Snitzel Tops Arrowfield's 2025 Roster

Unchanged service fees for champion sire Snitzel (AUS) and returning hero The Autumn Sun (AUS) and a AU$22,000 entry into the local market for Northern Hemisphere newcomer Vandeek (GB) headline the 2025 stallion roster announcement made by Arrowfield Stud April 15. After serving a quality book of mares—including dual group 1 winner Integral (GB)—at Cheveley Park Stud in Newmarket, Vandeek will board a flight to Australia in August to bolster the impressive line-up already assembled at one of the Hunter Valley's most prestigious farms. Upon arrival, the dual group 1 juvenile winner will be greeted by some of Australia's most celebrated sires, headed by Snitzel whose 2025 service fee of AU$247,500 (US$155,925, AU$1=US$0.63) is a testament to his standing in the upper echelons of the nation's stallion ranks for many years and is reflective of another prodigious year both on the racetrack and in the sales ring, where his yearlings have fetched a combined AU$45.2 million—with 11 youngsters selling for seven-figure sums. Having now fully recovered from the pelvic injury he suffered in a paddock in March 2024, The Autumn Sun will return to service for a fee of AU$66,000 later this year off the back of a stellar season for his progeny—most notably his unbeaten filly Autumn Glow, who has carried the Arrowfield colors to four consecutive victories, including three at stakes level. Maurice (JPN), who achieved his first seven-figure yearling when his filly out of Shoals was knocked down for AU$1.4 million at the Inglis Easter Sale, will return to Arrowfield at an unchanged fee of AU$55,000 in 2025. The figure for Dundeel (NZ), who achieved his best-ever average of AU$414,000 at this year's Inglis Easter Yearling Sale, also remains the same at AU$88,000 after the recent New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame inductee added a further eight stakes winners to an already glittering CV. The only stallion on the roster to have his fee increased is Dundeel's son and fellow resident Castelvecchio (AUS), who shot to prominence this season through the heroics of El Castello in the Spring Champion Stakes (G1) and Aeliana's five-length ATC Derby (G1) demolition. Buoyed by his five stakes winners so far this campaign, Castelvecchio will command a service fee of AU$49,500 in the upcoming breeding season—an increase of AU$27,500 on his fee in 2024. With Admire Mars (JPN) not resuming his shuttling duties this year, Arrowfield's stallion roster for 2025 is completed by another Japanese-bred horse in Hitotsu (AUS), the dual group 1 winner who will stand alongside his sire Maurice for an unchanged service fee of AU$22,000. While Hitotsu is only just starting out on his journey, his near neighbor Snitzel remains the benchmark having produced 16 stakes winners this season including four at group 1 level, with Marhoona bringing up a third Golden Slipper (G1) success for her remarkable sire from the last eight editions of the world's richest juvenile race. Arrowfield's bloodstock manager Jon Freyer admits that the team—led by chairman John Messara—were probably within their rights to capitalize on Snitzel's popularity by increasing his value. However, perhaps mindful of the bottom line for their fellow breeders and particularly in light of an increasingly uncertain economic climate across the globe, the farm instead opted to stick with a fee of AU$247,500 for their four-time champion sire. "As always, we're very conscious of leaving some meat on the bone for the breeders," said Freyer, who confirmed that Snitzel's book of mares will be reduced from 110 in 2024 to "around 70 or 80" this year. "Breeders both big and small are currently facing a lot of challenges, so even though Snitzel probably deserved to be raised comparative to other stallions, he'll only cover a limited book of mares so we'll manage him quite carefully. "We priced all our stallions competitively last year, and with the exception of Castelvecchio, we haven't raised any of our prices this year. The costs associated with breeding have risen significantly in recent times, and that applies to our costs too, but we want to keep people in the game rather than deterring them by increasing our prices. So we've been as conservative as we possibly can be for this year."