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Emerging Japanese sire Maurice (Screen Hero) and Gr.1-winning companion Admire Mars (Daiwa Major) will shuttle to Australia later this year as Arrowfield Stud returns to the Land of the Rising Sun in search of the magic outcross stallion for the country’s Danehill- (Danzig) dominated broodmare population. Arrowfield Stud yesterday confirmed that Maurice, whose first southern hemispherebred 2YO crop are showing promise would rejoin its stallion roster after a one-year hiatus caused by the restrictions emerging from the Covid-19 pandemic, while also sourcing another Japanese shuttler to accompany him.
The latest major stud to release its service fees, Arrowfield will offer a nine-stallion line-up, led by four-time reigning champion sire Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice), whose fee will fee remain unchanged at $165,000. Unchanged fees have also been announced for barnmates Dundeel (High Chaparral) ($66,000), The Autumn Sun (Redoute’s Choice) ($66,000) and Castelvecchio (Dundeel) ($33,000).
Pariah (Redoute’s Choice) ($16,500) and Showtime (Snitzel) ($11,000) will also have their fees kept at 2020 levels, but European shuttler Shalaa (Invincible Spirit) has earned a fee increase from $33,000 to $44,000 this year on the back of his strong start with his first crop 2YO, which has yielded five stakes-performed juveniles this season. Maurice, Japan’s current leading second season sire and so far the sire of five Australian-bred first-crop winners, including two stakes-placed juveniles, will also stand for a fee of $44,000, up from $27,500 in 2019.
Arrowfield’s sole newcomer for 2021, Japan’s champion juvenile Admire Mars, like Maurice, was successful in Hong Kong, bringing down the jurisdiction’s own champion Beauty Generation (Road To Rock) in the 2019 Hong Kong Mile. A winner of the Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes at two and the NHK Mile Cup at three before his international success, Admire Mars will stand for $22,000 in his opening southern hemisphere season after starting his stud career this year at Shadai Stallion Station.
commercial, really, for what he has achieved. You look at horses in Australia who have won three Gr.1s, and two Gr.1s at two, that are at stud and I don’t think you’ll find any around $20,000.” Admire Mars is out of a Gr.3 winner in France, Via Medici (Medicean), and is a half-brother to European stakes winners Via Firenze (Dansili) and Via Pisa (Pivotal), while his own sire Daiwa Major (Sunday Silence) is responsible for six Grade 1 winners and his overall figures demand great respect, according to Messara.