Snitzel reigns supreme at $247,500 as Arrowfield release 2025 fees

Cover image courtesy of Arrowfield Stud

After announcing the 2025 stallion roster, Arrowfield Chairman John Messara commented, “our unrelenting commitment to quality has helped to generate exceptional results for breeders, vendors and owners this season.

“Those results, from only five stallions, include 38 stakes winners, seven Group 1 winners, more than $50 million in prizemoney, and an average yearling sale price of $316,000.”

Messara is proud of Arrowfield Stud's achievements over the course of this season but has been wary of getting the pricing right in order to help ensure breeders can be successful; “We have been careful with our pricing to ensure that people will make money out of breeding with us.”

Castelvecchio has been 'a revelation'

Castelvecchio, the breakout young sire of 2024/25, has stamped his mark in emphatic style with a pair of first-crop Group 1 winners—El Castello, winner of the G1 Spring Champion Stakes, and Aeliana, who thrashed the boys in the G1 Australian Derby. He has also sired three other stakes winners this season including Verona Rose, Double Market, and Comanche Miss, prompting an increase to his 2025 service fee, now set at $49,500 inc GST. He stood for $22,000 inc GST in 2024.

A dual Group 1 winner himself, Castelvecchio was sharp enough at two to win the R. Listed Inglis Millennium and the G1 Champagne Stakes over a mile. But it was as a 3-year-old that he really shone—claiming the G1 Rosehill Guineas and placing second in both the Cox Plate and the Spring Champion Stakes before retiring to stud.

A son of Dundeel, Castelvecchio inherits a blend of class, stamina and sharpness. Dundeel was a six-time Group 1 winner, including the G1 Australian Derby, but also had the turn of foot to win over 1200 metres as a juvenile—speed and versatility now evident in Castelvecchio’s own progeny.

“He’s a revelation,” Messara said. “His first crop are 3-year-olds now and they are really outstanding—he’s an upgrader.

“I think there will be a lot of interest in him.”

Vandeek, the lightning-fast addition from Europe

Vandeek (GB), the G1 Prix Morny winner and France’s Champion 2-year-old colt, has been announced as the newest addition to the Arrowfield Stud roster for 2025. He will shuttle from Cheveley Park Stud (where he stood for £15,000) to stand his debut Southern Hemisphere season at a highly accessible fee of $22,000 inc GST.

By explosive young sire Havana Grey (GB), himself a fast-rising force in Europe, Vandeek brings a new and potent branch of the Sadler’s Wells (USA) sireline to Australasia. His sire is on a sharp upward trajectory in the Northern Hemisphere, and Vandeek is well-placed to carry that momentum forward in Australia.

“He fills a gap in our roster—he’s an out-and-out Champion 2-year-old, a very good-looking horse from a rising bloodline,” said Messara.

“There’s been a huge amount of interest in him since his announcement, especially now the price has been revealed. There will be no trouble filling him at all.”

Vandeek was unbeaten in four starts as a juvenile, claiming both the G2 Richmond Stakes and the G1 Middle Park Stakes in addition to his Prix Morny success. With blistering speed and Group 1 form at two, he adds sharpness, precocity and an exciting new dimension to the Arrowfield lineup.

As always, the Arrowfield stallions will be well supported from the Arrowfield Stud's quality broodmare band.

“We have got a couple hundred broodmares of our own and they will be supporting these horses primarily.” Messara said.

“We are getting to know our mares better and better as the years go by, and hopefully mating them better with our horses, and hopefully we continue to produce the stakes horses we have over the last few years.”

Snitzel remains the headline act

In the wake of siring his third G1 Golden Slipper Stakes winner and achieving career-best yearling sale results, Snitzel will once again lead the 2025 Arrowfield stallion roster at an unchanged fee of $247,500 inc GST.

The four-time Australian Champion Sire continues to set the benchmark, boasting a world-class 9.7 per cent stakes winners-to-runners strike rate, along with 60 stakes-winning juveniles to his name. Renowned for producing robust and versatile racehorses, Snitzel’s progeny are regularly seen contesting—and winning—Australia’s premier 2-year-old, 3-year-old, sprint, and mile races.

His progeny have delivered an astonishing resume: three G1 Golden Slippers, four G1 Guineas, two G1 Golden Rose stakes, a pair of Everests, the G1 Cox Plate, G1 All Aged Stakes, G1 Flight Stakes, G1 Coolmore Stud Stakes, a G1 ATC Sires’ Produce Stakes trifecta, two R. Listed Magic Millions 2YO Classics, and the majority of Australia’s elite sprints.

The 2024/25 season so far has been another stellar chapter in his stud career with potentially lots more to come, with 16 stakes winners, including Group 1 stars Lady Shenandoah, Marhoona, Return To Conquer, and Switzerland. He also topped yearling sale results, amassing $45.2 million in total sales and producing 11 yearlings that fetched seven figures.

Messara said, “(he's) the perennial champion sire, and his produce are as good today at the age of 22 as they were 10 years ago. He’s well established, he’s loved, and he delivers.”

