Brava Snitzel

(Update: This post was never published - but almost 12 months ago I began putting this piece together because at the time I started, it seemed pretty obvious to me that SNITZEL, who will always be one of my favourite stallions, was about to emulate his fabled grandsire DANEHILL by becoming Australian Champion Sire four years in row. In doing so he would become the first stallion since Danehill, and only the 6th horse ever, to achieve this feat. And having worked so closely with the horse between 2008 and 2018 I wanted to say a few words about a stallion I had grown so close to (and yes, tell me it's a bad thing, but I do get emotionally attached to the horses I work with, it's what I do)

Out of no disrespect to Snitzel, my writing became extremely on-again-off-again, filled with all the starts and stops that seem to populate my life at the moment and are caused almost entirely by The Great Lockdown. Before I get started on the horse's achievements, can I make it perfectly clear that I absolutely supported the lockdown, and at the time (and in the months afterwards) felt incredibly frustrated by the ongoing criticism of this strategy which did nothing but undermine the efforts of all of us who were desperately trying to help authorities bring the outbreak under control. Why? Because the moment every single state and territory border closed to basically all Victorians, a strong lockdown New Zealand style was the only option. Time and time again I curse those who say we shouldn't have locked down and feel like curling up into a ball and begging 'can we just get it over and done with, and spare me all the wretched carrying on' The border closures have absolutely smashed me. Australia wasn't meant to operate like this, and it has left my business hanging by a thread. All I can do is watch in desperation while others do the work I would usually undertake and hope desperately something will still be left at the end of it all, and count nervously how many the days there are between now and when my expensive camera insurance payment falls due.

So basically all of this misery made me reluctant to write because being lumped in with Melbourne was been pretty awful (I mean honestly, it takes me about 1.5 hours to get to Flemington on a good day, the public transport is definitely rural standard and before the NBN arrived our internet connection speeds were TERRIBLE, so we don't feel like part of Melbourne at all here!) and basically The Great Lockdown really sucks. As a result I am frequently tense, cross and grumpy about the fact that seemingly everyone else is out there, and what's worse, they are playing with the horses that I should be able to play with too. Even when I had cancer nothing could keep me from the horses. I had radiation therapy on Melbourne Cup morning in 2014, when, sick as a dog, the awesome team at Peter Mac scheduled me a super early appointment so that I didn't miss treatment and get to the track on time. By the end of Cup week I was finished, and despite my intentions of photographing Zipping Classic day, I got up and said "I'm coming", promptly threw up, gave it up as a lost cause and slept the rest of the day.

The Great Lockdown involved a little thing called a nighttime curfew from 8pm - 5am every night for 8 weeks so no one was allowed out of their homes except for the four fairly strict reasons. We've not been allowed more than 5km from home for what seems like forever, and again, the comparisons with my sister who DOES live in Melbourne and what she can do within her 5km zone are VASTLY different to mine, because almost all of my 5km zone is paddocks and properties! I began to curse the fact I hadn't been able to escape with my kids for either my brother's house in Canberra or my mum's house in Sydney before the NSW Government turned draconian and nasty on Victorians. An unlucky chain of events meant my son was still in the 'actual' classroom being in Year 12, and I had 2 remaining photoshoots to complete (seriously, I've had 3 small shoots in 6 months, and yes, I am climbing the walls). In hindsight it was a very expensive clash of events because shortly afterwards both the kids were remote schooling and we were in complete lockdown. Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time!

There's been a daily ritual of what used to be the "11am Blues" but is now the "8.30am Ray of Hope" or "the after 9am Plunge Back Into Despair and doomsday visions of lockdown forever" - later announcement of the daily numbers always seemed to correlate to bad news...., or what is actually called the daily DHHS release our all important numbers. I think Premier Daniel Andrews and the ever admirable CHO Professor Brett Sutton are doing everything in their power to bring the outbreak under control. Just when it looked like we were sailing along and an early release from Stage 4 could be possible, another couple of fresh outbreaks, caused by what appears to be unfathomable carelessness and perhaps a bit of stupidity, led to the recent Casey and Chadstone Clusters and made me again ponder unpleasant topics such as whether my business can possibly survive all of this and which of my clients will still be there for me when I finally emerge from the darkness. It makes me wonder about returning to a non racing/photography career although I guess it would be a horseless desert.

