Under The Radar: Maurice is working every furlong

Cover image courtesy of Arrowfield Stud

Arrowfield Stud has long maintained a close relationship with the Yoshida family who own Shadai Stallion Station, and subsequently have given Australian breeders the opportunity to access some of the best in pedigree and performance that Japan has to offer. Nine years ago, one of those options was six-time Group 1 winner Maurice (Jpn).

For many, Maurice might fall into the bracket of ‘under the radar’, but for those who have known where to look, he has produced some quite special results to date.

With his eldest Southern Hemisphere-bred crop now eight and having produced 11 individual stakes winners already, the Japan Horse Of The Year has well and truly ridden out the wave of a stallion’s early career, and currently sits 11th in the Australian sires’ premiership with 18 winners recorded for the season to date, with just a touch under seven figures in prize money.

The feat remains all that more noteworthy when factoring in that he did not shuttle for his fourth season in 2020, leaving him short one crop to carry his trajectory upwards. Nevertheless, in ways reminiscent of his racing career, he has persevered.

(Not) missing a beat

The COVID19 pandemic wreaked havoc on the breeding and bloodstock world in a myriad of ways, but for several stallions in particular, including Maurice, disrupted flights left them unable to make it down to Australia for the Southern Hemisphere breeding season.

“He obviously missed his fourth season, and his third crop was quite a small crop as well, so realistically you could argue that he missed out on two crops early in his career,” said Arrowfield Stud Sales and Nominations Consultant Mitchell Ralph. “That third book wasn’t full of superstar mares either.”

Maurice’s third crop realised just 55 foals, and across his first three crops, he had 212 to run for him. Lockdowns also played havoc with the second half of the 2020 yearling sale season, when his first crop was doing their best to catch the eye.

Fortunately for Maurice, the team at Arrowfield Stud had done their utmost to set up their latest outcross as best as possible, and his first crop turned out to be quite potent.

From that first crop came triple Classic winner Hitotsu, who now stands beside his father on Arrowfield’s roster, and Group 1-winning sprinter Mazu, earner of nearly $10.9 million across his career to date. Between the pair, they have amassed 11 stakes wins.

“When he came back in 2021, there was so much demand for him as he had Hitotsu and Mazu running around for him,” Ralph said.

The crop has also turned out a further nine stakes performers, including multiple Group performer Ausbred Flirt and G2 BRC Sires' Produce Stakes placegetter and eight-time winner Port Louis, and three more with fourth-placed finishes in black-type events. Six of his stakes horses picked up black-type as juveniles. From 73 of that crop to race, 58 have won.

At the 2022 yearling sales, the early exploits of Hitotsu and Mazu had made the market warm to Maurice considerably, and he posted a 44% higher sales average than his debut crop.

Despite the small amount available - just 46 were offered through the ring - his third crop has posted his best results to date; a winning strike rate of 77.6% and 10.2% stakes winners to runners.

His five stakes winners amongst his 6-year-olds was highlighted in particular last season by G1 Northerly Stakes winner Cosmic Crusader (NZ), who won the G3 Bletchingly Stakes and the G2 PB Lawrence Stakes in his first two starts on the east coast before a gallant third in last Saturday’s G1 Memsie Stakes.

Capitalising on success

On Maurice’s return in 2021, his fee sat at the same level as his price point in 2026 - $44,000 (inc GST) - but that price understandably did not last long.

“Everyone was looking at him and saying, ‘gee, he can throw a Group 1 winner as both a sprinter and a stayer’,” Ralph said. “Being able to produce at the elite level at both extreme ends of the spectrum, it made people desperate to get into him.

“We were restricted on what size book he could serve here - he could only cover 150 mares. He covered that at $44,000, and then he covered it again at $82,500, and we had so much demand for him that we begged Shadai to let us have another 10 to 15 mares. They gave that to us, and he covered 165 that year.”

