Published: April 2017
It’s an understatement to say Oakleigh Plate-Gr.1 winner Snitzel is having a corker of a season. Already the sire of 110 plus winners of more than $10m this year, the Arrowfield based son of Redoute’s Choice leads the general sires’ and two year-old sires’ list as we pass the half-way mark.
He has 23 juvenile winners of $2.92m in Australia and in mid-March his talented son Summer Passage (ex Subsequent by Encosta de Lago), an $800,000 yearling from Highgrove Stud, won the Sistema Stakes-Gr.1 at Ellerslie, his sixth individual juvenile stakes winner in a season that’s yielded 21 individual stakes winners. Summer Passage became his sire’s seventh Gr.1 winner since he retired to stud in 2006 and is among his sire’s 56 stakes winners, a high 8% of starters. Incidentally, that list includes the Cox Plate winner Shamus Award and Gr.1 winners Sizzling and Wandjina, who are among several of his sons now doing stud duty. He is also broodmare sire of Golden Slipper winner Mossfun.
Snitzel’s career stats, 491 winners of more than $72m, give him a winners to starters record of 70.5%. On Golden Slipper day his honour roll got even better when talented three year-old son Russian Revolution (ex Ballet d’Amour by Stravinsky (USA)) won The Galaxy-Gr.1 from Snitzel four year-old gelding Redzel, while Snitzel colt Menari was fourth in the Golden Slipper-Gr.1.
While Summer Passage has an intriguing pedigree, which will be discussed later in this article, it’s the breeding of his recent Black Opal Stakes-Gr.3 winner Trapeze Artist (6th Golden Slipper), which has attracted my particular interest. That Gerald Ryan-trained colt, passed in at $250,000 as a yearling and raced by breeder Bert Vieira and family, is out of Domesday mare Treppes, a mating which gives the sisters Show Lady and Monroe 5×5. They are both daughters of Sir Ivor and the influential mare Best in Show (Traffic Judge); Show Lady being the third dam of Redoute’s Choice (Danehill) and Monroe being the third dam of Domesday.
Inbreeding to Best in Show has proved a valuable strategy with Snitzel and his sire and is usually achieved using mares with Last Tycoon (IRE) in their pedigrees as this horse’s sire Try My Best (Northern Dancer-Sex Appeal by Buckpasser) is a grandson of Best in Show. This mating is also interesting as Try My Best is by Northern Dancer (ex Natalma) and from a daughter of Buckpasser and Danehill is by a son of Northern Dancer (ex Natalma) and his second dam Spring Adieu is Northern Dancer’s half-sister by Buckpasser (ex Natalma).
Snitzel runners from Last Tycoon daughters include Gr.1 winner Wandjina and Gr.3 winner Dances on Stars. Last Tycoon daughters have supplied the Redoute’s Choice Gr.1 winners Bonaria, Master of Design and Dariana, while the Gr.1 winner Redoute’s Dancer is out of a mare by El Gran Senor, a brother to Try My Best. Doubling Best in Show has also worked using Xaar (GB) (Zafonic-Monroe by Sir Ivor) as his dam is a daughter of Best in Show (and a sister to Show Lady). The Gr.3 winner Target in Sight is by Redoute’s Choice son Nadeem and from a daughter of Xaar, while the dam of Gr.1 winner Yankee Rose (All American) is by Xaar and from a daughter of El Gran Senor (Best in Show 3fx4f).
Trapeze Artist is the first Snitzel runner from a daughter of Silver Slipper Stakes-Gr.2 winner Domesday (Red Ransom (USA)-In The Past by Zafonic), whose dam is a three-quarter sister to Xaar. This mating, which also brings in another line of Storm Bird (sire of Snitzel’s second dam) and a line of similarly bred The Minstrel, a three-quarter brother to Nijinsky, sire of the second dam of Redoute’s Choice. In fact there are many pedigree links between Dancing Show (USA) (Nijinsky-Show Lady by Sir Ivor), second dam of Redoute’s Choice, and Victoriana (Storm Bird-Monroe by Sir Ivor), second dam of Domesday.
There were pretty good indications that the Snitzel/Domesday cross would work, even without the extra oomph of the Best in Show double, as Snitzel has had success with daughters of Domesday’s sire Red Ransom. The Silver Slipper Stakes-Gr.2 winner Chance Bye and the Festival Stakes-Gr.3 winner Sweet Redemption are bred this way. The pedigree mix has worked in another way too as Red Ransom’s son All American, is the sire of previously mentioned Yankee Rose, whose dam Condesaar, carries that close Best in Show double.
There is another family connection that makes Trapeze Artist a stallion prospect worth watching as his fourth dam, Fairy Walk (Minor Portion (IRE)-Lilting by Messmate (GB)), won the 1971 Golden Slipper and his eighth dam Raphis (Night Raid (GB)-Entreaty by Winkie (GB)) is a sister to champion Phar Lap. Another of Phar Lap’s sisters is Fortune’s Wheel and she is the seventh dam of another champion in Sunline (NZ) (Desert Sun (GB)). Good horses just keep bobbing up in this family.
Lilting is also dam of stakes winner and sire Planet Kingdom (Star Kingdom (IRE)) and his talented stakes winning sister Fiona. Fairy Walk is dam of triple Gr.1 winner and sire Cheyne Walk (Le Cordonnier (FR)), a sister to Elegant Walk, third dam of Trapeze Artist. Elegant Walk is also a half sister to SW and Blue Diamond runner-up Sharp Walk (Sharp Edge (IRE)) and to Flight Stakes-Gr.2 winner and Gr.1 second Jubilee Walk (King of Babylon (GB)), both stakes producers. Second dam Traipse is by the Star Kingdom line horse Bletchingly (Biscay) and so has close links to Planet Kingdom and Fiona.
