Arrowfield 3yo Sprint 2024 Tips, Betting Odds, Past Winners & Results

The Group 2 Arrowfield 3YO Sprint covers 1200 metres of Randwick Racecourse during autumn racing. The race is currently slotted as part of the Randwick Championships and is restricted to three-year-olds that compete for $1 million in prize money racing under set weight conditions.

The top prize of $580,000 for the 2023 edition of the race was captured by Aft Cabin, a Godolphin horse trained by James Cummings that has won $1.2 million to date from 10 jumps for four wins and two placings.

 

 

Arrowfield 3yo Sprint Race Details

Date: 13/4/24

Time: TBA

Racecourse: Randwick

Race Distance: 1200m

Conditions: TBA

Prize Money: $1,000,000

How To Bet On The Arrowfield 3yo Sprint

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Arrowfield 3yo Sprint Betting Tips

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When Is The Arrowfield 3yo Sprint: 13/4/24

What Time Is The Arrowfield 3yo Sprint: TBA

Where Is The Arrowfield 3yo Sprint: Randwick Racecourse

How To Live Stream The Arrowfield 3yo Sprint

To live stream the Arrowfield 3yo Sprint, can watch the race live.

More Details About The Arrowfield 3yo Sprint

He jumped as the heavy favourite in the race and loafed along until letting down in the final 200 metres to score a classy win. A replay of that run can be viewed at the following link.

The race was known as the Royal Sovereign Stakes from inception through 2013. Royal Sovereign was a good racer in the mid-60s that was adept at winning derbies. In 1964, he won the AJC Derby, Queensland Derby and Victoria Derby. He was not so good at cup races, although he placed second to Yangtze in the 1964 Caulfield Cup.

We are unsure if the racing of Royal Sovereign rises to the level of having a race name. When the race was moved to its current slot on the calendar in 2014, it was recorded one last time as the Royal Sovereign Stakes, and then switched to Arrowfield for the NSW stud operation.

Royal Sovereign Stakes remains the officially registered name for the race.

History of the Arrowfield 3YO Sprint

The dawn of the race was 1979. From that first year through 2012, the race was open to colts and geldings only. The earlier jumps of the race through 2005 offered set weight plus penalty conditions, different from the current set weight running conditions.

The trip for the race has been relatively constant at 1200 metres, with the exception of being trimmed to 1100 metres for 1997 and 1998.

In 2004, it was an unusual distance of 1180 metres. Exceed And Excel won that year, and we doubt that he needed to save 20 metres of galloping.

The race grade has progressed up the rungs from Principal to Group 3 in 1981 and Group 2 beginning in 1996.

A Group 2 race with Group 1 money, the race takes place on the same day as four of the most prestigious Group 1 races in all the land go off for one of the biggest days of racing at Randwick. Whether it remains as part of The Championships at Randwick – only time will tell.

Venue for the Arrowfield 3YO Sprint

The race jumped for the first time at Randwick. In the years it was abbreviated to 1100 metres, the inner track at Randwick was used.

It was held at Warwick Farm in 2002 and 2012.

Randwick is one of the better metro venues in Australia. It offers more Group 1 races, twenty, than any other venue and since 2017, Randwick has been home to The Everest, a special conditions race that offers $15 million in prize money.

For 1200 metre sprint races, a chute off the northwest side of the course requires just one turn, following 600 metres of straight, to finish in front of the stands on the east side of the course.

Racing History of the Arrowfield 3YO Sprint

As the Arrowfield has progressed through the years and the race grades, the prize money has grown and given incentives for the better types to line up. In 1993, the winner received the entire sum of prize money - $75,000 at the time.

By the time Lonhro came along to win in 2002, total prize money had doubled and his share was $97,000, with the first five crossers earning some money – fifth was worth $3000.

Exceed And Excel’s 2004 win offered a similar prize.

By 2014, the race was offering $500,000 and it is thus only natural that the better sprint types would come out to race.

Now that the race offers $1 million, even the snobbiest of the Group 1 snobs have to look at the race as an opportunity for mucho lucre for the sacrifice of a bit of prestige.

In light of the fact that through 2012, the race was restricted to colts and geldings, we will examine the list and hope to find a filly or a mare.

The first winner was Acamar in 1979.

Acamar was a progeny of the race’s original namesake, Royal Sovereign.

Odd thing though, Acamar was a mare, leading us to suspect the source that said the race was restricted to colts and geldings before 2013.

Acamar was a modest racer and was perhaps aimed at the breeding sheds, but we found no record of any offspring.

The race was abandoned in 1980 and when it resumed in 1981, the winner was Trench Digger. Trench Digger was the result of northern hemisphere horses on the side of his sire Steel Pulse. His most notable ancestor on the side of dam Matey Jane was Matrice, a formidable racer and stallion that sired some top horses, including Taj Rossi, Toltrice and Pago Pago.

Best Western was the winner in 1982.

A son of Bletchingly, Best Western offers a connection to Star Kingdom courtesy of his grand sire Biscay.

He was the best, so far as it goes for a racer that made eight jumps for seven wins. He won the Group 1 Spring Champion Stakes in 1981 and while his prize money of $281,000 was pretty good for the late 70s, he did beat some good competition.

Best Western was a good foal-getter; we lost count. The best by far was Ivory’s Irish that won $910,000.

The 1985 winner, Chimes Square, was more notable for his breeding than for his racing, although he did beat a Group 1 winner named Riverdale to win the 1985 Canterbury Stakes when that race was Group 2 grade.

Seven of his progeny won above $100,000, with the top earner Final Fantasy coming out of Fantastique in 1995 to earn over $800,000.

Hula Chief won the Arrowfield in 1986.

