Dundeel’s stellar 2-year-old season

Cover image courtesy of Arrowfield Stud

If you look at this season’s Leading 2YO Sires’ table, most of the usual suspects are there. The great Snitzel leads the way, Darley’s superstar Exceed And Excel sits second, while the country’s premier stallion I Am Invincible rounds out the top three. There’s also Better Than Ready, Russian Revolution, Capitalist and Zoustar.

Some, however, may be surprised to see Dundeel’s (NZ) name sitting in eighth position. That may be due to the fact he himself only had one start at two (he won a maiden at Ellerslie over 1200 metres), or the fact his pedigree boasts so much stoutness - he is by High Chaparral (Ire) from the Zabeel (NZ) mare Stareel (NZ). Dundeel’s grandam, Staring (NZ) (Fiesta Star), won seven stakes races between 1600-2400 metres.

A winner of seven stakes races himself - six at the elite level - Dundeel raced 19 times, with only four of those at 1400 metres or less.

Dundeel has only ever finished a season in the top 10 in the 2-year-old category once, that being in 2018/19, when, from 16 runners, he logged six winners, nine wins, one stakes winner and two stakes wins, for earnings of $1,829,125. His star performer, of course, was Castelvecchio, who now resides alongside him at Arrowfield Stud. He had a five-start juvenile campaign, which included a G1 Champagne S. triumph, as well as placings in the G1 Sires’ Produce S. and G2 Skyline S.

Dundeel is having a sensational season with his 2-year-olds, boasting career-best numbers by winners and wins.

His juvenile progeny has amassed $1,561,575 in 2022/23. From 23 runners, he has nine winners that have combined for 12 wins and Militarize (NZ) is likely to be in contention to be named Australia’s Champion 2-Year-Old, having won three of his five starts, including two Group 1s.

Unlike this author, Arrowfield Stud’s Bloodstock Manager Jon Freyer isn’t surprised to see Dundeel enjoying such a great run with his juveniles.

“He’s having a terrific run,” Freyer told TDN AusNZ.

“It’s not a surprise for us because he was such a fast horse himself. I know he could run over a bit of ground, but as Murray Baker used to say, ‘The horse would win a Newmarket if we’d trained him for it’. He was just a really fast horse that could keep it up for 2000 metres.

“When you’ve got the class he had, and horses like So You Think had, they can get sprinters because they’ve got the speed to go with it.

“He’s done it before, obviously Castelvecchio possibly could have been a Golden Slipper horse; he didn’t qualify for the race as all the prizemoney he won was from the (R. Listed) Inglis Millennium. He was a really fast 2-year-old.

“He’s also had Super Seth and others, so he’s done it before.”

Militarize has obviously been Dundeel’s headline act this season, but aside from him, other notable achievers include Townsend, who has won one of his three starts and was third behind in the Champagne. Oceans Of Energy has scored in two of her three starts, including one at Doomben. Fistsoffury won on debut, before running fourth in the G2 VRC Sires’ produce S. at his third start, and late last month, Yosemite Falls triumphed on debut at Echuca by 6.5l.

“Militarize is in line to be the Champion 2-Year-Old, he’s won two Group 1s. He’s had Townsend be Group 1-placed and a number of others that are showing so much promise. It looks good for this year, but even better for next season,” said Freyer.

“Horses like him (Dundeel) and Zabeel before him, when they have classy 2-year-olds you’re thinking Guineas and Cox Plates, those kinds of races, and I think that’s what they’ve got in mind with Militarize in the spring.

“They’re not limited like some stallions, where you say, ‘Once you get beyond 1200 metres we’ll be crossing our fingers’. You’re looking at all the big races with these horses and there’s no ceiling for them.”

A special crop?

Asked if there was anything noteworthy about this particular crop, whether that be better mares and/or more precious types, Freyer provided great insight.

“Not particularly, no. I think that as stallions get to this stage of their career, breeders and even studs learn what works with a stallion, how to mate them, that kind of thing,” he explained.

“You see stallions go in cycles a little bit and often at this point of their career when we figure stallions out, we see them shoot up and improve their performance. You work out the mares and the bloodlines that suit them and to some extent as well, the trainers are better at knowing how to train them; they’ve often had a few through the stable.”

A bright future

Freyer is adamant Dundeel’s rich vein of form is far from being done.

One of his 2-year-olds that is sure to attract plenty of interest is Miracle Of Love - a filly out of Arrowfield Stud’s great mare Miss Finland (Redoute’s Choice), who won five Group 1s and was Australia’s Champion 2YO Filly in 2007 and Champion 3YO Filly in 2007.

The Paul Messara-trained Miracle Of Love will debut in Saturday’s Listed Woodlands S. at Scone.

“She’s a lovely filly, she was an outstanding yearling out of our great mare that we kept,” said Freyer.

“She’s very inexperienced and it’s probably throwing her into the deep end, but it’s at home.

“She’s got a lot of talent and she won’t be disgraced by any stretch.

“She’ll certainly be better as she matures, but she’s reasonably precocious; she’s got enough speed to warrant running her in this race and if she runs as well as we hope, she may head north (for the Queensland Winter Racing Carnival).”

Miracle Of Love, who will be ridden by apprentice Dylan Gibbons, is a half-sister to the Group 1 heroine Stay With Me (Street Cry {Ire}), as well the stakes performers Earth Angel (Animal Kingdom {USA}), Bucharest (Deep Impact {Jpn}) and Woodbine (Hussonet {USA}).

This is also the family of the dual Listed scorer and Group 2 placegetter Waltz On By (I Am Invincible).

Miss Finland’s Castelvecchio colt made $280,000 at this year’s Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale.

Freyer also believes the Team Snowden-trained Vomo Island is worth following. The colt was bred and is raced by Greg and Barb Ingham and is from the winless Lonhro mare The Darling One, making him a brother to the three-time victress Thousand Years and a half-brother to the Listed winner Wayupinthesky (Snitzel).

Vomo Island ran second on debut at Canterbury in February, before being tipped out. He resumed at the same track last week, running third behind the promising Kandinsky Abstract (Zoustar).

“He is a really promising horse; we had him at the farm and he was a magnificent yearling, one of the standouts on the farm,” Freyer commented.

“He was bred by Greg and Barb Ingham and they decided to keep him and race him.

“I think he is a horse with a massive future; he did get beaten the other day, but the race didn't quite pan out for him. He’s a horse that’s really going places.”

In that same race last week, another Dundeel 2-year-old - Celestial Legend - rattled home to grab second.

Arrowfield Stud bred the colt and consigned him at last year’s Inglis Classic Yearling Sale. He was knocked down to Legend Racing / Avenue Bloodstock for $220,000.

The colt is out of Sarraqa (Snitzel) and she is an unraced three-quarter sister to the Group 1 winners Mustaaqeem and Rafeef. The former was the Champion 2YO Colt in South Africa in 2016/17, while the latter is now a sire of three Group 1 winners and 12 stakes winners in South Africa.

“He is one that we bred and is raced by Bon Ho,” Freyer said.

“He flashed home and has got stakes class written all over him.

“It’s exciting, because when you’ve got a classy bunch of 2-year-olds, you normally get a great crop of 3-year-olds.”