Tuesday was a sad day at Arrowfield with the stud’s news of the passing of Redoute’s Choice.

There were no dry eyes either as the great horse was lowered into his resting place, and spare a thought for Joe Hickey, his constant groom and attendant for 11 years.

Man and beast can build up a very strong relationship that is how it was with Redoute’s Choice.

He proved to be a very good two year old winning the Blue Diamond Stakes defeating Testa Rossa, and trained on to three, winning five races from ten starts, he was only out of a place three times.

John Messara prefers to stand stallions that have not been over raced, it has proved a resounding success with Redoutes Choice, and now with his son, Snitzel, whose progeny last season were just short of $30 million.

Redoutes Choice has proved the greatest sire ever bred in Australia, he has shuttled on more than one occasion, has sired to date 32 Group1 winners, and sired 72 individual yearlings that have sold for one million or more, and a colt that topped the list at 5 million.

The son of Danehill was 22, he was humanely euthanized after suffering mobility problems which could not he restored, despite intensive care by Arrowfield ‘s veterinary team

Redoute's Choice at Arrowfield