Rising star The Autumn Sun takes up Arrowfield flagbearer mantle with fee increase
Trevor Marshallsea
ANZ News
The Autumn Sun (Redoute’s Choice) has taken the next step in his exhilarating evolution as a sire, with his coronation as Arrowfield Stud’s flagbearing stallion in the farm’s service fees for 2026.
Boasting probably the best horse in the country in Autumn Glow and crack three-year-old Autumn Boy amongst his five Group 1 winners, The Autumn Sun will stand for a carefully chosen $137,500 (all fees inc GST).
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That’s more than double his mark from his past five standing seasons of $66,000, after his debut spring at $77,000.
As the famed stud’s No.1, the rising 11-year-old follows in the footsteps of previous greats of Arrowfield and of Australian breeding including Snitzel and his sire Redoute’s Choice, and the legendary Danehill (Danzig).
Snitzel would have been the Hunter Valley farm’s top-priced stallion last spring at $247,500 but for his death in June, which hasn’t stopped him charging towards a fifth champion sire title this season. His demise left the $88,000 Dundeel (High Chaparral) as Arrowfield’s most expensive sire of 2025, with The Autumn Sun second.
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But now, after a slightly nervous start when it was eventually proven his stock would be better at three than two, The Autumn Sun gains a service fee ranking to underline his standing as one of the most exciting stallions in the land. He’s also more than double the price of Arrowfield’s No.2 Dundeel, who drops to $66,000.
Arrowfield chairman John Messara said The Autumn Sun’s fee increase was a reflection of “a special type of stallion”, and one the stud assessed as “as a very significant sire for this part of the world”.
“This horse has left a very, very outstanding colt, probably the three-year-old colt of the season, in Autumn Boy, and a champion filly and mare in Autumn Glow,” Messara told ANZ News. “And then there’s all the other things he’s done before that.
“He’s given us an insight into what he’s capable of doing. He’s likely to finish top three or four on the general sires table, with half the runners of those around him.”
With only four crops racing, The Autumn Sun sits third on that table, less than $24,000 behind reigning champion Zoustar (Northern Meteor). And this comes from only 164 runners compared with the 328 of Zoustar, the 252 of Snitzel, and the 286 of the fourth-placed I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit).
In a telling statistic, among The Autumn Sun’s 11 stakes winners worldwide at 4.68 per cent of runners, five have scored at the top level, with three-timer Autumn Glow and dual Guineas hero Autumn Boy sitting alongside Australian Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m) winner Autumn Angel, South Australian Derby (Gr 1, 2500m) victor Coco Sun, and Australasian Oaks (Gr 1, 2000m) winner Vibrant Sun.
“When he gets a good one he gets a proper one. He’s a special type of stallion,” Messara said. “If we look after him and mate him carefully, things can only head one way.
“We’re not sure where he’ll finish on the sires’ list this season, because he’s got far less runners than the other stallions up the top. He may finish third or fourth, but it’ll be an outstanding result given the number of runners he’s got. And he hasn’t finished yet.”
“There’s a fair bit of work in progress for him, and this new figure is not going to be ultimately his fee in due course, so I think he represents pretty decent value at the moment
The Autumn Sun’s yearlings this year have sold for an average of $254,000, up from $185,000 in 2025.
Given his progress and the current stallion market, The Autumn Sun probably could have been put as high as $175,000 this spring and few would have argued.
However, Messara said his hike to $137,500 was in keeping with Arrowfield’s usual policy.
“I think we’ve priced him quite fairly,” he said. “The expectation was his fee might be higher than that, but we like to go up in a more gradual manner. We’re conservative on that until the horse actually does perform over time.
“I had an old friend on the board at Arrowfield who’d say, ‘Never cut the string’. When you increase the price of a stallion, you don’t want to lose those who’ve supported you earlier. You want them to come along for the ride and you want the new ones to jump on board as well.
“By not rising too steeply, you try to keep faith with the breeders who’ve supported you previously. That’s the philosophy we’ve generally followed.
“There’s a fair bit of work in progress for him, and this new figure is not going to be ultimately his fee in due course, so I think he represents pretty decent value at the moment.”
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The Autumn Sun was forced out of the 2024 breeding season due to a fracture in his pelvis, but bounced back powerfully last spring, covering a career-high 178 mares.
Messara said this included “a lot of very good, high-quality mares”, giving the stud “a lot to look forward to” from the stallion. He’s also expecting a strong finish to the current season.
“I know there are a few decent ones brewing around the place at the moment who’ll be rearing their heads at the Queensland carnival,” he said. “We’re very bullish about him.”
Dundeel represented “really good value” at a reduced $66,000, Messara said, following a racing season in which he’s added a tenth elite winner in ATC Queen Of The Turf Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) victor Idle Flyer.
Matt Smith’s mare has continued a recent surge from Dundeel’s daughters. While his early bidding was carried out mostly by sons including current boom sires Castelvecchio - his Arrowfield barnmate - and Super Seth, his daughters, though previously maligned mostly on temperament charges, have accounted for 12 of Dundeel’s past 14 stakes victories.
