Cover image courtesy of Arrowfield
Four-time Australian Champion Sire and the most prolific son of the great Redoute’s Choice, Snitzel was humanely euthanised at Arrowfield Stud on Wednesday morning due to liver damage. The 22-year-old is to date the sire of 160 stakeswinners, including 23 Group 1 winners, and over 1280 individual winners.
An outpouring of heartfelt tributes to the stallion have filled social media throughout the day as the industry remembered a true legend of the breed. It is fair to say that the loss is felt most keenly by Arrowfield Stud Director John Messara.
John Messara | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
“He touched a lot of people,” Messara shared with The Thoroughbred Report. “I’ve been very lucky to have had his father and his grandfather Danehill, to have three champion sires directly descended one from the other, all at Arrowfield.
“He was a lovely horse to have around, and that makes it harder to take.”
“He (Snitzel) touched a lot of people.” - John Messara
Bred by Francois Naude from his dual Listed winner Snippets’ Lass (Snippets), Snitzel captured the attention of Gerald Ryan at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in 2004 and was knocked down to the trainer for $260,000, before embarking on an electric racing career that would foreshadow the heights he would reach at stud.
Unbeaten in his first three starts as a juvenile and the winner of seven starts from 15, Snitzel attracted the interest of Messara and the Arrowfield team, who bought into the horse at the end of his 2-year-old campaign. They sensed that greatness was yet to come.
Gerald Ryan | Image courtesy of Ashlea Brennan
“Gerald Ryan was always bullish about him,” Messara said. “He always thought he was a great racehorse, so it came as no surprise to Gerald when he won the Oakleigh Plate.
“He was a little unlucky in a couple of races (as a juvenile), but we could see that. We thought that, with a bit of luck as a 3-year-old, he could make amends - and he did.”
“He (Ryan) always thought he (Snitzel) was a great racehorse, so it came as no surprise to Gerald when he won the Oakleigh Plate.” - John Messara
The zenith of Snitzel’s racing career came as a 3-year-old in the 2006 G1 Oakleigh Plate, where he ploughed through a Heavy 10 track to defeat an elite field containing the likes of Takeover Target (Celtic Swing {GB}), Miss Andretti (Ihtiram {Ire}), and Stratum. On Wednesday, Ryan described it as an “honour” to have been part of Snitzel’s journey.
Snitzel winning the G1 Oakleigh Plate | Image courtesy of Sportpix
Snitzel earned the right to join his father Redoute’s Choice at Arrowfield in the spring of 2006, where he was immediately popular; his first crop would produce the G1 BTC Cup winner Hot Snitzel, G2 Pago Pago Stakes winner Salade, and multiple stakeswinner Malavio. It would be his only racing crop to date - aside from his current juveniles - that would produce less than 11 stakeswinners.
“He started a bit slowly (at stud),” Messara said. “We didn’t know what we had for a while. And then in his third crop, they just started coming, and he’s never looked back.
“He wasn’t a big horse, but that never counted against him. He was very fertile and very agreeable, he just went with you. He was the perfect stallion.”
Among his stakeswinners are 12 Champions, a G1 Cox Plate winner, a G1 Oakleigh Plate winner, three G1 Galaxy Handicap winners, two G1 Australian Guineas winners, and his daughter Marhoona delivered his third G1 Golden Slipper Stakes winner earlier this year.
Marhoona | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
He is on track to receive his fifth Leading 2YO Sire title this season with the timely arrival of Job Done as his 20th juvenile winner on Tuesday.
Since he last held the Champion Sire accolade in 2019/20, Snitzel has never sat further down than fifth in the premiership, and landed his 20th stakeswinner of the season on Saturday courtesy of Listed Spear Chief Handicap winner Transatlantic. From Chance Bye’s victory in the G2 Silver Slipper Stakes in 2010 to the present day, he has incredibly averaged one stakeswinner every 19 days.
Such was his prowess that Snitzel’s fee had risen to a career best $247,500 (inc GST) across the last two seasons; Messara shared that Arrowfield’s 40 per cent share in his stallion syndicate has underpinned much of the stud’s results and activities in recent years.
He has been an immensely important horse financially to a number of people, particularly the breeders and vendors of his 71 yearlings to make $1 million or more through the sales ring. The best may still be yet to come, with 107 weanlings on the ground and 114 mares covered in his final season at stud.
“He (Snitzel) was a horse that caused no trouble whatsoever, and yet he gave us such great outcomes, so many good results and championships.” - John Messara
Like his father and grandfather before him, Snitzel has already left an indelible mark on Australasian racing and breeding. No less than 17 of Snitzel’s sons have sired stakeswinners at stud - six have sired Group 1 winners - and his daughters have delivered 46 stakeswinners, several of whom are now forging their own careers at stud. Currently, he sits in third, just below his illustrious father, in the broodmare sire rankings.
Snitzel | Image courtesy of Arrowfield
Snitzel has been the bedrock for Arrowfield Stud’s continued success across the past two decades, and his statue stands beside that of Redoute’s Choice to welcome visitors to the stud.
“He had a great temperament,” Messara said. “That made him a good racehorse as well. The staff loved him, and he was active but nice in the breeding shed. He was a horse that caused no trouble whatsoever, and yet he gave us such great outcomes, so many good results and championships.
“What he did, it’s just nonsensical.”
