In the spring of 2018, one colt soared above his peers to dominate and many of his supporters will be predicting he may be about to do the same thing in his stud career.
Trained by Chris Waller, Redoute’s Choice colt The Autumn Sun came out of the winter having won all three starts at two including the Group I BRC JJ Atkins and at three he went into overdrive.
He never ran in a race shorter than 1400m and after being beaten first up on a heavy track in the Group II ATC Stan Fox Stakes (1500m), proceeded to finish the season undefeated with G1 wins in the Golden Rose (1400m), Caulfield Guineas (!600m), Randwick Guineas (1600m) and Rosehill Guineas (2000m).
The Autumn Sun sired four Australian winners last season including two stakes-winners - Autumn Ballet and Coco Sun – to finish sixth on the Australian First Season Sires List by winners, but as we move through the first month of the new season he is now setting the pace.
The Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott trained Autumn Ballet did a great job to win the Group II ATC Silver Shadow Stakes at her first run back from a spell despite looking like a work in progress in the parade yard. She had been clipped, but her coat was a long way from through and it will be really interesting to see if she thrives after the run and how she presents in the next round of the Princess Series.
On pedigree, Autumn Ballet has what it takes to go all the way to the Group I ATC Flight Stakes (1600m) as her dam Grisi is by Street Cry (IRE) from O’Giselle, an unraced sister to the great champion Lonhro. The same family is also responsible for last Saturday’s Group winners Cylinder and Parisal, so there is a lot going on at present for descendants of blue hen Shadea.
Autumn Ballet was not the only filly by her sire in the Silver Shadow with the Greg Hickman trained filly Private Legacy finishing a good eighth albeit just two lengths for the winner. A lovely scopey filly, she’s had four starts for two seconds and won’t be a maiden for long.
Entered for the Group III ATC Up and Coming Stakes on Saturday, Tutta La Vita is another filly by The Autumn Sun that showed good potential with a win and two seconds last season for Chris Waller, while in New Zealand Group I placed filly Tulsi is entered for a strong fillies race at Taupo today to kickstart her spring campaign.
Trial watchers will have noted a number of unraced prospects by The Autumn Sun at the recent trials and given about a third of his first crop have raced so far, we’ve just seen the tip of the iceberg.
The Autumn Sun dropped in fee from $77,000 in his first year to $66,000 in the second and remains at that fee this spring at Arrowfield.