The rising 17-year-old Dundeel - who has 40 stakes winners at a healthy 5.43 per cent of runners - covered 103 mares last spring in his second year at $88,000, down from 141 in 2024. His yearlings have averaged $210,000 in 2026, up from $186,000 last year, with a top price of $1.3 million at Inglis Easter for a filly out of Fiesta (I Am Invincible) bought by Coolmore.
“We’ve wound him down a touch, to make him really great value,” Messara said. “He’s very good value now amongst proven stallions. He’s got ten individual Group 1 winners, plus two very successful sons at stud in Castelvecchio and Super Seth.
“So he offers you the chance of a good colt or a good filly, and they will stay a bit, so they have the chance of training on.
“People have said in the past that he gets good colts but not fillies, but that’s changed now. People are learning more about how to train them [his fillies]. If you get trainers who are adaptable to changing their training techniques to suit the particular pedigrees, types and characters of some of these horses, you get a different result.
“By the time he’s finished breeding, I guarantee his colts and fillies will finish level.”
The aforementioned Catelvecchio was “a sire on the make”, Messara said, with runners such as star triple Group 1-winning mare Aeliana among his six stakes winners from three crops racing at 5.08 per cent of runners.
After serving a career-high 155 mares last year at a fee bumped from $22,000 to $49,500, he rises again this spring to $60,500.
“He’s one of our most popular horses at the moment in the sale ring and in bookings,” Messara said of the rising ten-year-old, whose yearlings have averaged $159,000 this year - with a career-best of $600,000 for one colt - up from $84,000 in 2025.
“He’s capable of getting an outstanding animal, such as Aeliana, and I’ve got a lot of hope in him.
“He’s had a slightly uneven start to life, with a couple of minor setbacks which meant he missed a bit of service time, but he’s in full swing now, getting good service, and last year was the best book he’s ever had.”
Messara speaks with great excitement about the near future for Arrowfield’s Japanese shuttler Maurice (Screen Hero). After covering 123 mares last year at $55,000 - down from 138 at the same figure in 2024 after peaking at $82,500 in 2022 and ‘23 - Maurice will this year stand for $44,000.
The rising 15-year-old began with a bang in Australia, particularly through the five stakes winners in 2022-23 which helped him to his best-yet finish of 15th on the general sires’ table. After a quieter subsequent two seasons, he’s recovered to currently sit 23rd, with sprinter Mazu last Saturday showing his stock’s durability with his third successive Hall Mark Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) victory, aged seven.
Maurice, whose 4.26 per cent stakes winners to runners ratio in Australia betters his global mark of 3.66 per cent, has averaged $140,000 at the yearling sales this year, off a 2025 figure of $197,000.
But Messara is confident he’s about to make some impressive waves on the track.
“His progeny that are about to turn three, and those who’ll turn three next year, come from the best two books he’s had in his career,” Messara said.
“While he doesn’t do a lot with his two-year-olds, he does a lot with his three-year-olds and up, and he’s going to have a flurry of stakes winners in the next 12 months, given the size and quality of the books of mares involved.
“Breeders will have very good follow-up if they breed to him this year. His fee is very commercial, and there are a lot of stakes winners coming.”
Arrowfield’s seven stallions include two European shuttlers in Vandeek (Havana Grey) - at an unchanged $22,000 after serving a maximum 151 mares in his first Australian season - and newcomer Lead Artist (Dubawi), at $27,500.
Messara expects the “high class” outcross speed stallion Vandeek to prove popular again.
But the impeccably bred Lead Artist - winner of an exceptionally rich edition of Newbury’s Lockinge Stakes (Gr 1, 1m) - is causing Messara particular excitement, as he seeks to ride the clamour for Dubawi (Dubai Millennium) blood in Australia stirred by his boom shuttling sons Too Darn Hot and Ghaiyyath.
“I haven’t been this excited about a stallion since Danehill
“He’s by Dubawi out of a Frankel mare - the two most expensive sires in Europe,” Messara said.
“It’s just a pedigree that’s got terrific pre-potency on both sides, plus he’s a great looking horse. Subsequent to us getting him, a lot of European breeders have told me we’re on the right one.
“I haven’t been this excited about a stallion since Danehill.”
Rounding out Arrowfield’s septet is Hitotsu (Maurice), hero of the VRC and Australian derbies and a Caulfield Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) besides. After covering 97 mares at $22,000 last spring, and with his first crop of yearlings averaging $87,000, the rising eight-year-old will stand this year for $16,500.
“His yearlings have been really well received this year,” Messara said. “We’re backing our product there. He’s a cheapie, but one with a very good chance.”
Arrowfield 2026 stallion fees
| Stallion | 2026 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| The Autumn Sun | $137,500 | $66,000 |
| Dundeel | $66,000 | $88,000 |
| Castelvecchio | $60,500 | $49,500 |
| Maurice | $44,000 | $55,000 |
| Lead Artist | $27,500 | NEW FOR 2026 |
| Vandeek | Unchanged | $22,000 |
| Hitotsu | $16,500 | $22,000 |
Fees include GST
