Magic Mazu leads shining day for Arrowfield duo
Maurice’s Everest-bound son wins Doomben 10,000 while Pariah earns maiden first-crop stakes success in Queensland
Maurice’s (Screen Hero) rapidly-rising sprinter son Mazu took another giant leap towards the top echelons of the Australian sprinting division with a tough victory in yesterday’s Doomben 10,000 (Gr 1, 1200m), as Arrowfield Stud celebrated a jubilant day in rain-soaked Brisbane with a breakthrough stakes success for first season sire Pariah (Redoute’s Choice) in the Champagne Classic (Gr 2, 1200m).
The Peter and Paul Snowden-trained Mazu, who earlier this week was announced to have secured a spot in the next two renewals of the $15 million The Everest (1200m), continued a rapid rise to prominence with a sixth consecutive victory and first at Group 1 level.
Sam Clipperton settled Mazu in fourth behind pacesetter Zoustyle (Zoustar), with James McDonald on Paulele (Dawn Approach) stalking the $3.30 favourite in fifth, and it was the Triple Crown red silks of Mazu and Godolphin’s royal blue that came clear in the straight, engaging in an engrossing duel to the line with Mazu, who demonstrated a toughness that was unrequired in his previous six wins, prevailing by a head. Backmarker Entriviere (Tavistock) was best of the rest in third, half a length behind the leading duo.
The first-crop son of Maurice is a third elite-level winner for Arrowfield’s Japanese shuttler, and joins dual Derby-winning hero Hitotsu as a Group 1 scorer in Australia for the stallion, as the two star three-year-olds propel the ‘Beast from the East’ towards the second season sire crown Down Under, with Maurice $1.288 million clear of Capitalist (Written Tycoon).
His 32 winners this season from just 66 runners represents a strike-rate just shy of 50 per cent.
“I thought the horse did a marvellous job in the conditions and added another string to his bow with some tenacity to fight through adversity and still win a Group 1,” Arrowfield’s bloodstock manager Jon Freyer told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“We had tremendous faith in Maurice and he was a spectacular racehorse. His success, which is very gratifying, is not hugely surprising as we had that belief in him all along.”
When Arrowfield announced the increase in service fee for Maurice to $82,500 (inc GST) this coming breeding season, Freyer asserted the young stallion could be a contender for next season’s champion sire accolade, a prediction that in the age of lucrative pop-up races becomes that much more possible with The Star and Arrowfield having snapped up Mazu for their Everest spot, while Hitotsu could head on a path to the $8 million Golden Eagle (1500m) in the spring.
“For me he seems a standout for the race, given the age of the other competitors and with Home Affairs and Nature Strip going to the UK,” Freyer said. “He’ll be set specifically for the race and Triple Crown and the Snowdens know how to win it.
“It augurs well for Maurice and the sires premiership next season, as he’s got that race on the agenda and the Golden Eagle after that, which are high prize-money races.”
Mazu, who in being patiently unleashed by Peter and Paul Snowden to win the Brian Crowley Stakes (Listed, 1200m), Fireball Stakes (Listed, 1100m), Darby Munro Stakes (Listed, 1200m) and Arrowfield Sprint (Gr 2, 1200m) this season, will face the familiar trodden path of Triple Crown’s dual Everest winner Redzel (Snitzel), who was trained by the Snowdens to the first of his Everest wins in 2017 having won the Doomben 10,000 in Queensland.
“It’s been a very good preparation, let me tell you,” said Paul Snowden. “It’s a big relief, there was massive speed here and I was watching him in the run and we used him up to get him to a spot and they didn’t back off.
“He didn’t get a chance to travel as much as he does in his races, he does hit that flat spot, but his ability to absorb the pressure and still be strong at the end is why we’ve got a slot in The Everest and why we’re there.”
Mazu becomes the second Group 1 winner out of his dam Chatelaine (Flying Spur), 13 years after her first when the Peter Moody-trained Headway (Charge Forward) flashed home to win the 2009 Coolmore Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) at Flemington.
Bred and sold by the Hunter Valley’s Parsons Creek Pastoral, Mazu was a $180,000 purchase for Triple Crown Syndications at the 2020 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale.
He is one of nine foals and five winners to race out of 22-year-old mare Chatelaine, a runner-up in the 2002 Silver Shadow Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) and placed in black type on a further four occasions.
