THE inaugural running of the world’s richest turf race took place last weekend at Randwick in Australia. The AUS$10 million, six-furlong TAB Everest was won by the five-year-old Snitzel gelding Redzel and he took his career earnings past the AUS$7 million mark with this victory, his 10th in 20 career starts.

Bought for just AUS$120,000 as a yearling – more than twice what he cost as a foal – he has proven to be some bargain for his owners, led by the Triple Crown Syndicate. He ran in a slot for the race owned by Irishman James Harron and rewarded his and the syndicate’s faith in the gelding with victory.

Redzel entered the race with a smart record, having previously won the Group 1 BRC Doomben Ten Thousand Stakes over the same distance and four other group races over trips from five to six furlongs.

A very consistent sort, he is one of a dozen Group 1 winners by Snitzel who was champion sire in Australia last season and now has a commanding, almost unassailable lead this season. Redzel is trained by Peter and Paul Snowden and was bred by Lee Fleming.

While we know a lot about Galileo and Dubawi in Europe, Tapit and company in the USA and the exploits of Deep Impact in Japan, Snitzel might not be as well known in the northern hemisphere as he is down under. A smart juvenile who won four times in his first season racing, Snitzel went on in his second season to capture the Group 1 MRC Oakleigh Plate, with six of his seven career victories coming in blacktype races.

He went to stud at Arrowfield in 2006 and last season claimed his first championship, having finished second in the 2013-14 season to his own sire Redoute’s Choice. That was the year Snitzel’s son Shamus Award was rated the champion three-year-old colt in Australia after winning the Group 1 Cox Plate and VRC Australian Guineas. While the first crop by Snitzel didn’t contain a Group 1 winner, he got off the mark in the second with Hot Snitzel who went on to become a racing millionaire.

The third crop included a pair of Group 1 winners, among them his first daughter, Snitzerland, to enjoy success at the highest level. In fact, just two of the dozen Group 1 winners to date are fillies and now sons of Snitzel are beginning to emerge as sires in their own right. Europe will see his first son at stud with the recent news that the National Stud in Newmarket will stand Spill The Beans in 2018. He was undefeated at two and his wins at three included the Group 2 QTC Cup.

Snitzel equalled Danehill’s single season record of 26 Australian stakes winners last season and in doing so set a new record for stallion earnings in a season with AU$16.2 million. He also completed a three-generation sequence of sire championships, following his father Redoute’s Choice and grandsire Danehill (Danzig).

Snitzel’s sire Redoute’s Choice won five times, four of them at Group 1 level. The best of his generation on the racetrack, he was successful in the Caulfield Guineas, Manikato Stakes, Blue Diamond Stakes and the CF Orr Stakes.

He has been champion sire three times in Australia and in the top three eight times since he went to stud in 2000. He is on the verge of 150 stakes winners and to date he has amassed a staggering 32 Group 1 winning progeny.

With over 70 stakes winners already, Snitzel is his most successful son at stud, while Not A Single Doubt (48), Stratum (34), Nadeem (13) and Beneteau (10) all have stakes winners in double figures.

On the dam side of his family, Redzel is the very best of seven winning offspring from the smart racemare Millrich. The best of the rest has been Danerich and he is bred on similar lines to Redzel, being a son of Danehill. Danerich was a speedy sort and won at Group 3 level and was runner-up in the Group 2 Schillaci Stakes. He enjoyed some success as a stallion.

Redzel is out of the Group 3 winning juvenile Millrich and she was third in the Group 1 Golden Slipper. A daughter of Rubiton (Century), she is a full-sister to the stakes-placed Natural Elegance and to the unraced Rubimill.

The latter is the dam of the smart Fastnet Rock (Danehill) colt El Roca, a dual listed winner and runner-up in the Group 1 Randwick Guineas.

Snitzel’s Spill The Beans will be a most interesting addition to the stallion roster at the National Stud where he will be joined by the Group 1 Prix de la Foret winner Aclaim (Acclamation).