In with the new for Arrowfield Stud at Magic Millions
For a major player like Arrowfield, this handsome number is about average. The farm’s 53 Book 1 yearlings shipped to the complex this week, while the 16 for Book 2 will follow suit next week.
“The draft is only slightly bigger than usual,” said Jon Freyer, Arrowfield’s bloodstock manager.
For months, Freyer and his team have overseen the preparation of the draft from the grounds of the Hunter Valley farm. Exclusively, it represents Arrowfield stallions from top to tail.
For the first time since 2003, there are no yearlings by Redoute’s Choice, while the very last yearlings by Not A Single Doubt are among them. There’s a sole representative for Mikki Isle (Jpn), and four yearlings from the only book that Real Steel (Jpn) covered on his shuttle visit in 2019.
Most important, there are the first yearlings by the highly anticipated first-season sires The Autumn Sun and Showtime. With The Autumn Sun following the path of Redoute’s Choice elite sire sons Snitzel and Not A Single Doubt, the horse’s 29 overall progeny in the catalogue are drawing plenty of buzz.
A bit of perspective
Arrowfield has 11 of its own yearlings by The Autumn Sun on the Gold Coast. All are in Book 1 and the majority are colts (eight), with three fillies among them.
“We’re very positive about the group of yearlings we’ve brought to the Sale,” Freyer said. “It’s very early in the inspection process because we’ve only been going for a day, but so far so good. I think they’re going to be well-received, and there’s a few outstanding examples where I’d be amazed if they weren’t black-type horses.”
Freyer has been a long time in the breeding game. He remembers when the first yearlings by Redoute’s Choice were sold, and even the first yearlings by Danehill (USA). That was in 1993.
“The Autumn Sun yearlings are probably more like the Redoute’s yearlings, in terms of their make-up,” Freyer said. “They’ve got a little bit more scope and size to them than the first yearlings by Snitzel and Not A Single Doubt. So I do see a lot of Redoute’s Choice in a number of them.”
As far as the boom on the new yearlings goes historically, Freyer casts his mind back a bit.
“There wasn’t a great boom on the first Danehills, funnily enough,” he said. “There was a number of them that sold for a lot of money, but there were others like Danewin who made $12,000 or $13,000, and then Danzero, the Slipper winner from that crop, made $55,000. So they didn’t make a fortune.”
Freyer said times were a little different in the 1993 yearling market. Sales were switched about and other things were going on, but sire expectations were still there.
“There was expectation but there wasn’t a lot of money around for horses,” he said. “It was a bit different when the Redoute’s horses arrived, and expectations of those were probably a bit similar to what we’re experiencing with The Autumn Sun. I can certainly see that this year.”
Here comes the Sun
Among the 11 Arrowfield yearlings by The Autumn Sun, Freyer cherry-picked Lot 842 as particularly strong. This colt is the third foal from the Testa Rossa mare Cavaloce.
“This is a very good colt,” Freyer said. “The mare was a stakes winner and quite a quick, hard-knocking mare too. I think this is a particularly good horse in the draft.”
Arrowfield bought Cavaloce for $180,000 at the 2017 Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale. Her first two foals, both by Dundeel, fetched $340,000 in 2020 and $420,000 last year. Cavaloce was a dual Listed-winner during her racing career, but her page boasts the G1 Oakleigh Plate winner Reactive (Geiger Counter {USA}).
Freyer said that, equally, Lot 849 by The Autumn Sun was worth a look.
She is an attractive chestnut filly from the well-related mare Champagne Run (USA) (More Than Ready {USA}). Lot 849 is a three-quarter sister to the Group 3 winner Flying Evelyn (Not A Single Doubt), while the second dam on this page is Bollinger (Dehere {USA}), who got the stakes winners Friesian Fire (USA) (A.P. Indy {USA}) and Villermont (All Too Hard), plus grandson Aim (Star Witness).
Champagne Run has had good sales success in her past. Her 2019 Redoute’s Choice yearling made $800,000, while Flying Evelyn made $500,000 in 2020, selling to John Sadler at this Sale.
“Flying Evelyn won the Red Roses during the Melbourne Cup carnival, and she’s on-target for a good race during the autumn,” Freyer said. “We think a lot of Flying Evelyn, so this filly has a lot going for her.”
Freyer is fond of both Lot 842 and Lot 849, but there are others by The Autumn Sun in his favour.
