3 minute read
Written Tycoon relocates to the Hunter Valley and will stand for $77,000.
Arrowfield announced their eight-stallion 2020 roster on Thursday which included Written Tycoon (Iglesia), who will relocate from Victoria’s Woodside Park Stud to the Hunter Valley farm this year.
“We are excited to join forces with Woodside Park Stud to stand Written Tycoon at Arrowfield in 2020 and welcome the possibilities our alliance might deliver in the future,” said John Messara.
“We have been speaking to Woodside and we felt we could do a really good job with him in the Hunter and he could access a lot of our quality mares, but also a lot of the surrounding breeders would give him a fresh batch of mares that he hasn’t seen before. He will be down here for this year and we will see what happens at the end of the season.
“He will get a very full book as well, we have already had a lot of interest in him and we will be using him extensively and his shareholders will obviously continue to use him.”
Written Tycoon will stand for a fee of $77,000 (inc GST) having stood the last two seasons for $110,000 (inc GST).
To date Written Tycoon has sired 33 stakes winners headlined by eight Group 1 winners, including Golden Slipper Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Capitalist and Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Written By. His Group 2 winning sons Rich Enuff and Winning Rupert now stand at stud.
James Price, CEO of Woodside Park Stud, said the new alliance with Arrowfield was an exciting prospect for the Victorian-based farm.
“We have committed to send him up there for the 2020 season,” said Price. “It is a benefit for everyone. I have had calls from breeders’ who have a mare in foal to him and they are delighted because they know what a boost this will be for him. It is all very positive.
“John [Messara] approached us to do this alliance and there wouldn’t have been many other farms who we would of entertained, but you can’t deny Arrowfield’s strength and their broodmare band is as good as anywhere in the world. We are fully aware of what Arrowfield’s mares will do to boost Written Tycoon and we think it is in the best interests of the horse.
“I for one can’t wait to see him bred to those Snitzel, Not A Single Doubt mares - I think they will suit him down to the ground.”
Also new to the Arrowfield roster in 2020 is Group 1 winner Castelvecchio (Dundeel) who will stand for a fee of $33,000 (inc GST).
Winner of the Champagne Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) at two, Castelvecchio added the Rosehill Guineas (Gr 1, 2000m) to his resume this season and also finished runner up in the Cox Plate (Gr 1, 2050m) and Spring Champion Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m).
“I am excited about him, because he is a horse that was able to do superb things from time to time. His two-year-old season was amazing,” said Messara. “He broke the all-time mile record for two-year-old when he won the Champagne Stakes. He also placed in the Inglis Sires’ Produce Stakes and won the Inglis Millennium, so it was a hell of a two-year-old season. By Timeform ratings he was rated equal top-weight two-year-old of the season.
“At three he came out and ran that extraordinary race in the Cox Plate in the Spring and was rated by the IFHA that year the fifth equal best three-year-old in the world. Subsequently in the Autumn he came out and won a Classic for us.
“He really performed well in the big ones, so you always love a horse like that, who is capable of those sorts extraordinary performances and he’s got the pedigree to match. He is a good-looking horse, so he has everything going for him.
“We will be supporting him very strongly, because we have a smaller roster this year than usual [with the Japanese horses not shuttling] and so we’ve got sufficient numbers of our own mares to send him a lot of quality horses. He is a liable to get around 50 mares from us alone. We are aiming for a book of about 125 for his first season, we don’t like to have a big book in the first season. We’ve got three bookings already today for him he will be full soon I would say.”
Castelvecchio is out of the dual Listed winner and Group 1-placed mare St Therese (Dehere) making him a half-brother to Spring Champion Stakes winner Maid Of Heaven (Smart Missile) and Group 3 winner Mirrasalo (Redoute’s Choice). He retires from racing having won four of his 13 starts with his earnings totalling almost $3 million.
Castelvecchio will stand alongside his sire Dundeel (High Chaparral) whose fee will remain unchanged at $66,000 (inc GST).
The son of High Chaparral (Sadler’s Wells) has enjoyed another successful season on the racetrack having sired five stakes winners that, in addition to Castelvecchio, include fellow Group 1 winner Super Seth.
His progeny have been sought after in the sales ring this year with 40 yearlings selling for an average of $167,419 and a top price of $750,000 coming at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in January when James Harron Bloodstock bought the colt out of Scarlet Moretta (Fastnet Rock) from the draft of Mill Park Stud.
The Autumn Sun (Redoute’s Choice) will also stand for $66,000 (inc GST). The five-time Group 1 winner stood his first season at the farm last year for $77,000 (inc GST) covering 167 mares.
Heading the roster meanwhile is Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice), who is on track for claiming a fourth Australian sires premiership this season, and he will stand for a reduced fee this year in recognition of the current worldwide economic environment. He stood the last two seasons for a fee of $220,000 (inc GST) and will stand for $165,000 (inc GST) in 2020.
The son of Redoute’s Choice (Danehill) reached a milestone earlier this month notching up his 100th stakes winner. He has sired 14 stakes winners this season including Galaxy Handicap (Gr 1, 1100m) winner I Am Excited and Magic Millions 2YO Classic (RL, 1200m) winner Away Game and he also looks set to claim a third Champion two-year-old sires title, currently sitting at the head of the leading juvenile sires table in Australia for both earnings and winners.
Shalaa (Invincible Spirit) will shuttle to the Hunter Valley farm for the fourth time and his fee remains unchanged at $33,000 (inc GST). His first crop were well received at the yearling sales this year with 58 yearlings having sold at an average of $168,258 and a high of $600,000 coming at the Gold Coast in January when John Sadler Racing bought the colt out of Jemison (Commands).
“Shalaa had a good first year in the sales ring,” said Messara. “He’s been very good and he’s been very good in Europe too and he will have runners in Europe soon which we will be watching with Eagle eyes. But he has already had very good feedback here from the trainers and breakers, so we are hopeful.”
“Shalaa had a good first year in the sales ring. He’s been very good and he’s been very good in Europe too and he will have runners in Europe soon which we will be watching with Eagle eyes. But he has already had very good feedback here from the trainers and breakers, so we are hopeful.”
The roster is completed by Pariah (Redoute’s Choice) who will stand his third season for a slightly reduced fee of $16,500 (inc GST) and Group 2 winner Showtime (Snitzel) will stand his second season at stud for $11,000 (inc GST), unchanged from its 2019 level.
Maurice (Screen Hero), Mikki Isle (Deep Impact) and Real Steel (Deep Impact) will not shuttle to the farm in 2020. Scissor Kick (Redoute’s Choice) will not stand at the farm in 2020.
“The fees we have set are reflective of the current climate,” said Messara. “Most of our stallions could have gone up, but we’ve brought them down. Snitzel for example is about to win his fourth stallion championship and we have brought him down $50,000.
“We have set the fees very conservatively to enable breeders to use our horses and make a profit in these more subdued conditions.
“With the Japanese horses not coming back this year and obviously with Not A Single Doubt now out of service, it has freed up a lot of our mares and Castelvecchio and Written Tycoon will get the benefit of that.”