A Japan honour for Arrowfield’s champion sire Snitzel

Arrowfield Stud’s Snitzel seems destined for his fifth Australian sires’ title, while he achieved a first as a broodmare sire with the victory of Rodeo Drive in the NHK Mile Cup at Tokyo.

Snitzel had six Group 1 winners in Australia and New Zealand as a broodmare sire before Sunday, but had yet to have an elite-level success from one of his daughters in Japan.

Snitzel spent two seasons shuttling to Japan, in 2007 and 2011. Rodeo Drive, by Saturnalia, is out of Beverly Hills, the result of the second of his trips.

The three-year-old is the fifth winner from six foals out of Beverley Hills, who won two of her 11 starts.

He was ridden by Australian jockey Damien Lane, who registered his seventh JRA G1 victory.

The NHK Mile Cup has proven a useful guide for the Golden Eagle, with Obamburumai finishing third in the Japanese mile race before winning the Australian feature in 2023.