While Mazu, bred with sprinting prowess dominates the short-course division, dual Derby winner Hitotsu is a granddaughter of Avondale Cup (Gr 1, 2200m) winner She’s A Meanie (Prince Salieri), a versatility which only adds to the appeal of Maurice, a six-time elite-level winner from distances over a mile to 2000 metres.
“He can do it all,” Freyer added of Maurice. “He’s shown that in Japan and he’s proving it here as well. Mazu is obviously going to be a very sexy sprinter here but he’s got Hitotsu and others coming through in the middle distance ranks, so he’s got plenty of strings to his bow.
“The way he’s bred, as an outcross for virtually every mare in the country, there’s not a mare that if they wanted to go to him, couldn’t go to him.
“We’re seeing lovely foals and lovely horses from a wide cross-section of mares. So I don’t think it’s going to be only restricted to those Danehill-line mares.”
Freyer also lauded the achievements of Arrowfield’s first season sire Pariah, who courtesy of the Annabel Neasham-trained and Sam Clipperton-ridden Swiss Exile earned his first stakes winner in the Champagne Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) at Eagle Farm yesterday.
Group 3 winner and Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) runner-up Pariah, who was bred and then sold as a yearling by Arrowfield when fetching $700,000 to the bid of James Harron, also celebrated a third winner this season, with the twice stakes-placed Swiss Exile breaking his maiden in the Group 2 contest.
His achievements add to the recent Cinderella Stakes (Listed, 1050m) runner-up Runaway Belle and the Harron-raced Moonee Valley winner Latvian and Freyer believes there are imminently more performers to emerge for the stallion.
“It’s great for Pariah. He had some talented racehorses knocking on the door and I get the suspicion that now they’re all about to hit the headlines,” Freyer said.
“He’s been brewing along quite nicely and, looking at the statistics, at the same stage as Snitzel and Not A Single Doubts career he’s surpassed what they did at the same stage, so we’re excited as to what the future holds for Pariah.”
Swiss Exile had finished third in both the Phelan Ready Stakes (Listed, 1000m) at Eagle Farm and the BJ McLachlan Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) at Doomben, prior to yesterday’s imposing half-length victory over Exo Lady (Exosphere). The pair drew two and a quarter lengths clear of Political Debate (So You Think) and Thelwell (Bel Esprit) who dead-heated for third place.
“He’s been a work in progress for the Neasham stable and has done a few things wrong and probably cost himself a win or two along the way, but it clicked a bit today and I thought he was particularly tough in winning that and there’s obviously more wins ahead for him,” Freyer said.
Pariah will remain at his $16,500 (inc GST) service fee this year, despite covering his largest book of 157 mares in 2021, while he produced his largest crop of foals to date with 110 born last year.
His 2022 yearlings sold for a high of $280,000 and at a slightly increased average of $95,672 on his first-crop yearlings, which sold for a mean of $93,998.
“When you see how well his progeny sold across the board in the sales, and the people that bought them already have Pariahs in the stable, that’s an indication that they hold them in high regard,” Freyer said.
“It’s just a matter of waiting and doing the right thing by the horses and producing them when they’re ready, just as Annabel did.”
Out of the placed Swiss Ace (Secret Savings) mare Swiss Francs, Swiss Exile is one of two winners from two to race for his dam.
He derives from fourth dam Skating (At Talaq), a dual Group 1 winner and dam of seven stakes placegetters, including Skyline Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) winner Murtajill (Rock Of Gibraltar), Magic Millions 2YO Classic (RL, 1200m) winner Bradbury’s Luck (Redoute’s Choice) and Listed runner-up Skates (Danehill), dam to Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Vancouver (Medaglia D’Oro).
Swiss Exile was a $95,000 purchase for Neasham and bloodstock advisor Brian McGuire from the 2021 Magic Millions Adelaide Yearling Sale.
Westbury delight at Price’s Derby hero by Tarzino
Westbury Stud and trainer Mick Price celebrated a fairytale first Group 1 winner for Tarzino (Tavistock) when Jungle Magnate produced a dominant display to win yesterday’s South Australian Derby (Gr 1, 2500m) at Morphettville.
Tarzino was bought by Price for $60,000 as a yearling and trained by the Cranbourne handler to Group 1 victory in the VRC Derby (Gr 1, 2500m) and Rosehill Guineas (Gr 1, 2000m). His three-year-old son Jungle Magnate was also the stallion’s first winner when a June scorer at Sandown in his juvenile year.
