When you consider that 78 of Snitzel’s 140 stakes winners in Australia have won stakes races at three-year-olds, it was perhaps a surprise that Switzerland became the first of his progeny to win the Coolmore Stud Stakes.
Before Saturday, Snitzel had had 23 individual runners in the Coolmore, the premier sprint race for three-year-olds in Australia, with his best result when Bruckner was second in 2021, while Shinzo and Wild Ruler both finished third in their editions.
He went into Saturday’s race with a trio of representatives and if there was a hoodoo over the race, it was destroyed in a manner of the three strides it took Switzerland to surge clear of his rivals and win.
We are only early in November and Snitzel already has seven stakes-winning three-year-olds in Australia this season. His best record from any one individual three-year-old crop was 12 in 2017/18, while he had 10 in 2022/23.
Two of that current crop are also Group 1 winners, Switzerland and Lady Shenandoah, taking their sire to eight individual three-year-old Australian Group 1 winners.
What is interesting is that the current three-year-olds were conceived in 2020, where the circumstances of the pandemic necessitated Arrowfield cutting his service fee from $220,000 to $165,000.
The tactic sustained his numbers, but it also appears, based on racetrack results, to have maintained the quality. Adding in two-year-old results, the crop is on track to be among his most successful, with nine stakes winners from just 60 runners.
The classic year has always been a strong point for Snitzel. He has been Australia’s top three-year-old sire by stakes winners in five different seasons, including three of the past four.
That total of 78 Australian three-year-old stakes winners places Snitzel on the precipice of creating history.
Bren O’Brien
He is only two short of the Australian record of 80 individual stakes winners, held jointly by his sire, Redoute’s Choice, and his grandsire, Danehill. Given he is still active with strong crops coming through, it seems inevitable Snitzel will assume that mantle in the near future.
Recently retired Fastnet Rock is on 69 Australian three-year-old stakes winners with three crops yet to come through, while it is then a big drop back Zabeel on 49 and Encosta De Lago and Sir Tristram on 48 apiece.
The closest active sire is I Am Invincible on 45, while Savabeel has 34 (in Australia), Written Tycoon 30 and Zoustar 22.
Leading sires by Australian three-year-old stakes winners
Filtering by individual Australian Group 1-winning three-year-olds over time, it won’t surprise that Danehill is clearly on top with 27, followed by Zabeel with 25. Sir Tristram had 21, Redoute’s Choice 19 and Fastnet Rock 18.
As mentioned, Snitzel has eight, Switzerland, Lady Shenandoah, Russian Revolution, In the Congo, Trapeze Artist, Shamus Award, Wandjina and Yearning.
That’s the same number Savabeel has in Australia – like Snitzel, his sire and grandsire feature in the list above, and two more than I Am Invincible, of active sires.
The programming of three-year-old Group 1 racing in Australia does lend itself to sires who produce horses with Classic, or stamina-oriented pedigrees. Of the 19 Group 1 races for three-year-olds, only three are over distances of less than 1600 metres, which is somewhat of a legacy given Australian preference for sprinters.
Snitzel’s Group 1 record with his three-year-olds has suffered statistically because he is predominantly a sire of sprinters and milers. Of the list of his eight Australian three-year-old Group 1 winners above, only one has won a Group 1 race above 1600 metres, Shamus Award.
In comparison, Savabeel’s eight Australian Group 1-winning three-year-olds have all won races at 2000m or beyond, including three Derby winners and an Oaks winner.
Even Snitzel’s own sire, Redoute’s Choice, has nine Derby and Oaks winners of his 19 Australian Group 1-winning three-year-olds. Only three of those winners were ‘sprint specialists’ in that they only won Group 1 races at 1400m and below, Snitzel, Melito and Alabama Express.
Leading sires by Australian three-year-old Group 1 winners