Dundeel has gone to the next level

The outstanding six-time Group 1-winning son of High Chaparral (Ire), Dundeel (NZ), has recently been inducted into the New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame, a fitting honour for his remarkable achievements on the track.

Now, he continues to build an enduring legacy at stud, having sired 36 stakes winners, including eight individual Group 1 winners and a further 29 stakes performers. His fee remains at $88,000 inc GST for 2025.

In the current season alone, Dundeel has produced eight stakes winners, headlined by Group 3-winning filly Cinch on Saturday. His growing reputation as a sire of sires, through Group 1-producing stallions Castelvecchio and Super Seth, has propelled him to new commercial heights—reflected in a career-best Inglis Easter average of $414,000.

His yearlings have been in demand across all major sales this year, achieving top prices of: $750,000 at the 2025 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale, NZ$450,000 at the 2025 NZB Karaka Yearling Sale, $440,000 at the 2025 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale and $400,000 at the 2025 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.

Messara summed it up, “He has had another big season. He now has the addition of having two sons that are Group 1-producing stallions—Super Seth and Castelvecchio.

“He’s a stallion maker, which adds another wing to his resume.”

The Autumn Sun is back in business

The Autumn Sun—a five-time Group 1 winner at two and three, by Redoute’s Choice and out of a Galileo (Ire) mare—has firmly re-established himself among the country’s most exciting young sires, having now produced Group 1 Classic winners Autumn Angel, Coco Sun and Vibrant Sun, as well as the unbeaten rising star Autumn Glow.

Now fully recovered from the injury that ruled him out of the entire 2024 breeding season, The Autumn Sun has hit the ground running in 2024/25. As well as the emergence of sensational filly Autumn Glow, he has added Listed winner Snow In May, five other stakes performers, and $1 million Country Championships Final winner Know Thyself to his growing record.

Gallery: Some of the successful progeny of The Autumn Sun

His progeny are also making their presence felt in Hong Kong, where he boasts three winners, including the exciting John Size-trained 3-year-old Sky Jewellery who is now a three-time winner.

At the sales, he continues to prove commercial, with standout yearling results including: a $900,000 filly, a $520,000 colt, and a $340,000 Inglis Easter average.

Messara expressed his enthusiasm for the stallion’s return.

“We are very excited to have him back, and he looks terrific,” he said.

“We have left him at the old price ($66,000 inc GST) where he was, irrespective of the fact (that) there’s not a week that goes by where he doesn’t have a sprinkle of winners or stakes horses. He is doing really well.”

The momentum for Maurice is building

Maurice (Jpn), sire of newly minted millionaire Matcha Latte and Japanese 2-year-old Group 1 winner Admire Zoom (Jpn), continues to gain serious momentum in Australia.

Over the past four seasons, Maurice has served his best and largest books, averaging 152 mares per season—a reflection of the growing faith local breeders have placed in him. The early returns from that investment were on display at the 2025 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale, where he posted an impressive $503,000 average across 10 yearlings sold, including his first seven-figure Australian yearling, a $1.4 million filly out of three-time Group 1 winner Shoals (Fastnet Rock).

Now the sire of six individual Group 1 winners, Maurice’s progress has remained on track despite missing an Australian season due to COVID-related travel restrictions. That absence has left him with no current 3-year-old runners in the country—but his trajectory remains firmly upward, and all signs point to the best being yet to come with his fee remaining at $55,000 inc GST.

“He’s a sound, high quality stallion and a great outcross for a lot of the Australian bloodlines,” Messara said.

Hitotsu's classic credentials and elite pedigree

Hitotsu combines some of Arrowfield Stud’s most successful bloodlines, being a son of current resident sire Maurice and out of the Redoute’s Choice mare, Love Is Fickle.

Although unraced herself, Love Is Fickle hails from a deep pedigree. She is out of the high-class mare She’s A Meanie (NZ) (Prince Salieri), a G1 Avondale Cup winner who excelled as a broodmare. She produced She’s Meaner (Falvelon), winner of the Listed Tommy Smith Slipper and runner-up in the R. Listed Magic Millions 2YO Classic, who in turn foaled five-time stakes winner and sire Love Conquers All, as well as stakes-placed She’s Bella (Sebring).

Trained by Ciaron Maher, Hitotsu was a standout 3-year-old, achieving a rare Group 1 treble. He won the G1 Australian Guineas, G1 Victoria Derby, and G1 Australian Derby, showcasing his versatility and brilliance from a mile up to the 2500 metres.

He has proven a popular addition to the Arrowfield roster, covering 162 mares in his first season and 112 in his second. His first yearlings will hit the ring in 2026, after he stands for a third season at $22,000 inc GST.

“We like his foals, and he’s a horse with a terrific cardio-vascular system—great heart and lungs—and I’m hoping he passes that on to his produce,” said Messara.

Table: Announced 2025 stallion roster and fees for Arrowfield Stud, fees inclusive of GST