Monday, 8 February 2010: The Paul Messara trained Redoute's Choice colt Beneteau has been paid a high compliment by Timeform Australia that places him in elite company.
 | Beneteau
Photo by Racing and Sports | |
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In a spectacular performance to win the G3 Arrowfield Stud Blue Diamond Prelude at Caulfield last Saturday Beneteau eclipsed the class record by more than a second, running the 1100m in a slick 1:02.45.
Blocked for a run coming to the turn, Beneteau was able to find a gap and peel off the heels of the leaders and sprint away to defeat the previously unbeaten G3 winner General Truce by 2 ½ lengths with a further 2¼ lengths back to third.
Timeform 
, Australia's most respected ratings assessors, have placed Beneteau's performance at a current 2YO season high of 120 with the previous best this season being 116.
To put his rating into perspective, Beneteau's close relation Alinghi rated the same high mark of 120 in her devastating G1 Blue Diamond Stakes victory of 2004 after rating 118 in her Prelude victory.
“It's exciting to see him do it like he did. It's very pleasing. I'm happy to go to the Blue Diamond providing he pulls up well enough,” Paul Messara said.
Beneteau was bred by Arrowfield Stud in partnership with Oussama Aboughazale's Sumaya Stables and was sold at the 2009 Inglis Australian Yearling sale for $1 million, being one of five million dollar Redoute's Choice yearlings at that sale.
Purchaser Julian Blaxland's Blue Sky Thoroughbreds syndicated the colt with both Arrowfield and Sumaya Stables retaining an interest.
Redoute's Choice is now the sire of 58 stakeswinners and 16 G1 winners.
He has been represented in Australia this season by G1 Toorak Handicap winner Allez Wonder, G2 Shannon Stakes winner Drumbeats, G2 Furious Stakes winner and G1 Thousand Guineas placegetter Melito, G3 Naturalism Stakes winner Red Lord and G1 Flight Stakes placegetter Sister Madly.
Redoute's Choice, with nine stakeswinners to date this season is the leading Australian sire for 2009/2010 by individual stakeswinners.
Last Thursday the champion sire added an international star to his seasonal tally with the win in Dubai of the Australian born Musir in the UAE 2000 Guineas Trial (1400m) at the impressive Meydan racecourse Like Beneteau, he is out of an Encosta De Lago mare
Musir, a G1 winner, was crowned Champion 2YO Colt in South Africa last season.
Another Redoute's Choice colt Solid Choice (ex Venetian Pride, by Gone West) finished an excellent fourth in the same race.
Both colts were bred and are raced by Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa al Maktoum.
Sheikh Khalifa also won the UAE 1000 Guineas Trial in late January with Raihana, an Australian bred filly from the Sunday Silence mare Esubooh bred by Arrowfield Stud.
At last week's Karaka Premier Sale, Redoute's Choice ended the sale as the leading sire by average (NZ$454,286) with the sale's second highest priced yearling – the colt out of Grand Echezeaux being purchased by David Ellis for NZ$1.3 million.
This followed the sale topping price of $925,000 for the Redoute's Choice colt out of They Say at this year's Magic Millions Sale.
