Snitzel’s highest earner Redzel retired
Redzel (Snitzel), the highest-earning son of Australia’s three-time Champion Sire Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice), has been retired, owners Triple Crown Syndications announced last night.
Redzel, who early in his life ended up in the hands of receivers, retires as the winner of $16,444,000, placing him second on the list of Australia’s highest earners behind the incomparable Winx (Street Cry). It was a figure bolstered by wins in the first two runnings of the world’s richest race on turf, The Everest (1200m), in 2017 and 2018. He was also a two-time Group 1 winner, taking out the Doomben 10,000 (Gr 1, 1200m) and the Darley Classic (Gr 1, 1200m) in 2017.
“I think the overriding word that comes to mind is privilege,” Michael Ward, principal of Triple Crown Syndications with his brother Chris, told ANZ Bloodstock News. “He’s been a wonderful horse to be involved with and given us such a thrill.”
Bred by Lee Fleming, the former owner of Eliza Park Stud, Redzel is by Snitzel out of Group 3 winner Millrich (Rubiton), who finished third to Flying Spur (Danehill) in the 1995 Golden Slipper Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m). Millrich had already produced another Group 3 winner in Danerich (Danehill), who has produced nine stakes winners in his second career at stud.
Shortly after Redzel’s birth in September, 2012, Fleming put Eliza Park up for sale. However, due to delays in securing a buyer, insolvency firm PPB Advisory put Fleming’s operation into liquidation and, as a result, they sent 26 of Fleming’s horses through the 2013 Inglis Australian Weanling and Bloodstock Sale.
Bought by Marquee Stud for $45,000, the upper Hunter Valley farm pinhooked him as a yearling, sending him through the 2014 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale where he was sold for $120,000 to the bid of Triple Crown Syndications.
“We’d had a bit of success with the Snitzel breed, with Hot Snitzel turning out to be a Group 1 winner and Flying Snitzel a Group 2 winner,” Ward recalled. “So we’re favourable to the breed. Redzel was a particularly athletic figure himself so he stood out to us really as soon as we spotted him. At the time, that was about our budget to spend on the horse and as it has turned out, it looks money very well spent!
“We were very fortunate to get onto Snitzel early and had several of his better progeny which was great. It’s good to see the success Snitzel has had at stud and his stars continue to rise all the way through as Redzel did.”
Among the 17 owners who bought into Triple Crown’s new offering was Tim Cheng, owner of a company that supplies software programs for the transport industry. Redzel was just the third horse in which he owned a share.
“My pop was a penciller for Bill Waterhouse so I’ve been brought up in a racing and bookmaking environment. I remember going round to Pop’s and having the radio on each weekend and he got me involved in racing to begin with,” Cheng told ANZ Bloodstock News. “I remember, I was looking through the pedigree pages in the catalogue and I remember seeing this colt out of Golden Slipper placegetter Millrich and by Snitzel. I immediately liked the pedigree and once I saw who bought him I got involved straight away and got my share.”
Debuting for Peter and Paul Snowden with a dominant all-the-way win in a Warwick Farm maiden as a two-year-old – with future Group 1 winners Japonisme (Choisir) and Eagle Way (More Than Ready) in behind – Redzel was stakes-placed as a juvenile, finishing third in the Kindergarten Stakes (Gr 3, 1100m).
At three, he took time to find form but won the Fireball Quality (Listed, 1100m) at Rosehill to earn his first black-type win. Early in his four-year-old season, two stakes wins suggested that he was improving with age, but it was in the 2017 autumn that he really came to life.
Runner-up in the Challenge Stakes (Gr 2, 1000m) and The Galaxy (Gr 1, 1100m), each time by less than a head, he added the Hall Mark Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) to his CV, before finally getting that first elusive Group 1 victory with his pillar-to-post Doomben 10,000 triumph. It was also during that 2017 autumn that Racing NSW supremo Peter V’landys first announced The Everest, to be run that October.