I wanted to do justice to this terrific stallion and as such I tried to be comprehensive in my research which meant it took even longer to complete. Writing and researching the horse gave me a bit of welcome relief. At the time I started the article my desk gradually became littered with scattered piles of notepaper which were crammed full of horse names, figures and facts, all scribbled in pencil. Naturally a variety of hard drives had to be dragged out, I mean, there are 15 years of Snitzel photos to pour through and OBVIOUSLY I had to do the beautiful boy justice.

Being a bit of a horse nerd I did know plenty of horses I was researching but my discoveries did throw up some facts and figures about a handful of stallions I either couldn't remember or didn't know about. There's also a bit of fun to be had when digging up old photographs from the past. It's ironic about the pictures taken on film because they remind me (1) of how long I've been doing this for, (2) how disorganised my negative collection became once I had little kids to look after and (3) how brilliant today's cameras and lenses are compared to the film cameras and older generation lenses we all used to shoot with. And at the time we all thought they were so razor sharp!

The first horse to win Champion Sire four (4) years in succession was the great VALAIS (Cicero x Lily of the Valley). He was Champion Stallion for five consecutive years between 1923-1928 and the sire of HEROIC and the brilliant but notoriously temperamental Manfred, who was famous for winning the AJC Derby after flipping around and refusing to start until his rivals had travelled 100m. Heroic (Valais x Chersonese) was a champion racehorse (under today's system he'd have won 12 time Group 1 races) and once retired to stud he emulated his sire by becoming Champion Stallion for seven (7) consecutive seasons between 1932-1939 and siring champions like Ajax and the Melbourne Cup winner Hall Mark along the way.

Next came the five time Champion Stallion DELVILLE WOOD (Bois Roussel x Everlasting) between 1952-1957. He sired horses like as Evening Peal (who won the 1995 VRC and Queensland Oaks and the 1956 Melbourne Cup) and Hydrogen. The latter was a real champion and won the equivalent of 6 Group 1 races, including the Cox Plate twice, Caulfield Guineas, Rosehill Guineas, VRC Derby and Mackinnon Stakes although he wasn't a very successful stallion.

Following immediately on from Delville Wood came the breed shaping stallion STAR KINGDOM (Stardust x Impromptu) who was imported from England in 1951 by Stanley Wootton. Like Snitzel he wasn't a big horse but he became one of Australia's most influential stallions, and was Champion Stallion five times. He won his first four titles in succession between 1958-1962 and his fifth title came in 1964-1965. It's worth pausing for a moment to remember that without Star Kingdom there would have been no Biscay (and no Bletchingly, Kingston Town, Canny Lad, Star Watch, Emancipation, etc), Marscay, Kaoru Star (no Luskin Star, or grandson Bonecrusher to name a few), Noholme the brilliant full brother to champion Todman - winner of the 1st Golden Slipper Stakes), Planet Kingdom, the full brothers Sky High and Skyline, and the afore mentioned Todman is responsible for the sire of Super Impose, in Imposing.

A host of champion stallions followed Star Kingdom, including SIR TRISTRAM (Sir Ivor x Isolt) a 6 time winner but only 3 times in succession and his champion son BLETCHINGLY (Biscay x Coogee) who was Champion Stallion 3 years in a row as well. However it was not until the arrival in 1990 of the Juddmonte Farms bred horse DANEHILL (Danzig x Razyana) that a stallion won four successive sires titles.

