The 2006 stud fee for Platinum Scissors – full brother to the record breaking super-sire Redoute’s Choice – has been officially set by his owners at $22,000 (inc GST)

The unprecedented world-wide demand for yearlings by Redoute's Choice at the Australian Easter Yearling Sale last week saw them sell to a top price of $3 million and average an extraordinary $710,857. Thirty five yearlings sold grossed over $24 million.

Arrowfield announced today that the 2006 service fee for Redoute’s Choice will be increased to a record $275,000 (inc GST).

Platinum Scissors will stand this season at Plaintree Farms, a specialized equine breeding centre owned by Dr Pascoe and his wife, Heather. The stallion will arrive in Queensland with his own large broodmare band owned by Teeley Assets. The majority of the mares are already safely in foal to him.

“Platinum Scissors is an outstanding Group 1 winner of nearly a million dollars in his own right,” said Heather Pascoe of Plaintree Farms. “His five Group level wins include the classic AJC Champion Stakes and champion trainer Gai Waterhouse has said he was the best horse she ever trained. He proved a tough, sound campaigner through his entire career.”

Platinum Scissors stood his first season at Arrowfield in 2004, where he experienced difficulties with his fertility. Mr Yaseen later resumed full ownership in the stallion from former part-owners Arrowfield Stud.

The stallion returned to racing with Gai Waterhouse in 2005 and managed to defy the odds against stallions ever making a successful comeback from the breeding barn to the racetrack. The tough campaigner stepped up once again and scored at Group level, with a win in the Hollindale Stakes (Gr 2) second in the BATC Doomben Cup (Gr 1) and third in the Lord Mayors Cup (Gr 3).

Mr Yaseen – also the breeder of Redoute’s Choice and the man who retains a massive 50% share in the champion stallion – retired Platinum Scissors to stud for the second time after his successful campaign at the 2005 Brisbane Winter Carnival. The stallion was then sent to Victoria, where he covered a private broodmare band owned by Teeley Assets.

Since the foals conceived during his first season at stud have developed into such exceptional types, Mr Yaseen has now moved to seek the help of a leading Reproduction specialist to work with Platinum Scissors in an effort to improve his overall fertility.

“His foals are extremely good looking,’ said Mrs Iris O’Farrell, spokesperson for Teeley Assets, “and breeders keep telling us they can’t tell the difference between the foals by Redoute’s Choice and the foals by Platinum Scissors. They are almost identical.”

Mr Yaseen has appointed world-renowned Reproduction Specialist Dr David Pascoe to manage the stud career of Platinum Scissors. “The enquiry from breeders has been overwhelming, particularly since the stallion will serve a strictly restricted book,” said Heather Pascoe.

“When we heard of Dr Pascoe’s reputation in fertility, Mr Yaseen and I decided he would be the best person to work with in Australia,’ Ms O’Farrell said. “He is extremely committed and extremely passionate, and we like to work with people like that.”

Platinum Scissors hails from the extraordinary Best in Show family – considered one of the greatest stallion- producing families in the world – and, if the quality of his first weanlings is any indication, the young sire has also started his stud career in spectacular fashion.

The demand for yearlings by Redoute’s Choice yearlings saw buyers from all over the world battle it out for in the auction ring. They included Charles Laird of South Africa, Patrick Hogan (Cambridge Stud) and Rob McAnulty (NZ), Tim Stakemire (on behalf of Sheik Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Maktoum ) Gai Waterhouse, Tim Martin and Clarry Connors.