Odyssey Moon, a top two-year-old and a son of the all conquering Snitzel, has been retired and will stand at Twin Hills Stud at Cootamundra, New South Wales.
He will commence stallion duties in 2017 at a fee of $8,800 inc GST.
Odyssey Moon is one of the best performed two-year-olds by Snitzel.
He was rated higher as a juvenile on the official Australian and New Zealand Racehorse Classifications than Wandjina, Shamus Award, Spill The Beans and Sooboog.
Racing in the colours of Dr and Mrs Edmund Bateman, Odyssey Moon debuted at Randwick before Christmas as a two-year-old, winning a lucrative Inglis sales race over 1000 metres. His next starts at two saw him placed in both the Skyline Stakes and the Pago Pago Stakes, both key lead ups for the Golden Slipper.
His runner up performance in the Group 1 Sires Produce Stakes saw him run within a length of the outstanding Pride Of Dubai and clear of subsequent Group 1 winners Pasadena Girl and English.
Of the two-year-old colts of his year, he was rated the equal of Exosphere and superior to Headwater.
Earlier this year, Odyssey Moon won the Group 3 Standish Handicap over 1200 metres down the straight at Flemington. He showed speed and resolve in a bold front running display to beat a strong field of hardened older sprinters.
Odyssey Moon retires having won four races and earnings of $703,275.
Snitzel has dominated two year old racing in recent years and last weekend became the first stallion in over 30 years to sire first, second and third in a Group 1 two-year-old race in Australia.
Snitzel's feats point to him carrying on the legacy of his own sire Redoute's Choice, as well as his grandsire Danehill, as a breed shaping sire of sires. Odyssey Moon's dam Run To The Moon is by Arch, also the broodmare sire of the outstanding young sire Uncle Mo.
She is from a strong American family and is a three quarter sister to the dual Grade 1 winner Jostle who won the Alabama Stakes and the Coaching Club American Oaks, two of America's most important races for three-year-old fillies.
James Harron, adviser to Belinda Bateman commented, "Odyssey Moon was a very good two year old who was one of the best of his generation. He was precocious, talented and tough. Mrs Bateman has retained a significant interest in Odyssey Moon and will be supporting him with her broodmares. I am really looking forward to seeing his progeny."
Olly Tait, the owner of Twin Hills Stud, added, "We are delighted to have purchased a majority interest in Odyssey Moon who, as one of Snitzel's best ever two-year-olds, is a very exciting stallion prospect. He danced every dance as a juvenile and was still winning top class races at four, showing how willing and tough he was. He is a great looking horse that is athletic and strong. We are going to syndicate him and I know breeders will love him when they see him."