Danehill is to date the most successful stallion to ever stand in Australia. He won the winner of the G1 Haycock Sprint Cup in England before being imported to Australia by John Messara. The horse stood at the original Arrowfield Stud at Jerry's Plains, which is now Coolmore Australia, under a joint venture between the two farms and made an immediate impact by becoming Champion Sire with his first crop. He sired Danzero from that first crop (1994 Golden Slipper), Danasinga and Danarani. In his second crop he sired FLYING SPUR (1995 Golden Slipper) and Nothin' Leica Dane. From his third crop was his 3rd successive Slipper winner MERLENE, Dane Ripper, Magic of Sydney and Danendri. He won his first three titles in consecutive years (1994-95; 1995-96; 1996-97) but lost the title temporarily to his great contemporary ZABEEL (Sir Tristram x Lady Giselle) in 1997-98 and 1998-99. Danehill returned to the top of the mountain and reigned supreme as Champion Australian Stallion for further six consecutive seasons between 1999 to 2005, in the process leaving champion sons on the track and the breeding barn in COMMANDS, REDOUTE'S CHOICE, EXCEED AND EXCEL and FASTNET ROCK and a slew of Group 1 winners. All up he was Champion Australian Sire on nine occasions, Leading Sire of France in 2001 and 2007, and leading sire of Great Britain/Ireland in 2005, 2006, 2007. It was during this period Danehill was purchased outright by Coolmore and he stood his last season in Australia in 2001, leaving Australian shores for the last time on 18 December 2001 before dying in Ireland on 13 May 2003 at 17 years old. It's been said Danehill benefitted because he was a total outcross for the Star Kingdom line mares in Australia, a fact which is not lost on those evaluating the comparative achievements of Snitzel who didn't enjoy this advantage.

DANEHILL
(Danzig x Razyana)
Bred and raced by Juddmonte Farms.
I only photographed Danehill once, on my first trip to
the Hunter Valley, on a boiling hot December in 1997.
This image ran widely on his death in 2003.

In perhaps in a nod to what would come to pass, Danehill was eventually deposed as the King of Australian Stallions by his own son REDOUTE'S CHOICE, a four time Group 1 winner who had been purchased by John Messara to stand at his new Arrowfield Stud property in the Segenhoe Valley in Scone. Redoute's Choice retired to stud in the spring of 2000 and became a triple Champion Stallion although not in successive years. He is also (to date) is also a dual Champion Broodmare Sire, a legacy you would expect him to improve on and is arguably the most successful sire son of Danehill. He is the sire of Snitzel, and among his many great progeny he was the sire of Golden Slipper winners Miss Finland and Stratum, champion sprinter Lankan Rupee, multiple group 1 winning filly Samantha Miss, five time group 1 winner The Autumn Sun and dual group 1 winning 2yo King's Legacy.

REDOUTE'S CHOICE and John Messara

Back to the pin up boy! Snitzel, born on 24 August 2002, was a very good racehorse, winning the 2004 Breeders' Plate, the 2005 Skyline Stakes and Up and Coming Stakes and during his final campaign in the autumn of 2006 he won the G2 Challenge Stakes and the G1 Oakleigh Plate. He was trained by Gerald Ryan who has since trained many of Snitzel's successful runners on the track. I didn't photograph Snitzel very many times on the track because when he was a two I was heavily pregnant with my daughter and she was a baby during his three year campaign. His Oakleigh Plate win was on one of the very few Blue Diamond Stakes Days I have missed after finding travelling with 2 young children was a bit tricksy particularly as one was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when he was only 18 months old. He also ran globetrotting champion sprinter TAKEOVER TARGET to half length when second in the G1 Newmarket Handicap, then won the Challenge before finishing third in the G1 TJ Smith Stakes and 4th in the G1 All Aged Stakes which was his final race.

SNITZEL winning the 2005 Up and Coming Stakes.

Cantering to the barrier before running 2nd in the Newmarket Handicap.

Snitzel stood his first season at Arrowfield in the Spring of 2006 and I first photographed him at the farm in April 2008. I was immediately drawn to the horse and truth be told he's always been a delight to work with. He had to earn his accolades the hard way and for a number of my earlier shoots he wasn't really on my main 'to do' lists but whenever he was in front of the camera he just did everything right. There were never any hairy moments with him, hysterics and silliness were beneath him, yet he would always swell his charisma and style, sit down on his haunches and give me that lovely 'noble horse' outline almost every time I worked with him. He's a little bit like a coiled spring, and arches his neck and has great collection. With every horse I work with I need to first work out the idiosyncrasies of their shape, and Snitzel, with his big strong jowls, is no exception and because he's so sensible a prancing walk doesn't leap out of him every time, but the paddock really is his forte.

From my first shoot in 2008, when I was still learning the ropes. He always forgave my inexperience, and
it's interesting looking back over past shoots