A Win Made In Heaven

3 minute read

Stud farms Arrowfield and Twin Hills shared in the celebrations that followed the gallant win of the Smart Missile filly Maid Of Heaven over the colts in the G1 Spring Champion Stakes at Randwick on Saturday.

Arrowfield bred and races the Mark Newnham-trained Maid Of Heaven while the filly is the first G1 winner for Smart Missile, who now stands at Twin Hills Stud in southern NSW last year after starting his stud career under the Arrowfield banner.

Maid Of Heaven (Smart Missile x St Therese by Dehere), one of seven stakes winner by her sire, was a buy back when purchased by as a yearling by Dean Hawthorne Bloodstock for $60,000 from the Arrowfield Stud draft at the 2017 Classic Sale in Sydney.

Maid Of Heaven, bred by Arrowfield in partnership with Belford Productions, is the third G1 winning graduate from the stud’s 2017 yearling class, joining Estijaab and The Autumn Sun.

Maid Of Heaven’s success also gave her trainer Mark Newnham and jockey Rachel King their maiden G1 victories when she became only the second filly, after Yankee Rose in 2016, to win the Spring Champion Stakes in its 48-year history.

Maid Of Heaven is out of the stakes-winning mare St. Therese (Dehere), a half-sister to multiple G1 winner Planet Ruler and also the dam of G3 winner Mirrasalo (Redoute’s Choice) and two other winners from her seven foals to race.

St Therese has a 2YO colt by Dundeel who was a $150,000 purchase by Ottavio & Wendy Galletta from Arrowfield’s 2018 yearling draft.

Maid Of Heaven has now won twice from five starts for $337,340 prize money.

St Therese also has a yearling colt by Panzer Division and is due to foal to Scissor Kick before going back to Panzer Division.

Smart Missile, a son of Fastnet Rock, is enjoying a great run with his unbeaten filly Smart Melody set to contest Saturday’s G1 Thousand Guineas at Caulfield.

Arrowfield Stud’s yearling class of 2017 also contained Saturday’s Flemington stakes winner Wild Planet (Animal Kingdom x Salutations by Redoute’s Choice).

Sold for $280,00 to Hawkes Racing and Andrew Williams Bloodstock, Wild Planet is the sixth stakeswinner for Animal Kingdom and was one of three winners on the Flemington program boasting Redoute’s Choice as their broodmare sire.

Animal Kingdom did not return to Arrowfield for the 2018 breeding season.