“I think with Redzel we knew he was the emerging kid on the block,” Ward recalled. “It was when he won the Hall Mark Stakes, we knew we had a possible Everest contender and that was just firmed up when he went and won the Doomben 10,000 in the winter. But really that was only when we thought we had a contender for the race and it was only when he returned for the spring and won the Concorde Stakes and then The Shorts that we knew we had a contender for winning it.”
In contrast to last year, when most deals were done very early, Redzel was not secured by an Everest slotholder until a month before the inaugural running, with James Harron locking in the gelding for his spot. He was the sixth horse to be selected for the race.
Sent out as the fourth favourite in the field of 12, Redzel was given a peach of a ride by Kerrin McEvoy, holding off favourite Vega Magic (Lope De Vega) by three-quarters of a length. It sparked joyous celebrations among Triple Crown’s syndicate members, scenes that would be repeated 12 months later when horse and jockey went back-to-back.
“It was raw emotion and celebration with winning the first,” Ward said. “And then when he won the second, I think it was just disbelief, being able to win such a prestigious race twice. It just seemed such a remote possibility but when he did achieve it was just unbelievable.
“I think it’s something that you strive for. You strive to get a horse such as Redzel. Everyone works so hard in this industry and it’s just so satisfying. It obviously put Triple Crown Syndications up in lights to some extent and he was the flag bearer and we’re just thrilled to have had him within our stable.”
Cheng, whose Everest celebrations in a blazing, bright red suit were beamed around the world, added: “The first Everest is one the most memorable days of my life. It was all hyped up and a terrific atmosphere. I’ve been to State of Origins with 80,000 people there, and you know what’s coming. More than 40,000 people packed Randwick and going into the mounting parade that day, it was one of the most electric moments you could ever describe.
“To pull it off and win it – it was just like a dream. Watching him kick clear, at the 300, it was like I was floating watching it. I don’t think there will ever be a feeling that can match the one of us in that mounting yard going crazy. Actually, the first Everest win has ruined any win I’ll have ever again! I think even if I win a Melbourne Cup or a Golden Slipper it wouldn’t come close to what I experienced that day. It’s the pinnacle for any owner to win the very first one.”
In addition to his two Everest triumphs and his two Group 1 wins, Redzel also won the Concorde Stakes (Gr 3, 1000m) three times in a row.
He retires after an autumn in which he recorded two Group 1 placings, finishing second to Gytrash (Lope De Vega) in the Lightning Stakes (Gr 1, 1000m) at Flemington before his swansong when third to Nature Strip in the T J Smith Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m).
“Besides the physical attributes I think it was his temperament that took him a long way,” Ward said. “He was just so cool, calm and collected, never turned a hair and it didn’t matter the size of the crowd that was around, he just always raced to the best of his ability.
“I think a lot of the credit has to go to Peter and Paul Snowden. They were very positive in terms of just preparing him for the big races on the day and I think that is testament to their ability as trainers and to keep him sound for such a long period of time.
“It’s similar to other horses we’ve had like Dothraki, who have continued to operate at the highest level and I think that’s what made the horse so treasured.”
For Cheng, it’s the end of a journey that has been a grounding force in his life over the last few years, with Redzel acting as a consistent beacon of hope and stability.
“I’ve got to pinch myself to believe that it actually happened,” he said. “It’s completely surreal the journey he’s taken us on. He gave me so much joy and so many thrills. I’ve had a few personal issues over the last few years but he was always the shining light. He took my mind off things and took me to a better place. Just the thrill and joy he brings, it’s almost indescribable and difficult to put into words.
“I’ll always be eternally grateful for the friendships that I’ve made with other owners. They are basically like an extended family for me. Sharing those experiences with them was just amazing and I would not have met them if it wasn’t for him.”
Redzel retires with 15 wins and 13 placings from 39 starts. It comes the same week as his sire Snitzel recorded his 100th individual stakes winner.