in the sales ring as he is on the track.

Admittedly Snitzel has had considerably more individual juvenile runners this season (46) than anyone else, but even so the extent of his success has been remarkable. He has currently been represented by 22 individual 2-year-old winners in Australia this season; only one other sire (I Am Invincible, who has had 10) is in double figures. In fact, aside from these two, only Fastnet Rock (with eight) has had more than five individual 2-year-old winners this term. Snitzel's dominance as regards juvenile races won is equally absolute. He is easily the most successful of the only three stallions with a double-figure total. He is on 26, with I Am Invincible on 13 and Fastnet Rock on 12. (And it should also be noted that one of Snitzel's best juveniles does not feature in his figures, his stakes-winning NZ-trained son Summer Passage (Aus) never having raced outside New Zealand).

For a stallion to have registered 22 individual juvenile winners when the season is only seven months old would be hugely creditable in any country, but in Australia it is astonishing. For all that juvenile races attract so much attention in Australia, relatively speaking there are not many of them. In the early months of the Australian season there is a solid programme of prestigious 2-year-olds' races, but there are very few races for lower-grade juveniles. Registering the volume of juvenile success which 'cheap-speed' sires can compile in other countries, most notably the USA and Great Britain, is not possible, as the lower-grade horses generally have to wait until they are a bit older before there are plentiful suitable opportunities for them.

It is rare for a stallion to be represented by as many as 20 individual juvenile winners in Australia during a whole season, never mind merely in its first seven months. Only one reached this milestone last season: Snitzel (of course!) who had 29. He could, incidentally, be said to have equalled the long-standing Australian record (30, set in 1976) of Without Fear (Fr) (Baldric) thanks to having additionally had one juvenile winner overseas. In the previous 2014/'15 term, three stallions hit the 20-winner mark (Not A Single Doubt, Snitzel and I Am Invincible), but none managed more than 22. What total Snitzel will have reached by the end of term on July 31 is anyone's guess, but an outright Australian record looks likely. In fact, one could say that a crack at the world record, although extremely unlikely, is not totally out of the question when one considers that when Snitzel sired his 21st individual juvenile winner this season, he did so on a date (Feb. 16) by which last season only five of his ultimate tally of 29 individual juvenile winners had saluted the judge. The tallies set elsewhere, of course, are very hard for Australian stallions to match. The overall record of 2-year-old winners from a single crop was set posthumously by the great Sunday Silence (Halo) in Japan in 2004, when his penultimate crop contained 51 individual juvenile winners. Of European-based stallions, the 43 individual juvenile winners sired by Kodiac (Ire) (Green Desert) in 2015 stands as the benchmark; while in the USA Florida-based Wildcat Heir (Forest Wildcat) registered a notable first-season achievement in 2009 with 39 individual juvenile winners among his first crop of runners.

What is particularly creditable about Snitzel's record as a stallion is that he has established himself as a prolific sire of good 2-year-old winners without having become typecast as only a specialist sire of juveniles. In fact, he is at least as notable for his good older horses as for his good 2-year-olds. So far only six of the 28 Group 1 performances (i.e. first three finishes) by sons or daughters of Snitzel have been posted by 2-year-olds. Snitzerland (Aus) ranks as arguably his best juvenile for having finished runner-up to Pierro (Aus) (Lonhro {Aus}) in the G1 Golden Slipper S. in 2012, but she did not register her best win until the age of four, when she won the G1 Lightning S. at Flemington. The career of his other Golden Slipper place-getter Sweet Idea (Aus), who finished third to Overreach (Aus) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}) in the 2013 Slipper, followed a similar pattern: she too enjoyed her finest hour as a 4-year-old, taking the G1 Galaxy S. at Rosehill in 2015.

Shamus Award (Aus) ranks as arguably Snitzel's most distinguished son. He was precocious enough to finish in the frame in the G3 Maribyrnong Plate in the spring of his 2-year-old season; but he only really came good at three, achieving the unusual feat of winning the G1 Cox Plate as a maiden before following up in the G1 Australian Guineas, a race which the Snitzel 3-year-old Wandjina (Aus) won the following season. One of the stars of last season's HK Triple Crown Series was the Snitzel 4-year-old Sun Jewellery (Aus), who won the first two legs, beating subsequent HK Derby winner Werther (NZ) (Tavistock {NZ}) on each occasion. An even more durable and progressive son of Snitzel has been Hot Snitzel (Aus), who recorded his best win when he landed the G1 BTC Cup over 1200m at Doomben in 2015 as an autumn 6-year-old.

It is easy to understand why Snitzel is adept at siring both precocious horses and tough, progressive ones because his racing career showed that he ticked both boxes himself, notwithstanding that he only raced for two seasons. Those two seasons, though, were enough to show him to be a proper racehorse. Trained by Gerald Ryan, he ran six times as a juvenile in the 2004/'05 season, winning four races. Three of these were black-type events, including the G3 Skyline S. over 1200m at Rosehill. His only unplaced run that season came in the Golden Slipper. The following season he ran nine times, again running well every time. The best of his three Group wins came in the G1 Oakleigh Plate over 1100m at Caulfield; and he also finished second to the international champion sprinter Takeover Target (Aus) (Celtic Swing {GB}) in the G1 Newmarket H. at Flemington. Overall, his record puts him in the same category as both his sire Redoute's Choice (Aus) (Danehill) and his maternal grandsire Snippets (Aus) (Lunchtime {GB}). Both were both top-class juveniles who became terrific super-tough 3-year-olds en route to a stellar stud career.

It has been plain now for several seasons that, whether one is looking for a top juvenile, a leading 3-year-old or a high-class weight-for-age horse, Snitzel is a stallion who should be on one's short-list. Results from yearling sales consistently show that buyers have realised this. In 2016, he was responsible for the top-priced yearling at each of Australia's three principal yearling sales. At the Magic Millions his colt (lot 430) out of Mirror Mirror (Aus) (Dehere) fetched A$1,600,000 (and is now named Chauffeur (Aus) and won at Rosehill in December). In Melbourne, his colt (lot 474) out of Beauty World (Aus) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}) topped the Inglis Premier Sale at A$700,000 (and now, named Ducimus (Aus), ranks as the last-start winner of the Talindert S. at Flemington a couple of weeks ago). At the Inglis Sydney Easter Sale, his half-brother to Winx (Aus) (Street Cry {Ire}) (lot 135) was sold for A$2,300,000.

This year, Snitzel's sales are going in similar vein. He was represented by four of the top 10 yearlings at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Sale in January, headed by his son (lot 409) of Sabanci (Aus) (Encosta De Lago {Aus}) who was sold to Chris Waller, working with Guy Mulcaster Bloodstock, for A$1,100,000. The Inglis Melbourne Premier Sale kicked off at the weekend with a Snitzel colt (lot 68) out of Mightier (Aus) (Zabeel {NZ}) topping the first day's trade at A$620,000. Looking ahead to the Inglis Easter Sale in Sydney, it's long odds-on that yearlings by Snitzel will be making headlines there. Just as sons and daughters of the stallion, both 2-year-olds and older horses, will be doing at the races.

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