Lot 969 – yearling colt (Snitzel x Special Code (USA) {Ghostzapper {USA}}) - $90,000
Buyer: Pitman Racing
Vendor: Arrowfield Stud
The late Snitzel is having a simply sensational season on the track; two Group 1-winning juvenile colts helping him secure the leading sire of 2-year-olds title yet again, and his fifth Champion Sire title well within sight, with 16 stakes winners and a near $6 million gap to second place. His penultimate crop has been tough to buy, but not so for Kiwi trainer Michael Pitman.
The 2026 Magic Millions Gold Coast National Yearling Sale presented the final five opportunities to purchase a yearling by the late Arrowfield Stud resident, and Pitman paid just $90,000 for the pleasure on Monday afternoon.
A real standout
Lot 969 is the fourth foal out of Special Code (USA), an unraced daughter of leading Stateside sire Ghostzapper (USA) with a close family that is well known in Australia. A half or full sister to three stakes winners, Special Code’s half-sister Mani Bhavan (USA) (Storm Boot {USA}) is the star of the show, being a Grade I winner and the dam of Mumbai Rock (Fastnet Rock), herself the dam of four stakes performers, highlighted by G3 Red Roses winner Mumbai Muse (Zoustar) and Listed winner Jazz Etude (I Am Invincible).
As a broodmare sire, Ghostzapper’s daughters have produced 53 stakes winners, including seven top flight winners, and a further 53 stakes performers to date, amongst over 700 winners. His daughters' best-known performers include Justify (USA), Up To The Mark (USA), and the currently racing Grade I winner Book’Em Danno (USA).
Lot 969: Snitzel x Special Code (USA) colt | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
“The sire of the dam, he won nine out of 10 starts in America, he was obviously a very good horse,” Pitman said. “Arrowfield only bring good quality mares into Australia, so it was easy to trust that.”
But it wasn’t just the page that struck Pitman when he first saw the colt on the Gold Coast in January, where he passed in with a reserve of $300,000.
“The Snitzel colts, they always stand out,” he said. “And this guy really did stand out. He’s a really beautiful type, a really lovely colt. He isn’t a big, gross colt at all, and I know he’s been very popular with the good judges at this sale.
“He isn’t a big, gross colt at all, and I know he’s been very popular with the good judges at this sale.” - Michael Pitman
“He’s a Champion Sire after all, and there’s not many of them left to get now. I spoke to John Messara after the sale, there are only 35 colts in his 2025 crop and only about half of that number will be for sale next year.”
Michael Pitman | Image courtesy of Pitman Racing
$100,000 or bust
When the colt reappeared at the June sale, Pitman set himself a strict budget.
“I went and had a look at him, and I said to my brother John - who I was buying for - ‘the best way to buy this horse is to put in one bid of $100,000, and if we get him, we get him’.
“They opened the bidding at $35,000, $45,000, and we went to $80,000, then the other bidder went to $85,000, so we put in the $90,000 bid. We were prepared to go to $100,000.”
“I said to my brother John, ‘the best way to buy this horse is to put in one bid of $100,000, and if we get him, we get him’.” - Michael Pitman
But no return bid came, and Pitman walked away with a fine son of Snitzel with a family that has more than proven its worth down under.
“I know it’s easy to say because I’ve bought him, but he is a really, really nice colt,” Pitman said. “I train out of Christchurch in New Zealand, and you know he is going to be just unbeatable there.”
Snitzel | Image courtesy of Arrowfield Stud
Snitzel’s success story in New Zealand is not a small one, both on the track and in the breeding shed. His Cambridge Stud-based sire son Sword Of State has made a sizeable impression with his first crop of 2-year-olds, becoming the first New Zealand-based sire ever to produce a juvenile Group winner on Australian soil - and he has managed it twice, with Torture (NZ) and Warwoven.
Te Akau Racing’s recent star juvenile Return To Conquer will enter his first year at stud in 2026, and was unbeaten on the track, with his perfect record headed by a G1 Sistema Stakes victory. He will commence duties at Waikato Stud this spring.
Courtesy of Arrowfield Stud, the colt is also paid up already for the Magic Millions Race Series, which offers over $20 million in prize money every racing season. If he proves himself worthy of coming back across the Tasman, there’s several opportunities throughout the year to more than earn back his modest price tag.
Plenty of upside
The colt will race for Pitman’s brother John, but while the trainer is looking forward to winning with him on the track, there is always the allure of trading him in the future.
“If he wins a trial, then he is instantly worth $500,000 to Hong Kong,” he said. “Any Snitzel colt is worth $500,000 to Hong Kong if they have the performance. That’s going to be in the back of our minds. We will get him home and get him broken in and see how we go from there, but that’s an option for us as well.”
“If he (Lot 969) wins a trial, then he is instantly worth $500,000 to Hong Kong.” - Michael Pitman
If the call doesn’t come from Sha Tin though, that is no problem for Pitman, who has enjoyed plenty of success shopping at the Magic Millions Gold Coast National Yearling Sale.
Gerry Harvey | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
“It’s a sale that’s been great to me, I love coming back here,” he said. “Gerry Harvey is a great guy to work with and I have had plenty of success with what I buy here. I’ve bought 26 horses here over the years, and 24 of them are winners of 96 races between them.”
And you know with a son of Snitzel, there is a solid chance of extending that record.
