Golden Slipper success for Snitzel endorses import of Spill The Beans

The victory of Estijaab in one of Australia's most important races, the Golden Slipper, on Saturday once again vindicated the bold decision to shuttle a stallion by the filly's sire Snitzel to Europe for this year's northern hemisphere breeding season.

Estijaab became the 13th Group 1 winner for Snitzel, a son of Redoute's Choice who was Australia's champion sire of 2017 and has become the country's hottest stallion property, commanding a fee of A$176,000 (£96,000/€110,000) at Arrowfield Stud last year.

Group 2-winning sprinter Spill The Beans is the first son of Snitzel to stand in the north, with Billy Jackson-Stops of Atlas Stallions working with the horse's owner Aquis Farm to bring him to the National Stud in Newmarket.

Jackson-Stops said after the Golden Slipper: “Spill The Beans is ticking over nicely and keeps picking up more mares each time Snitzel hits the headlines. It's looking like he'll reach 75-plus mares and just about everything he's covered so far has been scanned in foal.

“We'll find out early this week what effect Estijaab has had, but I expect the National Stud nominations team to be getting a few phone calls as there was a lot of reaction on social media.

“Snitzel might not have been at the front of a lot of British and Irish breeders' minds, so each time there is a result like this it helps grow his profile bit by bit.”

Spill The Beans was the busiest new sire in Australia in 2016, serving more than 200 mares, and his first foals are set to go under the hammer down under in the coming weeks.

“I understand Aquis are reserving some of their nicest foals by him for the weanling sales in Sydney next month and they should go for good prices and give him another boost,” said Jackson-Stops. “We could have a strong late-season surge with him, especially as his fertility is so good.”

Among the mares in foal to Spill The Beans after being covered at the National Stud are the Group 3-winning Lend A Hand mare Emily Blake; Elvira Delight, a winning Desert Style half-sister to Equiano; and Jump Ship, a winning Night Shift relation to Talent who has produced multiple scorers.

Investiture, an Invincible Spirit half-sister to John Gosden's exciting three-year-old Antonian, is set to be covered by the stallion in the coming days.

Spill The Beans – who has another Golden Slipper connection in his pedigree, as he is from the immediate family of 1986 winner Bounding Away – is advertised at a fee of £6,000 at the National Stud.

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