Snitzel was a colt that left a lasting impression on Gerald Ryan from the moment he first inspected him as a yearling and the leading trainer’s experienced eye for young thoroughbred talent again proved on the money.
The son of Redoute’s Choice was to go on to earn fame and fortune under the guidance of the Rosehill conditioner and crowned as a 3-year-old when he defeated the older horses in the G1 Oakleigh Plate at Caulfield.
It was the first and only time that Snitzel competed on a Heavy track and class won the day when he accounted for Virage De Fortune (Anabaa {USA}), who had won the G1 Australia S. at her previous outing.
Back in third position, that day was Joe Janiak’s cult hero Takeover Target (Celtic Swing {GB}), winner of six domestic Group 1 titles, the G1 Nakayama Sprinters' S. and also successful in the G2 Royal Ascot King’s Stand S.
“Earlier on, we dodged all the really wet tracks because he didn’t give me the impression he would handle them. In the spring of that year, we scratched him from a Heavy track in the G1 Orr S.,” Ryan said.
“In the Oakleigh Plate, it didn’t rain until raceday so he went out and got the job done. He was just getting better and better as he got older. He was a terrific sprinter.”
Snitzel racing in 2006 | Image courtesy of Sportpix
Craig Newitt retained the ride on Snitzel in the Oakleigh Plate having ridden him when he finished seventh in the G1 Lightning S. three weeks earlier.
“He was a very good galloper and he had no weight (51.5kg) on his back in the Oakleigh and myself and Gerald were very confident,” he said.
Newitt pushed up to assume the early lead with Virage De Fortune on his outside and steered him toward the middle of the track on straightening. He gave a good kick to surge 2l clear and, 'going brilliantly' as caller Bryan Martin would say, held that margin to the line.
“Obviously, it was a high-class field that year and he won as he liked. He was a really good galloper and he was a horse that you had to get rolling,” Newitt said.
The depth of the opposition can be further gauged with future star Miss Andretti (Ihtiram {Ire}) 5.4l adrift of Snitzel when sixth in the Oakleigh Plate in what was her first Melbourne start. Newitt was later to ride Miss Andretti in all five of her subsequent Group 1 victories.
“Snitzel had a high cruising speed and he got them off the bridle, he basically ran them into the ground and got the others tired of chasing him,” Newitt said. “We rode him for speed and kept the pressure on the whole way and he sustained it right to the line.”
“Snitzel had a high cruising speed and he got them off the bridle, he basically ran them into the ground and got the others tired of chasing him.” – Craig Newitt
Newitt said Snitzel was a beautifully natured horse and a joy to be associated with.
“He was an absolute pleasure to ride, as most of the good ones are. He did everything you asked of him and more.
“He had a great temperament and that has helped to take him to the heights he has gone to as a stallion. I don’t think anybody could have dreamed he would be the super sire he is and it’s been great to see.
“He wasn’t overly big and to be honest there wasn’t much difference between him and a new star on the rise in Extreme Choice, very similar and not big but very strong.”
Newitt won the G1 Blue Diamond S. and the G1 Moir S. on the now Newgate resident Extreme Choice.
Craig Newitt
Slipper mishap
Snitzel was also considered highly unlucky by Ryan not to have opened his Group 1 account as a 2-year-old.
The colt was unbeaten in his first three starts as a 2-year-old, gaining Listed honours in the Breeders’ Plate and the Tommy Smith Slipper before third in the R. Listed Magic Millions 2YO Classic.
“He came back in the autumn and won the G3 Skyline S. in record time before the G1 Golden Slipper S.,” Ryan said.
“I was pretty confident going into the race, but he reared in the gates and banged his head. If you look at him now, he’s got a bump across the bridge of his nose and didn’t have that when he went out for the Slipper and had it when he came back in.”
Understandably, Snitzel didn’t figure in the finish and trailed in 12th behind future sire Stratum.
“Glen Boss reckoned they shouldn’t have let him run and he should have been scratched. He said he was dazed and did nothing in the race," Ryan said.
“Glen Boss reckoned they shouldn’t have let him run and he should have been scratched. He said he was dazed and did nothing in the race.” - Gerald Ryan
“He then had to transfer his form over to a 3-year-old and he did that alright in the G1 Oakleigh Plate and his run in the G1 Newmarket H. for second was super as well,” Ryan said.
Snitzel had to bow to Takeover Target in the Newmarket and subsequently won the G2 Challenge S., was third in the G1 TJ Smith S. and in his farewell appearance was fourth in the G1 All Aged S. He retired as the millionaire winner of seven of his 15 starts.
Bred by Francois Naude, Snitzel is a son of the multiple Listed winner Snippets’ Lass (Snippets), who also left the ill-fated stallion Hinchinbrook, and was offered at the 2004 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
“I saw him up at Yarraman Park Stud and we wanted a colt, if he was any good then he had the pedigree to be a stallion. The three colts we earmarked to chase turned out to be Snitzel, Stratum and Gonski, they were the top three on the list,” Ryan said.
“Snitzel came into the ring first and, as luck would have it, we got him. He was always quite straightforward, as a young horse was a little bit revvy, but he settled down as he went along.”
“Snitzel came into the ring first and, as luck would have it, we got him.” – Gerald Ryan
Snitzel was secured for $260,000 on behalf of Jadeskye Racing and Ryan said he knew he had something special on his hands early in the colt’s education.
“He was broken in by the late Rick Worthington and in his first morning here he went 150 yards up the track and I said this will win the Breeders’ Plate.”
Ryan also revealed to TDN AusNZ that he shared that information with a party of visitors to his stable.
“I remember that half-a-dozen breeders came over from New Zealand that August or September and when they were walking through the stables one studmaster asked if I had anything that would make a stallion,” he said.
“I said yes and showed them Snitzel and said I reckon he’ll win the Breeders’ Plate first-up, but he said 'he’s too small'.”
Gerald Ryan
“Arrowfield bought in to him just after the Slipper. People have often asked me if I knew if he would be able to do as a stallion what he has, but you couldn’t have foreseen that, no one could,” Ryan said.
Snitzel has since punched so far above his weight at stud and is one of only six stallions in Australian history to win four consecutive Premierships and the only three-time Champion 2-Year-Old Sire in the past two decades.
The country’s history-making Champion Sire of 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020, Snitzel has sired 110 individual stakes winners with 15 individual Group 1 winners. Of that latter group, Trapeze Artist, Russian Revolution, Shamus Award, Invader, Sizzling and Wandjina are at stud.
Snitzel has boosted his superstar credentials with 14 stakes winners in 2020/21, headed by a pair of outstanding 3-year-old prospects in Group 1 winner Sword Of State and Group 2-winning filly Four Moves Ahead.
Four Moves Ahead
He has shared in Snitzel’s subsequent success at stud having trained his son Trapeze Artist to win four Group 1 events before his retirement to Widden Stud and also prepared Snitzerland to land the G1 Lightning H.
Ryan also had a hand in the early career of Snitzel’s dual Group 1 winner Redzel, who also claimed the first two editions of The Everest.
“Trapeze Artist was very, very good and I gave Redzel his first two starts. He won at Warwick Farm and then ran third in the G3 Kindergarten S. before he went to the Snowdens,” he said. “They asked me about him and I said on ability alone, he’s Triple Crown’s best horse.”
