Cover image courtesy of Ashlea Brennan
Profiteer was among the fastest 2-year-olds of last season, with his dominant 5.3l front-running display in the $2 million Inglis Millennium the highlight of a nine-start career which featured three wins in total as well as placings in both the G2 Todman S. and the G3 Blue Sapphire S.
He blazed a trail for his sire Capitalist, becoming his first stakes winner and now his first son to retire to stud, where Field believes he can make a significant impact.
Profiteer, winner of the 2021 R. Listed Inglis Millennium | Image courtesy of Ashlea Brennan
"He was raised on the farm here and he was arguably the fastest 2-year-old colt of the year," Field told TDN AusNZ.
"History shows us that the fastest 2-year-olds make excellent stallions in this country. I feel very positive and confident about his future. I also love that he profiles as a very similar racehorse to his grandsire Written Tycoon and sire Capitalist, they were dynamite fast 2-year-olds who went to stud and have both proved to be top stallions."
Backing Field's enthusiasm for Profiteer is the esteem with which he was held by both his co-trainer Mick Price and Champion jockey Hugh Bowman, who rode him in that impressive Inglis Millennium win.
"History shows us that the fastest 2-year-olds make excellent stallions in this country. I feel very positive and confident about his (Profiteer's) future." - Henry Field
"You only have to see the confidence that Mick Price and Hugh Bowman had in the horse. Every time he did a piece of work and ran in a race, you could see what a high-level juvenile he was," he said.
"They both thought he was a freaky good 2-year-old and he has everything we look for in a stallion.
"Hugh went on the record saying he is as fast a horse as Farnan and Mick went on the record saying he had more natural talent than Extreme Choice and Flying Artie so that is the level of horse we are talking about."
"Hugh (Bowman) went on the record saying he is as fast a horse as Farnan and Mick (Price) went on the record saying he had more natural talent than Extreme Choice and Flying Artie so that is the level of horse we are talking about." - Henry Field
It was Profiteer's run when second in the G2 Todman S. which gives Field a great indication of how he measures up to the best colts of his vintage.
"He was very unlucky not to win the Todman. He was beaten a lip by Anamoe and finished ahead of Home Affairs and Stay Inside," he said.
Anamoe (Street Boss {USA}) would later go on to win both the G1 Inglis Sires' and G1 Caulfield Guineas, while third-placed Home Affairs (I Am Invincible) has proven himself the best sprinting 3-year-old this season with victories in the G1 Coolmore Stud S. and the G1 Black Lightning S.
Henry Field | Image courtesy of Ashlea Brennan
Stay Inside (Extreme Choice) came out at his next start and won the G1 Golden Slipper S. in which Profiteer started favourite and led the field up before fading to finish seventh.
"If Profiteer had have landed a Golden Slipper or a Blue Diamond, then you can imagine the sort of fee he would be standing at," Field said.
"For a horse that will stand at the fee he is, he will be a huge chance to be leading first-season sire given how naturally brilliant he was. We will giving him a really good book of mares."
Capitalist | Standing at Newgate Farm
A pedigree made for speed
Bred by SF Bloodstock, Blake Sandblom and WinStar Farm, Profiteer is out of the Snitzel mare Athena Lass, who is a stakes-placed, three-quarter sister to Group 3 winner Sweet Redemption (Snitzel) and half-sister to Listed winner Euryale (Lonhro).
The standout name on his dam line is his third dam Danglissa (Danzero), the G1 Flight S. winner.
On his sire side, not only will he be the first son of Capitalist to go to stud, he is also the first grandson of now Yulong-based Written Tycoon, who was Australia's Champion Sire last season.
"He's out of a fast Snitzel mare and he is by Capitalist, so from a pedigree perspective he has a lot to recommend him. I really feel he profiles very similar to his sire and grandsire," Field said.
"He's (Profiteer) out of a fast Snitzel mare and he is by Capitalist, so from a pedigree perspective he has a lot to recommend him. I really feel he profiles very similar to his sire and grandsire." - Henry Field
Offered through Newgate Farm at the 2020 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale, Profiteer was sold to Roll The Dice Racing and Rogers Bloodstock for $165,000 and took his large syndicate of owners on a terrific ride on the racetrack, earning over $1.5 million.
Newgate purchased back into Profiteer after his impressive 2.75l win at Flemington for Price and Michael Kent Jnr in December 2020 and ahead of his Inglis Millennium win.
Profiteer as a yearling | Image courtesy of Inglis
A Newgate army
Profiteer is one of three colts from his 2-year-old crop to head to Newgate this year, with Stay Inside recently retired along with fellow son of Extreme Choice, Tiger Of Malay.
As a Golden Slipper winner, Stay Inside is likely to command a much higher fee, which is yet to be confirmed while Tiger Of Malay, a winner of the G2 BRC Sires' Produce S. and G3 Up And Coming S. will debut at the same price as Profiteer, $16,500 (inc GST).
Gallery: Other stallions retired to stud duties for the 2022 season at Newgate Farm, images courtesy of Ashlea Brennan
Field feels both stallions will get a great chance and that they offer enough of a differentiation to breeders looking for young stallions to support.
"Tiger Of Malay was a very tough and genuine horse and he was a Group 2 winner and Group 1-placed. He's by Extreme Choice, who is arguably the best stallion in the country and his statistics are at freak-like levels," Field said.
"To have two juveniles like these two horses retiring in the same year, I think they will complement each other, and they will be horses that will be very popular in the commercial market. They will be genuine chances of making their mark as first-season sires."
