Cover image courtesy of Arrowfield Stud
Maurice (Jpn) is set for a much-anticipated return to his second home, Arrowfield Stud, Australia. Despite not stepping on Australian shores for several months, the son of Screen Hero (Jpn) and his compatriots have hardly been out of the headlines.
The last few months have also proved to be a fruitful time at Arrowfield Stud. The John Messara-led super stud is no stranger to producing high-quality horses, and with a host of young and exciting sires on the rise to support their four-time Champion Sire Snitzel, it appears it’s all up from here.
The current king of Arrowfield Stud, Snitzel, enjoyed a superb autumn siring his second G1 Golden Slipper S. winner courtesy of Shinzo.
Shinzo winning the G1 Golden Slipper S. | Image courtesy of Ashlea Brennan
While the outstanding Dundeel (NZ) unveiled another star galloper Militarize (NZ), who claimed the G1 Sires’ Produce S. and the G1 Champagne S. double, Dundeel is joined by his exciting son Castelvecchio whose first progeny were well-received at the 2023 sales, selling up for $360,000.
Among the host of young sires at Arrowfield Stud is the Group 2-winning Showtime, the extremely good-looking son of Snitzel is making a favourable impression on trainers.
From 15 runners, Showtime has sired four winners, including the Listed Cinderella S. winner Show Royale and the Group 3-placed Tacito.
Showtime | Standing at Arrowfield Stud
Alongside the Japanese-based Maurice (Jpn), Arrowfield Stud will also welcome back the stunning Admire Mars (Jpn), whose first Australian-bred foals arrived last spring, and the son Daiwa Major (Jpn) who is a three-time elite-level winner and was an unbeaten Champion 2-Year-Old in Japan.
Redoute's influence as strong as ever
While rosters change, some things stay the same; despite it being four years since Arrowfield Stud lost the incomparable Redoute’s Choice, the former ruler of the Upper Hunter Valley-based stud influence is still strong through his sire sons, daughters and active gallopers.
The grand horse sired his 182nd stakes winner on Saturday courtesy of Rediener in the G3 Gunsynd S. at Eagle Farm.
Redoute’s Choice is leading the Australia broodmare sires for the 2022/23 season on prizemoney and is in the top six across all the categories.
Rediener winnning the G3 Gunsynd S. at Eagle Farm | Image courtesy of Michael McInally
Excelling as a broodmare sire, 'Redoute's' Champion daughter Miss Finland is proving to be one of those rare mares whose talent on the racetrack is translating in the broodmare barn, having already produced the G1 Thousand Guineas victress Stay With Me (Street Cry {Ire}).
She looks to have another smart galloper in the waiting if the placed performance of her daughter Miracle Of Love (Dundeel {NZ}) in the G1 JJ Atkins was anything to go by.
Also on Saturday, No Looking Back, a Listed-winning daughter of Redoute’s Choice, daughter Comrada Rosa (Capitalist), scored the valuable G2 Dane Ripper S. at Eagle Farm and looks to have a strong chance in the G1 Tattersall’s Tiara on June 24.
Comrade Rosa winning the G2 Dane Ripper S. at Eagle Farm | Image courtesy of Michael McInally
It has been a memorable couple of weeks for Jon Freyer, bloodstock manager at Arrowfield Stud.
“It was amazing for Redoute’s Choice to sire his 182nd stakes winner,” Freyer told TDN AusNZ.
“He had Petronius last Saturday and Rediener on Saturday. It was great. And, of course, he’s leading the broodmare sire list, which is remarkable.
Redoute's Choice
“Redoute’s Choice is an extraordinary stallion, and I think it will be a long before we see another one like him.”
The Autumn Sun on the rise
Rounding out the Arrowfield Stud roster, fittingly, is The Autumn Sun, one of the finest colts to race in the modern Australian era and the best race son produced by Redoute’s Choice.
