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Sword Of State and Four Moves Ahead add to Arrowfield Stud residents tally
Arrowfield Stud-based stallion Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) sired a pair of new juvenile stakes winners on Saturday which saw his total tally of black-type winners move to 107, 42 of those as two-year-olds.
The first win of the stakes double came courtesy of the Jamie Richards-trained Sword Of State (2 c ex In the Vanguard by Encosta De Lago), who landed the Slipper Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) at Matamata, while the second leg of the double was provided by Four Moves Ahead (2 f ex Doulmera by Mr. Greeley) who landed Sweet Embrace Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) at Randwick.
The Te Akau-raced Sword Of State never looked in any trouble, kicking away from his rivals to post an emphatic six and a half length victory over his Karaka 2YO Million (RL, 1200m)-winning stablemate On The Bubbles (Brazen Beau). Dragon Biscuit (Choisir) was another half a length away in third. The winning time was a slick 1:08.78 seconds.
“He won well and like the good horse he is,” Richards said.
“He jumped nicely, travelled really well and railed beautifully.
“The rail is definitely the place to be today and when he got terms to suit, he was always going to be hard to beat.
“I thought On The Bubbles was very good as well as that was his first start since the Karaka Million and he will take plenty of benefit from the race.”
On The Bubbles will get his chance to turn the tables on his stablemate at Ellerslie in a fortnight when they tackle the Sistema Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m), a venue where Richards believes he will be suited.
“They are both heading to the Sistema Stakes on Auckland Cup day,” he said.
“I think On The Bubbles is a touch better suited going that way around and with the improvement he will take out of today, he will be very competitive.
“Sword Of State does hold a nomination for the Golden Slipper in Sydney but we’re not really thinking about that too much as he doesn’t have the prize-money in the bin as yet to get a start in the race.”
Bred by Sir Owen Glenn, Sword Of State was a $600,000 purchase by Te Akau boss David Ellis at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale last year from the Newgate Farm draft. The colt is out of stakes-placed Encosta De Lago (Fairy King) mare In The Vanguard, who is herself a daughter of 2004 Light Fingers Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) winner Sharp (Danzero).
Being out of an Encosta De Lago mare, Sword Of State is bred on the same cross as five stakes winners, including Group 1-winning duo Summer Passage and Invader, while the colt handed Encosta De Lago his 119th stakes winner as a broodmare sire.
Later on in the afternoon, Snitzel’s 107th stakes winner was provided when Four Moves Ahead defeated She’s All Class (I Am Invincible) by a quarter of a length in the Sweet Embrace Stakes. Mallory (Not A Single Doubt) was a further two lengths away in third.
The filly was scratched from the Silver Slipper Stakes (Gr 2, 1100m) last weekend after knocking her knee in a stable mishap and John Sargent admitted it was a relief to see her win on Saturday.
"We've had a hard last ten days," Sargent said.
"We could only get the saddle on her on Tuesday for a gallop and apart from that she has just swum and been led off the pony, so it was great to get the result today and we can move on."
Sargent said the filly would now head to the Golden Slipper Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) without another run.
"We've got three weeks now if she comes through it to the Slipper and we can crank up her work and she'll be a fitter horse then," he said.
The filly had been retained to race by her breeder Johnathan Munz after failing to make her $300,000 reserve at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in 2020 and Mike Fleming, who offered as part of his Bhima Thoroughbreds draft, told Racing & Sports Bloodstock she was the only yearling that year he failed to sell.
“She is a very exciting Snitzel filly,” said Fleming. “She went to the Gold Coast last year as part of a reasonably big draft and she was the only one in the big draft that didn’t sell. So she was retained by Johnathan Munz and she is a Group 2 winner now and becomes the second stakes winner out of the mare. All credit to Johnathan because he puts so much into the game, so it is good to see him get some strong results.
“She is from an Aga Khan family and everyone probably thought she was going to take a little bit of time. There was nothing wrong with, she was a nice type, correct and a lovely moving filly.
“I was somewhat surprised that she was the only one I couldn’t move that year and it would have been great to come out with a 100 per cent clearance rate. In what was a very strong sale, she was just one that fell through the cracks - it happens.”
Fleming will offer her Pierro (Lonhro) brother at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale later this year and he said he was looking forward to seeing how the buying bench responds to the colt.
“He is a strong, good moving horse,” said Fleming. “He has definitely got a bit of Pierro about him, but there is nothing better than heading to a sale with a huge upgrade. So I am looking forward to seeing how he preps in the next four to six weeks and looking forward to seeing how he will be received when he gets to Sydney.”
The colt is catalogued as Lot 278.
Four Moves Ahead is out of unraced Mr. Greeley (Gone West) mare Doulmera who was bought by Badgers Bloodstock for €180,000 at the 2014 Arqana December Breeding Stock Sale, making her a half-sister to Group 3 winner Emeralds (Sebring).
Doulmera herself is out of Group 3 scorer and Group 1-placed Daltaya (Anabaa) and she also produced Prix de l’Opera (Gr 1, 1800m) winner Dalkala (Giant’s Causeway).
Further back this is the same pedigree as multiple Group 1-winning champions Daylami (Doyoun) and Dalakhani (Darshaan).
The pair of juveniles see Snitzel’s total number of two-year-old stakes winners move to 42, headed by Group 1 winners Sizzling, Estijaab, Summer Passage and Invader.
Four time champion sire Snitzel has 45 lots catalogued at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale which gets underway on April 6.
