By Kelsey Riley
John Messara and his team at Arrowfield Stud have a lot to look forward to this week at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale. The Hunter Valley Stud–whose Group 1-winning graduates in 2015 included Sweet Idea (Aus) (Snitzel {Aus}), Wandjina (Aus) (Snitzel {Aus}) and South African Champion mare Majmu (Aus) (Redoute's Choice {Aus})–sends a draft of 48 to the Gold Coast, one of its largest-ever consignments for the sale and second only to Gerry Harvey's Baramul Stud (79) in numbers catalogued this year.
That group includes the progeny of Arrowfield's three-time champion sire Redoute's Choice and his exciting son Snitzel (Aus); promising young sire Smart Missile (Aus) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}); and the perennially popular Charge Forward (Aus) and Not A Single Doubt (Aus).
One of the most exciting names in the Arrowfield pages, however, must be Animal Kingdom (Leroidesanimaux {Brz}). The GI Kentucky Derby and G1 Dubai World Cup winner is represented by eight first-crop yearlings at Magic Millions, seven of which hail from the Arrowfield draft. They include lot 81, a filly out of GII San Gorgonio winner Cat By The Tale (Tale of the Cat), the dam of the Group 2-placed Raphael's Cat (Aus) (Redoute's Choice {Aus}); lot 382, a grandson of champion filly Alinghi (Aus) (Encosta de Lago {Aus}) and half-brother to the dual Group 3-placed Regatta Rebel (Aus) (Redoute's Choice {Aus}); lot 429, a granddaughter of G1 Oakleigh Plate winner Miss Kournikova (Aus) (Mr. Greeley); and lot 477, a half-sister to two stakes horses including listed winner Wild Rain (Aus) (Manhattan Rain {Aus}) who is also from the family of champion Northerly (Aus).
Messara said he has thus far heard good things about Animal Kingdom's progeny.
“The impression made so far has been a positive one,” he said. “It's good to hear people agreeing with us that they're good-bodied athletes with scope, size and quality.”
Arrowfield acquired the majority interest in Animal Kingdom's breeding rights in late 2012, just a few months before he won the Dubai World Cup and was also bought into by Darley for Northern Hemisphere duties. Messara said it was a variety of favorable factors that drew his team to the strapping chestnut.
“Animal Kingdom was a brilliant racehorse with what we thought was a compatible outcross pedigree for Australia and good looks, who was effective on all surfaces; that made him a target for us. I was first interested in his sire Leroidesanimaux, and that's how he came across our radar.”
The overwhelming success of former Arrowfield sire Danehill Down Under has created a saturation of that line in Australia, leaving breeders looking for alternatives for their Danehill-line mares. American shuttlers have worked well in the past, with some of the better examples including More Than Ready and Street Cry (Ire).
Animal Kingdom stands for A$33,000, and Messara admitted that despite his racetrack accomplishments, Australian breeders are taking somewhat of a cautious approach.
“Animal Kingdom's book sizes have been moderate, having served about 270 mares in his first three years, as Australian breeders are generally a little cautious about Northern Hemisphere horses which have not raced in Australia,” he explained. “I remember suffering this with Danehill before he proved himself here.”
Magic Millions generally offers a chance for the most precocious yearlings to flourish–its spot on the calendar would be equivalent to a Northern Hemisphere yearling sale in June–and as such one wouldn't be surprised to see the progeny of a stallion like Animal Kingdom to make their mark later in the season. However, Messara described the Gold Coast sale as a good starting point for a young sire.
“Magic Millions represents the start of a new year and is a good forum for presenting the first progeny of new stallions,” he said. “The sale is very well attended and has an increasingly international buying bench.”
International visitors to Magic Millions will include this year, for the first time, Graham Motion and John Velazquez, trainer and jockey of Animal Kingdom. Motion and Velazquez will attend the sale and Magic Millions raceday to see and help promote the Animal Kingdom yearlings.
While the Animal Kingdom youngsters will be star attractions for domestic and international buyers alike, they are far from the only draws of the Arrowfield draft. Other standouts on paper include lot 131, a Snitzel colt out of Group 1 winner Covertly (Aus) (Metal Storm {Fr}) and therefore a full-brother to this year's Listed Breeders' Plate second Detective (Aus), a
A$220,000 purchase here last year; lot 202, a Redoute's Choice colt out of Evasion (Empire Maker), a daughter of champion mare Inside Information (Private Account); lot 228, a half-brother to Australian Group 3 winner and twice Group 1-placed Not Listenin'tome (Aus) (Dylan Thomas {Ire}), who won Hong Kong's Bauhinia Sprint Trophy on New Year's Day and ran third in the 2015 G1 Longines Hong Kong Sprint since being exported there last year; lot 233, a full-brother to G1 Galaxy H. winner Sweet Idea (Aus) (Snitzel {Aus}) and a half to stakes winner Rush (Aus) (Charge Forward {Aus}); lot 269, the second foal out of Good Weekend (Aus) (Hussonet {Aus}), a full-sister to Australian Horse of the Year Weekend Hussler (Aus); and lot 470, a Smart Missile filly out of Negotiate, already the dam of two stakes horses and a full-brother to this filly who made A$700,000 here last year.
Messara explained that the growth in numbers of the Arrowfield draft is a product of the operation's expansion.
“Our broodmare band has grown to over 220 mares now, so our yearling numbers are increasing,” he noted. “We sell most of what we breed and try to place the yearlings in the most appropriate sale to suit their pedigrees and their level of development. Having said that, the Magic Millions sale has continued to develop in recent years, they are an excellent company to work with and the expanded race program with major prize money for 3-year-olds and older horses, as well as 2-year-olds, is certainly an attraction.”
Click here for a free subscription.
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
