SNITZEL is Australia’s top sire again. He led Australia’s four major sires’ titles last season, for earnings, winners, wins and two-year-old earnings stamping himself the best sire son of his champion sire Redoute’s Choice. With Snitzel’s service fee now $220,000 (at Arrowfield Stud, Scone), many broodmare owners are looking toward which of his stud sons will take on his mantle. Major commercial stud owners/operators have been staking their claim that Snitzel will prove the dominant sireline branch to the great Danehill – his grandsire, and of which are now commanding high service fees for these young stud sons.
These Snitzel sire sons include Russian Revolution, Wandjina and Sizzling (advertised fees of $55,000, $22,000 and $16,500 at Newgate Farm), Shamus Award (Widden Stud at $11,000), and Spill The Beans (Aquis Farm at $11,000). Another young Snitzel son is Skyclad, who stands for $2200 and is available to breeders at the central districts located Allandale Park Stud, Hobbys Yards, near Bathurst.
A brilliant Sydney winner and twice placed from only five starts, Skyclad is set for his third season. He is bred on the great Danehill cross combined with the proven line of Infatuation via another champion Australian sire, Showdown. Skyclad was produced from dual winner Loulou, a daughter of recently deceased Strategic, who is by champion Australian three-year-old, and a leading Australian sire Zeditave, who found his stud fame at Newhaven Park, Boorowa.
Vale Naturalism
NATURALISM – a wonderful racehorse of the early 1990s is recalled as news filtered through of his death aged 29 last month at Meringo Stud on the South Coast. While New Zealand bred, being by the outstanding Northern Dancer/The Minstrel imported horse Palace Music, we “claimed him” as our own, thrilling us with his tenacity and toughness to compete. He won 12 races (and had 12 placings) eight black type events including the Group 1s AJC Derby, and Rosehill Guineas in Sydney, and the Caulfield Stakes in Melbourne. He earned $3.2 million, which today would be evaluated to massively more.
Australian trained by Lee Freedman, Naturalism was racing in fabulous form in 1992, however sadly fell in the 1992 running of the MVRC W S Cox Plate-G1 - considered Australia’s weight-for-age championship, in the end of October. But he recovered well enough to then travel to Japan the following month where he finished second in its prestigious Japan Cup. Retiring from stud duties in 2010, Naturalism sired 174 winners, 12 stakes horses including his best the Meringo Stud bred four times stakes winner Natural Destiny, who is now a sire of winners.