147
The number 147 is perhaps best known in the sport of snooker. It is the maximum break involving potting 15 reds and 15 blacks followed by the six colours, successively, without missing. It’s a feat achieved only by elite players.
That same number is the total (so far) of individual stakes winners sired by the living legend known as Savabeel (Zabeel). When the 2018 NZB catalogues were published Savabeel’s total stood at 67. Five years later that number had increased to 127, or one new stakes winner per month. During the 2023 sales series Savabeel equalled Sir Tristram (Sir Ivor), his grandsire’s total of 130. At the current pace he may reach Zabeel’s 166 during the 2027 Karaka sales series.
Savabeel’s pace is slowing (instead of 12 per year it has dropped to ten) but the Waikato Stud-based sire is still potent. All 47 of his 2025 Karaka offerings are, needless to say, in Book 1. In 2023 Dick Karreman, the owner of the country’s leading three-year-old Savaglee (Savabeel), believed it was time to get on board and try to find a Savabeel colt to make into a stallion. That possibility still exists and in the meantime Embellish (Savabeel) has stepped up.
Gold Bullion (Savabeel), a four-year-old gelding, is number 147, taking out the Members’ Handicap (Listed, 1600m) at Eagle Farm on December 21, his third win at start 14. A $400,000 yearling, Gold Bullion ranks as a three-quarter brother to Australian Derby (Gr 1, 2400m) winner Major Beel (Savabeel) and to 2017 Matamata Breeders’ Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) winner Gold Fever (Savabeel), who emulated her half-sister, Gold Bullion’s dam, Gold Rush (So You Think), in winning the Group 2 the year before. Their half-sister, Listed winner Calaverite (Lonhro) is the dam of 2022 Caulfield Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) victor Golden Mile (Astern). It is an all-out terrific family and Major Beel’s 2023 half-brother will be offered by Waikato Stud as Lot 452 at next month’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
Tough as nails
Replaying the last 400 metres of last Saturday’s Eight Carat Classic (Gr 2, 1600m) provides a lesson in tenacity because Hitabell (Embellish) is as gritty as they come.
Most of the credit should go to rider Courtney Barnes who employed identical tactics in Hitabell’s lead up win at Wanganui, disputing the pace yet dictating terms by giving the front-runner a breather half way through the race. These tactics again worked at Ellerslie but at the 300-metre mark the daughter of Embellish (Savabeel) was clearly headed. At the 200 metres she kicked again and to the line she refused to lie down to take her record to three wins in five starts. The winning time told the story as the feature was run in a very modest 1:37.43 for the 1600 metres.
Nevertheless, the Group 2 win was good news for Cambridge Stud’s Embellish leading into the NZB Karaka Yearling Sales. While none are in Book 1 there are 12 in Book 2. Hitabell was offered via NZB’s online yearlings sale in 2023, purchased for only $9,500 by Stephen Marsh and Dylan Johnson yet her breeder, Sarah Devcich retained part of the ownership and it’s a good bet that she is very pleased to have done so. Devcich took over the ownership of Hitabell’s dam, Anahita (Stravinsky), in 2021 and bred two foals. Hitabell is the fifth foal. Her sixth and last foal, a two-year-old, is also by Embellish. Unfortunately, Anahita died in 2023.
Hitabell is the third winner from Anahita whose half-sister is New Zealand Filly of the Year Shikoba (Chief Bearhart). The latter scored seven wins including three Group 2s. Shikoba’s dam is a half-sister to juvenile stakes winner Cloister (Marauding), dam of the dual Group 1 sprinter Melito (Redoute’s Choice). Cloister’s dam, the Group 3 winner Pampas Fire (Prince True), is a half-sister to the champion sprinter, five-times Group 1 winner and former leading sire Zeditave (The Judge).
Early to the races
Races one and two at Ellerslie’s Boxing Day meeting would have gained the attention of Auckland breeder Tim Harrison. A boutique breeder with a few mares, Harrison had a runner, which he bred, in the first race of the day and would have been mighty pleased when his Lord Of The Sea (Tavistock), a winner earlier this year, finished gamely to be in a photo, a half head and a short head from second.
However, race two held further interest for Harrison as Lord Of The Sea’s half-sister, Remala (Hello Youmzain), was scheduled to make her debut, but not in his colours. Remala is owned by Cambridge Stud, Harrison having sold the filly through the Kilgravin Lodge draft to Cambridge Stud’s Brendan Lindsay last January, out of Book 1 at the NZB Karaka Yearling Sales, for $180,000.
As a sign of support for the stud’s Hello Youmzain (Kodiac), Lindsay purchased three fillies from Book 1 but paid quite a lot more for the other two, outlaying $260,000 for Lot 145 from Haunui Farm and $300,000 for Lot 675 from Pencarrow Stud. Hello Youmzain has a bumper crop of yearlings on offer next month with a total of 54 of which 43 are in Book 1. Remala’s timing is perfect.