He had a brief career, listing just 11 jumps for seven wins and two placings. Other good wins were the 1986 Doncaster Handicap at Group 1 and the Group 2 Lightning Stakes, where he bested the Golden Slipper Stakes winning Rory’s Jester.

Too good to race perhaps, or too good to risk racing we should say, Hula Chief sired, amongst his large crop, six foals that each exceeded him in prize money. His top son was 1991’s Chief De Beers that won the Doomben 10,000 in 1995 and 1998.

Jumping ahead a couple of years, the name of the gelding Shaftesbury Avenue jumped off the list of Arrowfield Sprints winners.

His win in 1990 came in a year that found him taking the post in the Geroge Main Stakes, Honda Stakes and All-Aged Stakes. In 1991 he won the Caulfield Stakes, Newmarket Handicap and the Lightning Stakes.

Shaftesbury Avenue produced a form line of 28 jumps for 13 wins and 8 placings. His earnings estimate is $2.2 million, with one of his primary racing victims being Super Impose. Redelva was another top racer beaten by Shaftesbury Avenue in the Group 1 Newmarket Handicap.

He broke down while preparing for another campaign in 1994.

The wait for another better type to win the Arrowfield was 1995 winner Danewin.

Danewin was one of the sons of the top U.S. sire Danehill.

Danewin won over $2 million from 31 jumps for 13 wins and 9 placings. His potential was discovered early, when he won the 1994 Group 1 Spring Champion Stakes, followed by Group 1 wins in the 1995 Caulfield Stakes and the Doomben Cup. Two other Group 1 wins were the 1995 Rosehill Guineas and the MacKinnon Stakes.

Danewin was that rare combination of good success at both racing and breeding.

Five of his offspring won between two and $6.3 million in prize money and that does not even include any foreign racers’ earnings.

To this stage, the winners have been impressive in regard to racing and breeding success, so it is with some concern that we skip Catalan Opening, Guineas (1998) and Assertive Lad (2001) to reserve some space for the 2002 winner – Lonhro.

Lonhro requires little by way of introduction and perhaps even less by way of explanation, was another example of thar rare combination of a great racer and a great foal-getter.

He won almost $6 million from 35 jumps for 26 wins – nearly 75 percent, with five placings to produce a win/place strike rate of almost 90 percent. He earned every award in sight, doing his sire Octagonal and grand sire Zabeel proud. Some of the better horses beaten by Lonhro include Mummify, Elvstroem, Mummify and Grand Armee.

After racing, he sired 13 Group 1 winners, including five-time Group 1 winner Pierro, Impending and Kementari.

Good winners keep on coming with the Arrowfield 3YO Sprint.

The 2004 winner was none other than Exceed And Excel. Exceed And Excel was by Danehill, the same sire that produced Danewin.

Considering the value of the line, Exceed And Excel was held to 11 jumps for seven wins and one placing. His prize money was perhaps not what it could have been had his connections raced him. His Group 1 wins were the 2003 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes and the 2004 VRC Newmarket Handicap.

He was one of the more dominant sires in Australia, with progeny that raced in New Zealand and Asia. In Australian offspring alone, Exceed And Excel supplied 10 foals that won above $1 million and another 10 to 12 that were within one good result in one good race of adding their names to the million dollar earners club.

Dance Hero, a gelding, was the next worthy winner of the race in 2005.

He outsprinted Miss Andretti to win the Group 1 Salinger Stakes. He beat the redoubtable Fastnet Rock in the Sires’ Produce Stakes and the Group 3 Skyline Stakes. His win in the Arrowfield was at the expense of Eremein.

Flying Pegasus was the 2006 winner by beating Racing To Win and De Beers. It was his best day in terms of beating better types. We have him returning a form line of 11 jumps for three wins and five placings for $357,000. His seven best offspring earned combined prize money of around $2 million.

The 2012 winner was Hot Snitzel.

He was one of Snitzel’s better sons, although he was far below Trapeze Artist for earnings. He was gelded, which cut off a very successful line, but his 38 jumps supplied eight wins and nine placings for $1.3 million.

We have skipped forward, looking for a filly or mare winner of the Arrowfield 3YO Sprint, even though it meant overlooking Rebel Dane (2013), Delectation (2015) and Japonisme (2016).

We found that mare in 2018 winner Catchy.

Catchy was by Fastnet Rock, a reliable sire with many bragging rights.

She jumped just 17 times for six wins and four placings for just below $2 million. Her big win came in 2017 when she won the Group 1 Blue Diamond Stakes.

A filly by I Am Invincible and another by Zoustar failed to supply good racing results.

The 2019 winner, Classique Legend by Not A Single Doubt, was a once in a generation gelding that won over $9.38 million from just 15 jumps for six wins and four placings. Most of that prize money was the result of winning The Everest in 2020, and a bit of it came for running fifth in the same race the following year in hopes of equally Redzel for two wins in The Everest.

We conclude our brief history of the Arrowfield 3YO Sprint with a look at 2022 winner Mazu.

This gelding has Japanese blood on the side of sire Maurice. On the side of his dam Chatelaine, names such as Flying Spur, Danehill, Noholme and Star Kingdom indicate that Mazu had all the blood he needed to win seven races and place in an additional six to earn just under $7 million. His best win was the Group 1 Doomben 10,000 at Eagle Farm in 2022. He has not won since, but high finishes in some of the modern mega-money races padded his bank.

The Arrowfield 3YO Sprint has delivered some top racers and breeders in its relatively short history.

The race has Group 1 prize money, probably a requirement for a race that is part of The Championships. There might be a Group 1 designation in the future, or there might not be, but a million dollar race is going to find many takers, regardless of grade.

Arrowfield 3yo Sprint Past Winners