The Snitzel Gr.1 winner in NZ, Summer Passage (ex Subsequent by Encosta de Lago), has a 4mx4m cross of Danzig via Danehill and Lure, the latter’s second dam Chappaquiddick is a sister to Eight Carat’s sire Pieces of Eight, which might be worth utilising when he eventually goes to stud. His six generation pedigree also shows six lines of Northern Dancer (6m,6f,6mx5m,6m) and a double of Sir Ivor 6fx6f though Show Lady and Grand Luxe, the latter out of Northern Dancer daughter Fanfreluche, adding another line of Northern Dancer in generation seven (and making Grand Luxe similarly bred to Dancing Show, a daughter of Nijinsky).
Perhaps of more interest though is the fact that Subsequent’s second dam Subterfuge is a daughter of Machiavellian (Mr Prospector-Coup de Folie by Halo). Coup de Folie’s sire is out of Cosmah, a half sister to Natalma and Machiavellian’s second dam Raise the Standard (by the Ribot-line sire Hoist the Flag) is a daughter of Natalma. This gives similar inbreeding to this family as appears in Danehill. Perhaps the cross of Snitzel over daughters of Street Cry (IRE) (Machiavellian) or his sons could prove a winning formula as the reverse has worked with Hallowed Crown, that dual Gr.1 winner who now stands for Darley, is by Street Sense (Street Cry) and from a daughter of Danehill, while Street Sense Gr.1 winner Politeness is from a daughter of Commands (Danehill) and Gr.2 winner La Passe is from a daughter of Danehill Dancer (IRE) (Danehill). The Gr.1 winner The Quarterback has similar breeding to Summer Passage’s dam as he is by Street Cry son Street Boss and from a daughter of Encosta de Lago.
Summer Passage’s fifth dam Sayonara (Birkhahn) is the dam of English Derby winner Slip Anchor and his fourth dam Sandy Island (Mill Reef) is a three-quarter sister to that horse. Proving that there is nothing new under the sun when it comes to pedigrees, Subsequent is bred on a variation of the tried and true Sadler’s Wells/Mill Reef cross being by a son of Fairy King, a brother to Sadler’s Wells, and with a third dam by Mill Reef.
The earlier-mentioned Fanfreluche (Northern Dancer-Ciboulette by Chop Chop) is the fourth dam of the 2016 ATC The Galaxy-Gr.1 (1100m) winner Russian Revolution, now winner of five of his six starts and more than $800,000. He has significant line breeding to Northern Dancer and to Tom Fool, the latter via a grandson Lunchtime (Silly Season), who appears 5fx3m in Snitzel’s pedigree, and son Buckpasser, who is 6fx5f in Russian Revolution’s pedigree.
While Summer Passage is from a daughter of Encosta de Lago (fourth dam Fanfreluche), Russian Revolution is from Ballet d’Amour, a daughter of Stravinsky, whose sire Nureyev is a three-quarter brother to Fairy King. Stravinsky’s dam is by Blushing Groom (Nasrullah line as is Mill Reef) and from a daughter of Mr. Prospector, while Ballet d’Amour’s dam is by Miswaki, a son of Mr. Prospector and from a daughter of Buckpasser. This could set the scene for some intriguing crosses when Russian Revolution heads to stud as leading European sire Galileo is by Sadler’s Wells (three-quarter brother to Nureyev) and from a mare by Miswaki. Umatilla, the Gr.1 winner and half-brother to Shantha’s Choice, dam of Redoute’s Choice, is also by Miswaki and one of his daughters left dual HK Gr.1 winner Sun Jewellery to a mating with Snitzel.
There is also the Fanfreluche connection, as she appears in many pedigrees here, including via sons Family Ties (Sir Ivor) and Hideyoshi (Devil’s Bag), but not the least as the third dam of Flying Spur and the fourth dam of Encosta de Lago. Russian Revolution’s second dam Exigent is by a son of Mr. Prospector out of a daughter of Fanfreluche, while Flying Spur (a son of Danehill, grandsire of Snitzel) is out of Rolls (USA), who is by Mr. Prospector and from a daughter of Fanfreluche. Worth noting too is that Night Shift, a brother to Fanfreluche, did stud duty in Australia.
Another possibility down the track is to use daughters of young Darley sire Brazen Beau (I Am Invincible-Sansadee by Snaadee) when they reach stud age. His sire is out of a mare by Canny Lad (as is Redoute’s Choice) and his dam Sansadee is inbred to the family of Fanfreluche via her sire Snaadee (his dam is a half-sister) and third dam Prize Answer, a three-quarter sister to the dam of Fanfreluche.
Russian Revolution was a $320,000 Inglis Easter buy from the Vinery draft and races for a syndicate that includes China Horse Club, Matthew Sandblom, Newgate Farm and his breeder John Stuart Investments (Qld). While his 51kg lightweight helped on the heavy 10 track at Randwick on March 18, there is no doubting the colt’s class. It was his first run since a fourth in the Coolmore Stud Stakes-Gr.1 at Flemington on October 29 but he had won two recent trials at Randwick. His wins also include the Vain Stakes-Gr.3 and Roman Consul Stakes-Gr.2.
A Top 10 sire for several years and runner-up to his sire on the general sires’ list in 2013-14 as well as being a prolific sire of juveniles (a record-equalling 30 in 2015-16) and with yearlings regularly making $1m or more, this season could be the one where Snitzel is top of the tree. This Oakleigh Plate-Gr.1 winner is certainly a worthy “chip of the old block” alongside his sire on the roster at Arrowfield.