His first crop debuted this season and has already produced the Group 3 winner Autumn Ballet and the Group 1-placed Tulsi.
The Autumn Sun | Standing at Arrowfield Stud
While The Autumn Sun’s former trainer Chris Waller declared his filly Tutta La Vita as one of quality and believes the filly could be a major contender in the spring.
On Sunday at Hawkesbury, The Autumn Sun added a third winner to his CV, once again in the care of his former trainer Waller, Ashfall made amends from his placed effort on debut to score the 1400 metre maiden.
“Ashfall came from a race at Kembla Grange that looks like it will be a strong form reference. He was placed behind King Colorado and was arguably unlucky. Obviously, King Colorado won the JJ Atkins on Saturday. Ashfall looks like another promising horse for The Autumn Sun going forward.”
John Messara and Jon Freyer with The Autumn Sun after his victory in the G2 Hobartville S. | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
Marvellous Maurice
Like The Autumn Sun, Maurice enjoyed a successful weekend and winter carnival adding two new stakes winners in a fortnight.
Last Saturday, Maurice’s daughter Azula, trained by Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, showed plenty of fighting qualities to score the Listed The Phoenix S. at Eagle Farm. She became Maurice’s 14th stakes winner.
She was a $100,000 yearling purchase by Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott and Kestrel Thoroughbreds from the draft of the Twin Hills Stud at the 2022 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale.
Azula (yellow cap) winning the Listed The Phoenix at Eagle Farm | Image courtesy of Michael McInally
Azula is out of the winning Redoute’s Choice mare Shutout, which is becoming a bit of a theme for Maurice.
On Saturday, Maurice added his 15th stakes winner courtesy of Namesake, trained by Ciaron Maher and David Eustace, with the flashy colt winning the Listed Oxlade S. at Eagle Farm.
He was a $100,000 yearling purchase by Ciaron Maher Bloodstock from the draft of Arrowfield Stud at the 2022 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale.
Namesake winning the Listed Oxlade S. at Eagle Farm | Image courtesy of Michael McInally
And like the filly, he is from the Redoute’s Choice mare Banksia, who has already produced the Group 2-winning Bank Maur for Maurice.
“Maurice’s recent stakes winners, Azula and Namesake, are out of Redoute’s Choice mares in the last fortnight. Hitotsu is, of course, out of a Redoute’s mare, and Mazu is out of a Flying Spur mare, so Maurice is clearly working with Danehill-line mares. With that blood, he is producing Classic winners, juvenile winners and sprinters.”
“Maurice’s recent stakes winners, Azula and Namesake, are out of Redoute’s Choice mares in the last fortnight. Hitotsu is, of course, out of a Redoute’s mare, and Mazu is out of a Flying Spur mare, so Maurice is clearly working with Danehill-line mares. With that blood, he is producing Classic winners, juvenile winners and sprinters.” - Jon Freyer
On Sunday in Japan at Tokyo, Maurice appears to have unveiled a new Northern Hemisphere star, with the highly anticipated debut of the Noriyuki Hori-trained Danon Ayers Rock (Jpn).
Bred by Northern Farm, Danon Ayers Rock has a strong Australian connection; he is a son of the champion Mosheen, a daughter of Fastnet Rock, who is a son of Danehill (USA), who Maurice combines so well with.
Mosheen won the G1 VRC Oaks, the G1 Australian Guineas, the G1 Randwick Guineas and the G1 Vinery Stud S. in a remarkable career that also saw her placed in the G1 Golden Slipper.
Mosheen winning the G1 VRC Oaks | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
He was an AU$5.2 million yearling purchase by Danox Co from the 2022 JRHA Select Yearling and Foal Sale.
Partnered by Australian Damian Lane, Danon Ayers Rock was sent out a hot favourite in the 1800 metre Newcomers race; the promising colt saluted much to the pleasure of Freyer.