Remala (her dam’s name backwards), trialled twice and won both before her raceday debut but as trainer Lance Noble said: “She was always going to be very green, she won her two trials, but trials are trials so she lacked that race-day experience.” Her greenness was evident as soon as she straightened but so was her acceleration when she found a clear path. Noble is excited about the filly’s potential, claiming she has a good brain, looked professional and hit the line strongly.
Much can happen during next four weeks but Remala’s win has shot her to the top of the market for the Karaka Million 2YO (RL, 1200m) and breeder Harrison will be delighted just to have a chance of breeding a Karaka Million winner.
Harrison bred and raced her dam Alamer (Alamosa) whose premier performance was also at Ellerslie when taking out the Trevor Eagle Memorial Stakes (Listed, 1500m), one of her four wins. Her dam, Clerio (Soviet Star), was a Group 3 winner in Ireland and twice a Listed winner in France. She was a $35,000 purchase for Harrison by Paul Willetts at the 2007 Inglis Broodmare Sale and Harrison bred her last six foals (14 total) of which 11 were winners. One of Clerio’s unraced foals, Clerihew (Lomitas), is the dam of Toorak Handicap (Gr 1, 1600m) winner He’s Our Rokkii (Roc De Cambes) although his best form did not occur until 2016.
No doubt one of the attractions, pedigree-wise, for Harrison was Clerio’s granddam, La Mer (Copenhagen II). Harrison likely saw La Mer race and who could forget her record of 24 wins in 43 starts including the Air New Zealand Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m), the New Zealand Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m) and the Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m). Apart from her Air New Zealand Stakes victory, another memorable Ellerslie win was her ten-length demolition in the Great Northern Oaks (Gr 2, 2400m). At five she was successful at Caulfield in the Coongy Handicap (Gr 3, 2000m) before her export to Ireland.
Clerio’s half-sister, Royal Ascot Ribblesdale Stakes (Gr 2, 12f) winner Bahr (Generous), is the granddam of Caulfield Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) victor Benbatl (Dubawi), who now stands at Woodside Park Stud in Victoria. Benbatl’s 11 wins also included Group 1s in Munich and Meydan.
Good luck Tim. We’re all pulling for you.
Timely boost
Among the stakes races run since the last Kiwi Chronicles, the result of the Eulogy Stakes (Gr 3, 1600m) and the Auckland Guineas (Gr 2, 1400m) have each given a boost to the records of Grangewilliam Stud’s Derryn (Hinchinbrook) and Waikato Stud’s Ardrossan (Redoute’s Choice).
Derryn’s representative is Leica Lucy who landed her second win in only three starts, elevating herself to the best of four stakes winners by her young sire, represented by 12 lots at Karaka. His sole lot in Book 1 is a sister to Derryn’s first stakes winner, Sophmaze.
Leica Lucy is the first stakes winner in her family since Just Aqua (Justice Prevails) who was successful in the Tauranga Stakes (Gr 3, 1600m) before the end of last century. His record included three Hong Kong wins. The best performer in the line is dual Group 1 winner Elevenses (Star Way) whose dam and Leica’s Lucy’s great-granddam are half-sisters.
Ardrossan (pictured below) is well represented at Karaka with a total of 33 lots on offer – 13 lots in Book 1 and 20 in Book 2. His Yaldi dead-heated for first in Boxing Day’s Auckland Guineas then was awarded the race in the stewards room after it was concluded that the other dead-heater Midnight Edition (Wrote) shifted out under pressure during the last 100 metres.
For Ardrossan it was his fifth individual stakes winner. Two previous black-type winners, namely Beau Dazzler and Saltcoats, this past weekend have completed back-to-back wins in Brisbane and Sydney.
Yaldi’s record stands at five starts for two wins. His maiden win took place at Pukekohe last April after which he was shipped to Melbourne where he raced twice for a Listed placing at Flemington. Back home, he went into the Ellerslie feature with a second placing at Te Rapa.
Bloodstock agent Bruce Perry found Yaldi in Book 2 at the 2023 NZB Karaka Yearling Sale, outlaying $50,000 for the colt, who has since been gelded. An older brother Sky Heart has won twice in Hong Kong while a yearling brother is Lot 90 in Book 1 at Karaka next month.
Yaldi is from a Per Incanto (Street Cry) half-sister to Cambridge Breeders’ Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) winner Hammer Down (O’Reilly). His great-granddam is a sister to Group 3 winner Willow Vale (Avon Valley), the dam of classic winner and Filly of the Year Plume (Crested Wave), in turn the dam of dual Group 1 winner Maco’reilly (O’Reilly). Hot Hong Kong sprinter Ka Ying Rising (Shamexpress) is from a Per Incanto mare.