The death of champion sire Snitzel shone a light on his remarkable legacy, which includes 1281 winners, 160 stakes winners, 103 Group winners and 23 individual Group 1 winners, with still three racing crops to come.

Trapeze Artist
Trapeze Artist was a four-time Group 1 winner. (Photo: Bronwen Healy - The Image Is Everything)

Among his many achievements from Arrowfield were that he was four-times champion sire, four-times leading sire of two-year-olds (with another to come this season), twice leading sire of three-year-olds and leading sire by winners in Australia on two occasions.

Since his first crop hit the track in 2009/10, his progeny have registered a stakes win every 19 days on average. He has had winners in 10 different countries and served two seasons in Japan along with his 19 in Australia.

He has had 31 of his sons at stud produce a winner, while as a broodmare sire he has 34 stakes winners.

But who were his best progeny on the track? Here’s The Straight’s Top Five.

Trapeze Artist

A star three-year-old, who like his sire, was prepared by Gerald Ryan. A Black Opal winner and placed in a Sires’ as a two-year-old, he returned to win the Golden Rose in emphatic fashion at massive odds in the early spring.  

In the autumn, he won both the TJ Smith Stakes and the All Aged Stakes against the older horses. He returned as a four-year-old and was placed in the inaugural Everest, (a Snitzel quinella) and then won the Canterbury Stakes in the following autumn before retiring to Widden.

Redzel

A $120,000 purchase, Redzel earned his connections over $16.4 million, primarily thanks to his wins in the first two editions of The Everest. Under the guidance of Peter and Paul Snowden, he broke through for his first Group 1 win in the 2017 Doomben 10,000 in the autumn of his four-year-old season.

He then compiled an unbeaten spring, progressing through the Concorde, Shorts, The Everest and the VRC Sprint Classic. Runner-up in the TJ Smith in the following autumn to fellow Snitzel son Trapeze Artist, he returned to defend his Everest title in 2018, turning the tables on that horse.

He continued to race on at six and seven, failing to win a third straight Everest but registering more Group 1 placings, five in all to go with his two wins.

Lady Shenandoah

The Chris Waller-trained filly could prove the most talented of all of Snitzel’s progeny. She went through her three-year-old season without defeat in five starts, winning the Flight Stakes at just her fourth start.

She then won the Light Fingers on her autumn resumption and the Group 1 Surround Stakes before victory against the older mares in the Coolmore Classic.

Shamus Award

Shamus Award famously broke his maiden in the Cox Plate, defeating subsequent Melbourne Cup winner Fiorente as well as Happy Trails, Dundeel and the horse which beat him in the Caufield Guineas, Long John.  

But he was to prove far more than a one-hit wonder. The Danny O’Brien-trained colt returned in the autumn and proved himself against the best of his own age, winning the Australian Guineas in an all-the-way victory.

He has since proven Snitzel’s most successful son at stud, with 28 stakes winners, including six individual Group 1 winners.    

Russian Revolution

Unbeaten in his first four starts, Russian Revolution won The Galaxy for Peter and Paul Snowden, defeating Redzel. His four-year-old season featured a victory in the McEwen Stakes before his attempt at the inaugural Everest was abandoned.

His final start would be a victory in the same race his sire won 12 years prior, the Oakleigh Plate before embarking on a stud career at Newgate.

There are a host of other stars, including 18 other Group 1 winners. Recent headliners such as Switzerland, Marhoona and Shinzo as well as Estijaab, Snitzerland and his first Group 1  winner Sizzling.     

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