The beauty of the setup - and with the demand sustaining itself even with an increase to $82,500 (inc GST) - meant that the team could be selective about the stallion’s book.

“We were able to pick and choose the best mares for him, and you have to believe that if people are spending $82,500 to go to him, really good farms are sending him well-bred mares,” said Ralph. “That gives him a massive chance.”

The other turning point was that trainers were getting to really understand what made Maurice’s progeny tick.

“In his first crop, he had six 2-year-old stakes performers, so we know he can produce that, but they obviously excel more as 3-year-olds,” Ralph said.

Case in point being Hitotsu, who went unplaced in three runs as a juvenile - but unplaced in the G1 Blue Diamond Stakes amongst three Group races.

“Trainers know that now so they’re patient and not necessarily getting into them so early,” Ralph said. “His big books bred at that top fee, they are only just turning two and three, so we are really looking forward to them getting to the track in the near future.”

The standout from the 2023 crop to date is Cormier, who ran second in the G1 JJ Atkins Plate to Tron Bolt (Toronado {Ire}) over the winter, but he is also one of seven juvenile winners for the sire last season.

“There’s plenty of other horses coming through for Maurice too,” Ralph said. “There’s been four more winners from that crop since they have turned three and some of them will be heading towards stakes company this spring. He has a lot of irons in the fire, which is very exciting.”

Getting with the program

As the spring gets underway, Ralph was keen to draw emphasis back to the programming for 3-year-old racing.

“There are 19 3-year-old Group 1s each year, and there’s only three below a mile,” he said. “The rest are a mile and above. There’s a lot of opportunity for stallions whose progeny can run a mile or stretch out further.”

The aforementioned Cormier is one such horse seeking opportunities this spring. In just three starts in the autumn, he won his maiden on debut, then finished second twice to Tron Bolt - on the second occasion in the JJ Atkins.

Trained by Paul Messara and Leah Gavranich, he was a joint breeding venture for Arrowfield and GSA Bloodstock, and races in the latter’s silks. Cormier is bred on the same cross as Hitotsu, being out of a Redoute’s Choice mare - a cross that alone has yielded 73.7% winners and 13% stakes winners to runners.

In favour of him stretching out to these goals at a mile and beyond is that his dam Abbey Marie (Redoute’s Choice) won the G1 South Australian Oaks, was fourth in the G1 Doomben Cup, and was beaten just two and three-quarter-lengths in the G1 Caulfield Cup.

“He’s come back in good order and is working well,” said Messara, as he prepares Cormier to return in the G2 Run To The Rose on Saturday.

“The 1200 metres will probably be too short for him, he's going to be looking for the mile, but we have to give him his chance to have a try and win the Golden Rose. Beyond that, he’s probably looking towards the Caulfield Guineas.”

And Guineas horses are particularly favourable to the Arrowfield roster. All three of the roster’s established Australian-raced sires - plus Hitotsu - have a Guineas on their record.

“It’s a massive strength to produce these kinds of horses,” Ralph said. “Look at our roster - Dundeel, Castelvecchio, The Autumn Sun. They are horses that excel at three, that go to 1400 metres or a mile and beyond.

“Cormier is a beast of an animal. Leah, the co-trainer, said that she has never been stopped by that many people at the races before in her entire life, all of them asking, ‘who's that horse?’ about Cormier.”

Producing a great type sells nominations and yearlings, but what truly benefits a stallion is producing an athlete capable of performing on the track. Cormier is on track to deliver what the likes of Cosmic Crusader, Hitotsu, and Mazu have already done for their sire in Australia.

The dams of the first two have been back multiple times since, and both are due to foal again to Maurice this spring. The ball shows no signs of stopping rolling.

“And on top of all of that, he is a stallion whose fee went up and so did his quality,” Ralph said.

“He has covered 18 Group 1-winning mares in the last few years. These horses have then gone to Magic Millions and Inglis Easter, and been bought by and entered the best stables, who understand the breed now. That’s what you need next to maximise the chance of success.”