Cover image courtesy of the Hong Kong Jockey Club
Arrowfield has a rich era of success to reflect upon, but each new graduate achievement is always marked with a sense of celebration, and it was no different for Stronger, who became the third Group 1 winner from that Easter crop with his upset victory at Sha Tin on Sunday.
"He was a beautiful yearling and was an impressive horse. He's been thereabouts in some of these good races, so it was gratifying to see him breakthrough and get a Group 1 on his CV," Arrowfield Bloodstock Manager Jon Freyer told TDN AusNZ.
Jon Freyer, John Muir and Paul Messara | Image courtesy of Bronwen Healy
"It’s great to sell expensive yearlings, but it's far more gratifying that they perform on the racetrack and do well for their new owners.
"He's our third Group 1 winner from that Easter draft and he's the eighth Group winner from the draft. That's very gratifying. We are always pleased when that happens. It gives people confidence to come back next year and buy from you."
"It’s great to sell expensive yearlings, but it's far more gratifying that they perform on the racetrack and do well for their new owners." - Jon Freyer
Stronger, purchased for $1.05 million by James Harron at that Easter Sale, becomes the first of those eight Arrowfield seven-figure graduates to break through at the elite level, and the first of the 22 $1 million-plus yearlings sold in total at that Sale to secure a Group 1 win.
The other Group 1 winners to have emerged from that Sale so far are fellow Arrowfield graduates Super Seth and Alabama Express, who are both forging their careers at stud, now Vinery Stud resident Exceedance, star fillies Funstar (Adelaide {Ire}), who sold for $2.7 million on Inglis Digital last year, and Loving Gaby (I Am invincible), as well as G1 Australian Derby winner Quick Thinker (So You Think {NZ}).
Gallery: The Group 1 winners who graduated from the 2018 Inglis Easter Yearling Sale, images courtesy of Bronwen Healy
Three of the other ‘Arrowfield eight' million-dollar purchases have been stakes winners in Akari (Snitzel), Groundswell (Fastnet Rock) and Significance (Frankel {GB}). Stronger's achievement is even rarer, as a $1 million-plus colt who secured Group 1 success overseas.
"He was a really attractive horse. He was a James Harron purchase for over $1 million. He was among a very good crop of horses and was amongst the standouts of that year," Freyer recalls.
Starting with Nothin'
Arrowfield first became involved in Stronger’s family through his grandam, the multiple stakes winner Ain't Seen Nothin' (Nothin' Leica Dane), who was purchased off the track after a stellar career on the track for Barbara Joseph.
Ain't Seen Nothin' when racing | Image courtesy of Sportpix
"We bought her way back when and she's been an excellent producer. Her daughter Star Pupil looks like being a very good mare as well. She has had a couple of particularly nice horses. This horse (Stronger) has probably been the standout of all of them so far," Freyer said.
Ain't Seen Nothin' produced a trio of stakes winners, Bachman (All American), Stepitup (All American) and Aintnofallenstar (Starcraft {NZ}), and seven winners in all, among them the Starcraft (NZ) mare Star Pupil, whose lone victory in a five-start career in the Arrowfield colours for Paul Messara came at Tamworth.
She made more rapid progress as a broodmare with her first foal, an All American (USA) filly named Tiger Silk, stakes-placed in New Zealand in a career which featured three racetrack wins for trainer Richard Collett.
Her second foal, a colt by Not A Single Doubt, always seemed destined for stardom.
Stronger as a yearling | Image courtesy of Inglis
Having been purchased by Harron, Stronger, a late October foal, made quick progress under the guidance of Peter and Paul Snowden, winning at Kembla Grange on debut as a pre-Christmas 2-year-old and following that up with a placing at Rosehill and then a fifth in the R. Listed Inglis Nursery.
Given a let-up, he would win again on the Kensington track at Randwick on his resumption in the spring, then place in the G3 Pago Pago S. He then would stamp himself a stakes winner with a fast-finishing victory in the G3 Ken Russell Classic at the Gold Coast.
Hong Kong-bound
Stronger was then at the centre of a significant offer from Hong Kong in a deal orchestrated by George Moore. He left Australia just after turning three having been purchased by Cheung Hon Kit.
Vincent Ho and Douglas Whyte with Stronger after winning the G1 Centenary Sprint Cup | Image courtesy of the HKJC
Initially trained by John Moore, Stronger won one race, a Class 3, in his first season, but graduated to stakes class after winning a Class 2 with his first start for Douglas Whyte at the start of the 2020/21 season. He has been very consistent when placed against Hong Kong's best sprinters since then, placing at stakes level on four occasions.
On Sunday, he was able to produce a brilliant finish for Vincent Ho to edge out last start G1 Hong Kong Sprint winner Sky Field (Deep Field). It was his third victory in Hong Kong and by far his most significant.
A Group 1 stamp
Stronger's win added a Group 1 hue on a family with plenty of black type but nothing to that point at that elite level.
Arrowfield, which bred Stronger in partnership with John Leaver’s Planette Thoroughbreds, has a Pariah yearling half-sister to stronger to come through as well as a half-sister by Snitzel, who was foaled last spring. Star Pupil returned to the four-time Champion Australian stallion again in November.
Star Pupil's half-sisters Farsight (All American) and Taste Of Honey (Dundeel {NZ}) are also at Arrowfield and the former produced a Dundeel (NZ) filly last year before returning back to that stallion last year, while the latter had a Pariah colt in October before visiting Admire Mars (Jpn).
"We've got a few fillies in that family and it’s a really successful family. There was a little bit of bad luck in there, I remember Bachman got hurt at one point at his career and there were a couple of others that didn't quite come through and fulfill their potential through circumstance. That's why it’s lovely to get this horse in the major leagues," Freyer said.
"We've got a few fillies in that family (Stronger’s) and it’s a really successful family." - Jon Freyer
While Not A Single Doubt has been retired for the past two seasons, Stronger's success is also another feather in the cap of the pensioned Arrowfield stallion, who now has 16 individual Group 1 winners. Amazingly, five of those Group 1 winners have come since he was retired.
"He (Not A Single Doubt) is probably at the top of his game in terms of his results and you saw how well they sold at the Magic Millions. I'm sure they’ll be the same throughout the rest of the sales series with this final crop," Freyer said.
"It’s a tragedy not to still have him active in that regard but he has been such a marvellous sire. I think he is going to be a great influence going forward with both his sons and his daughters breeding on."
"It’s a tragedy not to still have him (Not A Single Doubt) active in that regard but he has been such a marvellous sire. I think he is going to be a great influence going forward with both his sons and his daughters breeding on." - Jon Freyer
Stronger also becomes the second son of Not A Single Doubt to win a Group 1 in Hong Kong, following on from Southern Legend.
Not A Single Doubt's success in Hong Kong has come from a total of 51 runners across the journey, of which 30 have been winners.
"I guess that's the way it works, the ones that generally go there are hand-picked, so they are talented horses to begin with but Group 1s are hard to win anywhere and the ratio of Group 1 winners is very good," Freyer said.