“The connections feel Danon Ayers Rock is the next star they have by Maurice. It was very much expected for the colt to win and win well. I’m thrilled he has pulled it off.”
“The connections feel Danon Ayers Rock is the next star they have by Maurice. It was very much expected for the colt to win and win well. I’m thrilled he has pulled it off.” - Jon Freyer
Maurice was near-peerless on the racetrack and is now proving to be equally effective as a stallion; TDN AusNZ asked Freyer why he feels Maurice is so successful, “For starters, he was an exceptional racehorse, and that’s a big thing in his favour.
“It was one of the things that attracted us (Arrowfield Stud) to him. He is a magnificent-looking animal, and he was capable of nearly anything as a racehorse.
“Maurice is similar to Dundeel in that they have brilliant speed, but they can get over ground. Consequently, they are siring horses that are sprinters, horses that can run over a bit of ground and are Classic horses,” Freyer enthused to TDN AusNZ.
Maurice (Jpn) | Standing at Arrowfield Stud
“When they are this versatile, they have a lot of strengths to their bow.”
Maurice was a six-time elite-level winner in Japan and Hong Kong, winning such races at the G1 Yasuda Kinen, the G1 Hong Kong Cup and the G1 Hong Kong Mile.
He was crowned Horse of the Year, Champion Sprinter and Champion Miler in Japan 2015.
Maurice (Jpn) was a six-time elite-level winner in Japan and Hong Kong | Image courtesy of Arrowfield Stud
With the box of performance and looks ticked, there was only one glaring unknown. Maurice was, by the little-known in Australia, Screen Hero (Jpn), a son of the American horse Grass Wonder (USA).
Screen Hero was a quality performer winning the G1 Japan Cup. Maurice’s dam is the unplaced Carnegie (Ire) mare, Mejiro Frances (USA).
Freyer admits that Maurice hails from an unconventional pedigree, but he and the Arrowfield Stud team viewed this as a strength, “There was never any doubt from our point of view but from commercial breeders' view, they struggled to get their heads around his pedigree.
“Because the pedigree is something they didn’t know; I have likened it to horses like Street Cry by Machiavellian and More Than Ready, a son of Southern Halo,” Freyer told TDN AusNZ.
“People couldn’t get their heads around those sires, but once they are established as successful sires, that is seen as a positive because it is seen as outcrossing to so many of the lines that we have here (in Australia).”
“Because the (Maurice's) pedigree is something they (Australians) didn’t know; I have likened it to horses like Street Cry by Machiavellian and More Than Ready, a son of Southern Halo... People couldn’t get their heads around those sires, but once they are established as successful sires, that is seen as a positive because it is seen as outcrossing to so many of the lines that we have here (in Australia).” - Jon Freyer
Now Maurice is well established as a sire of quality stock, sought after on and off the track, reflected by his 2023 breeding season fee of $82,500 (inc GST). It has Freyer excited for his future.
“We’ve been his biggest supporter all the way, and these horses you see now are not from massive crops. But since the success of those early smaller crops, the last couple of Maurice’s books have been limited to 165 mares, and they are full books full of outstanding mares.
“Maurice is going to have significantly more representation in seasons to come."
Maurice (Jpn) | Standing at Arrowfield Stud
With his return to Australia imminent and his effectiveness with Danehill blood, what does Freyer feel suits Maurice best physically and what is the typical Maurice foal?
“Maurice is a big strapping horse, and I think early a lot of people made the mistake of thinking he’ll dominate the mares, so they put smaller mares to him. We (Arrowfield Stud) have tended to mate just quality mares of average size to him.
“He likes the Redoute’s Choice mares, and we have plenty of those. In terms of a mare physically, I feel an average-size mare fits the bill, and with those, Maurice is producing quality foals,” Freyer shared with TDN AusNZ.
“Maurice is throwing plenty of substance and leg and muscle into his progeny. These horses we’ve seen have so much quality.
“What you see now is just the tip of the iceberg.”