He mentioned Lot 126, a colt from the Animal Kingdom (USA) mare I Am Queen.
“This one looks an early type of horse,” Freyer said. “I Am Queen was a quick mare, and it’s a family that throws a lot of winners. It’s very consistent.”
I Am Queen is a daughter of the American mare Cat By The Tale (USA) (Tale Of The Cat {USA}), who was brought to Australia in 2010. Her Redoute’s Choice progeny Raphael’s Cat and Tale Of Choice were both 2-year-old Sydney winners.
Gallery: Some of The Autumn Sun’s yearlings to be offered at Magic Millions, images courtesy of Magic Millions
Lastly, Freyer highlights Lot 267, a dark colt from the Falbrav (Ire) mare Miss Dodwell.
This yearling is a half-brother to both Kenedna (Not A Single Doubt), who had a dual Group 1-winning, multiple Group-winning career, and the late sire Spill The Beans.
“Miss Dodwell has been a great producer and this colt has a real stallion’s pedigree,” Freyer said.
No more Doubts
The remaining yearlings in the Arrowfield draft have enviable sirelines in their own right.
There are six by Dundeel (NZ), who kicks on every season as a consistent sire of winners, and Maurice (Jpn) has three. Pariah, an Arrowfield-bred in whom the Stud has so much faith, has nine in the draft and Shalaa (Ire) another 12. Perennially brilliant Snitzel has nine.
As far as the last yearlings by Not A Single Doubt go, Arrowfield has four of the catalogue’s 15 in total.
“There’s a certain amount of nostalgia that comes with them,” Freyer said. “Not A Single Doubt’s been such a wonderful servant of the farm, and he’s virtually the first winner by Redoute’s Choice.
“Funnily enough, he’s been a horse that started the hard way. He started at a low fee and he built his way right up to the top, and right at the finish he’s probably had the best seasons he’s ever had.”
Gallery: Some of the Arrowfield yearlings to be offered at Magic Millions, images courtesy of Magic Millions
Among the Not A Single Doubt yearlings in next week’s catalogue, Lauriston Park Thoroughbreds has a full brother to the current 2-year-old filly of note, Pantonario (Not A Single Doubt), while Lot 713 from Arrowfield is a colt out of a half-sister to the Group winner Crafty Irna (Starcraft {NZ}).
“Not A Single Doubt is one of those horses that trainers like very much,” Freyer said. “The progeny are great triers to whatever level of ability they’ve got. They give everything and there’s not many of them that can’t gallop to some extent, so we’ll miss the yearlings coming through.”
In addition to next week’s four, Arrowfield has a handful more going to the Inglis Easter Sale.
“Given there’ll be no more, I’d imagine buyers will certainly be focused on bringing one home this year,” Freyer said.
It’s Showtime
At the other end of the spectrum, the Arrowfield sire Showtime is just kicking off, albeit without the bells and whistles of his barnmate The Autumn Sun.
Showtime is a son of Snitzel from the Timber Country (USA) mare Flidais, who is also represented in the draft by Lot 51, a colt by The Autumn Sun.
“Showtime has a couple of very nice yearlings in the draft,” Freyer said. “He was a horse that was a $1.1 million Magic Millions yearling himself. He was a magnificent horse, and he was slightly unlucky not to win his Group 1.”
Showtime won a pair of Group 2 races during his track career and he was twice-placed at Group 1 level. From 19 overall starts he won three times and was consistently placed in a further eight races.
“He was very good as a racehorse and, out of a great mare, he’s a very live prospect as a sire,” Freyer said.
Lot 511 by Showtime is worth a look in Arrowfield’s draft. The chestnut colt is from the Husson (Arg) mare She Loves You, who is a daughter of the G2 Edward Manifold winner She Will Be Loved (Strategic).
“We like this colt a lot,” Freyer said. “It’s a cross that has worked well with the Redoute’s line over Hussonet, and I think this one’s a real runner.”
On a similar cross, Arrowfield has Lot 211 by Showtime from the Hussonet (USA) mare Line Honours. Line Honours, who passed away shortly after this foal was born, was a daughter of the exceptional Alinghi (Encosta De Lago).
It’s a family that Arrowfield has nurtured for quite some time, with the farm’s late sire Beneteau also hailing from it.
Jessica Owers tdnausnz.com.au