Mark Zahra placed Jungle Magnate towards the rear of the field, spotting the leaders 15 lengths entering the home turn. However, an eye-catching move to circumnavigate the field round the bend saw the gelding hit the front at the top of the straight, and he went on to win by a convincing length and three-quarters at the line to Yaphet (Blackfriars) with Detonator Jack (Jakkalberry) two and a half lengths behind the winner in third.
Price, who purchased Jungle Magnate for $75,000 from the Westbury Stud draft at the 2020 New Zealand Bloodstock Karaka yearling sale, revelled in a poignant success.
“I remember paying $60,000, with Chris Lawler, for Tarzino, and we put some good people in, so there are very good memories,” Price, who trains in partnership with Michael Kent Jnr, said.
“That stallion is doing a good job. He was a bit unlucky that Doc Lawler’s Gypsy Goddess didn’t win a Group 1. We have a few by him that go good. This time next year we will have a big strong Tarzino back here.”
On Jungle Magnate, who has won three of his four starts this autumn having run tenth in the VRC Derby in the spring, Price said: “He won his first start over 1400 metres, so I thought we could win a (Caulfield) Guineas with him.”
“I had him set for the Guineas and first-up he went too slow (running eighth in a three-year-old handicap at Sandown Hillside) and I thought, ‘What am I going to do here’?
“So I had to change mid-prep, which cost him I think. When he ran in the VRC Derby he had enough and was on the way down.
“We had it pegged right this time in, he had a good spell and a good prep and we had a nice circle around this race as his peak point (of the campaign) and I think it was a nice ride by (Mark) Zahra.”
Second season sire Tarzino has produced a flurry of winners with his first Classic-aged crop, siring 11 individual winners in Australia and four in New Zealand, led by Jungle Magnate and Australian Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m) runner-up Gypsy Goddess, who will bid to go one better in Queensland’s equivalent at the start of next month, and Westbury Stud’s general manager Russell Warwick was delighted with the breakthrough victory.
“It’s a dream we have for a young stallion with his first three-year-old crop to sire a Group 1 winner,” Warwick told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“He’s had a Derby winner and a very good second in the Oaks in Sydney, so it’s onwards and upwards.
“It’s historically where New Zealand has really thrived in producing those horses, and it takes time, it’s been five years of graft of getting numbers and runners to the track in the hope they’re going to come forth and do the job.”
On the impact of Price towards the stallion’s career, Warwick said: “Mick’s support for the horse has been fantastic. He’s always spoken really favourably about him. Jungle Magnate was the sires first winner as a two-year-old and now he’s the first Group 1 winner for Tarzino and Mick.
“It’s one of those warm, fuzzy feelings you get when a plan actually comes to fruition.”
The potential of big-race success for his first-crop three-year-olds in the remainder of this season left Warwick and Westbury in a quandary as to what fee to set the son of the late Tavistock (Montjeu) for the coming spring, however a return to his pre-pandemic fee of $15,000 (plus GST) was settled on.
“We looked at it a few weeks ago and with Tarzino, we dropped him back to $12,000 during Covid, knowing that his third and fourth years were going to be his harder ones. But now he’s done enough to go back to his introductory fee,” Warwick said.
“There were a few who felt we went a bit light and could have raised him more. But it makes the horse accessible to people and gives New Zealand breeders the opportunity to breed to him this year. There’s been good support from good breeders with him, and the phone’s run pretty hot in the 15 minutes post the Derby today, and I think the next couple of weeks will be like that.”
After the loss of Tarzino’s sire Tavistock, as well as other prominent stallions in the New Zealand industry, Warwick believes the future is bright with young stallions such as Westbury’s Tarzino.
“There’s been the Sir Tristrams, Zabeels and Tavistocks, and we’re not saying that Tarzino is there just yet, but the country is probably looking for a horse like that to be able to step into those moulds and he can do that.
“We’ve got two or three young sires (in New Zealand) who are doing a great job. There’s Tarzino and then Proisir at Rich Hill that sired the Rough Habit Plate winner (yesterday). It’s not before time, but I think we really needed it and it’s great to see them coming through.”
Jungle Magnate is the first named foal out of Casino Prince (Flying Spur) mare The Love Of Money, herself a half-sister to Brazilian Group 1 winner Questing New (Romarin) and Grafton Cup (Listed, 2350m) winner First Crush (Husson).
Her Brazilian-bred granddam Loving New (Choctaw Ridge) was a dual Group 1 winner in her place of birth and was most recently purchased by Wall Street Thoroughbreds from Patinack Farm for $180,000 at the 2013 Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale.
Having missed in each of the last three seasons, she was covered by Churchill (Galileo) in 2021.