Pariah relocates to Oaklands Stud; 2023 fee set at $8800

Written by Jessica Owers

It’s been a busy month for stallion relocations, and on Tuesday it got even busier with the announcement that Pariah, the well-bred son of Redoute’s Choice, will move from Arrowfield Stud in the Hunter Valley to Oaklands Stud in Queensland’s Darling Downs.

Pariah has been stationary at Arrowfield since 2018, covering five books at a fee from $22,000 (inc GST) to $16,500 (inc GST). He will stand his debut season at Oaklands at a fee of $8800 (inc GST).

For Neville Stewart, the Oaklands studmaster, Pariah is as good a get for Queensland as has ever occurred in his 43 years in the industry.

“I’ve always been a fan of Pariah, right from when he first went to stud at Arrowfield,” Stewart said, speaking to TDN AusNZ. “I’d bought mares in foal to him that got us some lovely types at Oaklands. Having had a long-term relationship with John Messara and Jon Freyer at Arrowfield, I kept the door open to them if they were ever looking to relocate him at any stage. I was very happy with Jon Freyer when he rang me recently to see if I was still interested.”

Initial approaches for Pariah began last year, and the deal came together in the last fortnight. Pariah will head to Oaklands to join resident sires Power (GB), Exosphere and Prince Fawaz. He will be one of very few commercial sons of Redoute’s Choice at stud in Queensland, with the list a succinct one as it is.

Last season, the stallion Swear stood his first season for Trish Arnold in Noosa after five seasons at Spendthrift Australia, and, across the rest of the sunshine state, the only sons of Redoute’s Choice at stud are Condamine, Killy and Best Choice.

“Jon Freyer thought Pariah would do very well in Queensland because he’s had the Group 2 winner up here, Swiss Exile,” Stewart said. “There has never really been a multiple Group-winning son of Redoute’s Choice at stud in Queensland, and I genuinely think it’s a bloodline that Queensland has missed out on.”

As discussions about Pariah’s relocation were ongoing, Stewart went through the stallion’s five breeding seasons exhaustively. He was already familiar with it, but this time he picked it apart to see what was coming through for the stallion.

Pariah has just two crops of racing age, among them 21 winners of 24 races. He’s had three stakes horses, including Swiss Exile who won the G2 Spirit Of Boom Classic last year. Additional stakes horses have included Vagrant, a 3-year-old filly who was third in the Listed Oaklands Plate at Morphettville, and Runaway Belle, who was second at the same track in the Listed Cinderella S.

“I’ve tried to get this bloodline to Queensland a few times, and I’ve missed because they’ve been well-above my pay grade,” Stewart said. “In the end, you just have to go to the major studs where they stand and breed your mares to them, so I think Pariah will be a diamond addition to the Queensland stallion ranks.”

Gallery: Some of Pariah's stakes winners

In a press release on Tuesday, Arrowfield stated that Pariah was among the 40 stakes-siring sons of the late Redoute’s Choice. The horse has over 200 rising 2-year-olds and yearlings and, at $8800, Pariah will be accessible and affordable in Queensland.

“He has well-over a hundred yearlings and the same number of foals coming through, many out of outstanding mares such as Group winners Fenway, Ocean Challenger, Always Alison and Restless Soul, and half-relations to Group winners Sizzling, Wild Rain and Dubious,” Jon Freyer said. “So, he has plenty of nice stock to represent him in coming seasons.”

The Queensland audience

At Oaklands, Pariah will join a stallion roster that, aside from his addition, will remain largely unchanged.

Power, the British-bred son of Oasis Dream (GB) who relocated to Oaklands from Cambridge Stud a number of years ago, will cover his ninth book at a fee of $13,250 (inc GST). Exosphere, who will address his eighth book, will stand for $6600 (inc GST), while newcomer Prince Fawaz, a Group 1-winning son of Fastnet Rock, will enter his critical third season at an unchanged fee of $11,000 (inc GST).

Neville Stewart has made it something of a habit to rebrand these well-bred stallions after their initial careers at big-name studs.

Gallery: Oaklands Stud's stallions in 2023

“Pariah compares very favourably to any horse we’ve had at Oaklands Stud,” he said. “He’s coming off one of the best studs in Australia, as did Power when he came to us from Cambridge Stud. So to have two horses standing at Oaklands from those two operations, I think it’s a big feather in not just our cap, but in the Queensland breeding industry’s.”

Pariah’s 2023 fee of $8800 will reflect expectations of him in Queensland, according to Stewart. It’s a tick over half of what he stood for in the Hunter Valley last year.

“I suggested to Arrowfield that with the first season for Pariah up here, we should put him at a very competitive fee because this is Queensland, not New South Wales,” Stewart said. “I said $8000 plus GST, which I think is very good value.

“When they’re breeding in Queensland, they’re breeding the majority of time to sell in the QTIS sale, which averages at about $35,000 to $38,000. If you’re paying an $8000 service fee, it’s a reasonable multiple to get a profit. If you’re paying $20,000 and $30,000 service fees to sell in March, there’s not much of a multiple on average to entice you to breed.”

Stewart is expecting his new horse will whet the appetites of breeders with mares that go well with the Redoute’s line but who ordinarily didn’t have access to it, be it geography or finances affecting them. And, as Pariah served big books at Arrowfield consistently, it’s easy to forget he was a dual Group 3 winner that was second to Catchy (Fastnet Rock) in the G1 Blue Diamond S.

“If you ever watch the replay of that race, you could make the argument that he should have won it,” Stewart said. “He was four- and five-wide the whole trip without cover and he still runs a strong second. He’s got a lot to talk about.”

Pariah, after Shalaa (Ire), is the second of Arrowfield’s stallions to relocate for the 2023 breeding season. Shalaa has headed to Woodside Park Stud in Victoria, and Pariah is likely to arrive at Oaklands next week.

Arrowfield has remained invested in the horse, and Oaklands will stand him in conjunction with the Hunter Valley breeder and the existing owners.

“When you analyse the mares that Arrowfield has sent him to, all those beautiful Deep Impact and Sunday Silence-line mares that John Messara has, all of them have been to Pariah in the last three years,” Stewart said. “A lot of those pedigrees tend to only hit their straps as 3-year-olds, so there are exciting times ahead for the people who invest in Pariah in Queensland.”

Table: Oaklands Stud stallion roster for 2023, *all prices inclusive of GST