Almanzor earns fee increase after strong start to life at stud
Cambridge Stud’s son of Wootton Bassett continues to prove popular in the sale ring and sired Karaka Million winner Dynastic in first crop
Cambridge Stud has rewarded exciting stallion Almanzor (Wootton Bassett) with an increase in service fee to $50,000 (all fees plus GST) as the New Zealand operation released its service fees yesterday.
The stud will also welcome Group 1-winning two-year-old Sword Of State (Snitzel) onto their roster this breeding season after confirming a four-strong line up, with the Te Akau-trained three-year-old set to embark on a Queensland Winter Carnival campaign before his fee is set later this year.
Almanzor, whose first two-year-olds this campaign have included Karaka Million 2YO (RL, 1200m) winner Dynastic as well as the stakes placed Andalus, stood his first four seasons at stud in the southern hemisphere for a fee of $30,000, but his rise sees him become the country’s joint-second highest priced stallion.
His first-crop juveniles have also included two Australian winners among five in total from 18 runners in the southern hemisphere, namely the Liam Howley-trained Virtuous Circle and Cranbourne debut winner Roznamla for the Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young team.
Furthermore, he produced his first northern hemisphere-bred stakes winner on Saturday when the British-bred Unanimous Consent won at Aqueduct in the US, the three-year-old colt out of the Fastnet Rock (Danehill) mare Fast Lily remaining unbeaten from three starts.
However, Cambridge Stud CEO Henry Plumptre said yesterday it is the returns in the sale ring that ultimately convinced the Brendan and Jo Lindsay-owned operation to elevate the fee of Almanzor, whose second-crop yearlings have averaged $170,559 this year following on from the $189,594 they averaged in 2021 when selling to a high of $800,000 and finding their way into the leading stables in Australia, courting popularity with trainers such as Chris Waller as well as Ciaron Maher and David Eustace.
“We weren’t in a position to make that judgement call (on increasing his service fee) in January or February, but picking up the Karaka Million within his first crop, that was quite a big win for us,” Plumptre told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“But I think probably the most telling factor was the great yearling market results again this year, which represents a great return to the breeders that bred to him, but importantly shows us that the market likes him; the trainers like him and the owners like him.
“The rise to $50,000, in the New Zealand context, is probably enough, but the level of interest in the horse would tell us that we’re not going to have any problems filling his book.”
Dynastic, a $360,000 purchase for David Ellis from the New Zealand Bloodstock Karaka yearling sale, followed up his Karaka Million success in January with a second–placed finish in the Sistema Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) at Ellerslie in March and Plumptre believes he and a number of his stock will only improve with age.
“His yearlings last year, they didn’t look like natural two-year-olds and I don’t think anyone would have looked at Dynastic and thought he’d be getting anywhere close to it. But horses have a habit of making fools of you and that was a very exciting day for us (for the Karaka Million),” Pumptre said.
“But he’s had a number of other winners in Australia and New Zealand that are marking everyone’s card. They look like three-year-olds, his yearlings, with plenty of scope and some of them have got plenty of leg under them and that’s not normally the formula for two-year-olds in this part of the world. But you sometimes get a horse that gets a line up of very athletic horses that are still winning as two-year-olds but look like they need the extra six months.”
Almanzor will once again be joined by barnmate and fellow shuttler Hello Youmzain (Kodiac), with the dual Group 1 winner standing for an unchanged $30,000. The pair are each limited to 140 mares per season in accordance with Cambridge Stud’s agreement with Haras d’Etreham, where the stallions stand the northern hemisphere season in France.
A key strength for both, Plumptre said, is the supportive syndicate of breeders behind them.
“We are blessed to have a very strong syndicate behind Almanzor, he’s got some great breeders in there, and they’ve got some lovely broodmare bands behind them. That’s very much part of his strength in having that support from these breeders,” he said.
“Many of our shareholders in Almanzor are in Hello Youmzain as well, and that gives us a headstart in terms of numbers.”
Hello Youmzain, winner of the Sprint Cup (Gr 1, 6f) in 2019 and the Diamond Jubilee Stakes (Gr 1, 6f) at Royal Ascot a year later, was well received by New Zealand breeders, with the son of Kodiac (Danehill) filling his book for his first year shutting south.
“Hello Youmzain could have covered 200 mares last year, he was very popular, and we won’t have any trouble filling him again,” Plumptre said.
“He’s got a great physique and a great CV, winning two Group 1s in England including the signature race at Royal Ascot and Kodiac just keeps kicking goals. He’s getting a reputation now in Europe of being a sire of sires and that only helps our horse.
“The moment the New Zealand breeders, who are, quite rightly, highly critical of type, saw when he came down that he was such a great physical. He’s got fantastic bone and a great head and eye, a very good shoulder and hip, it’s hard not to like him.”
Cambridge Stud also confirmed Sword Of State would join their roster later this year, with the Sistema Stakes winner being given a final shot at Australian black type with a campaign in Queensland.
The three-year-old most recently claimed two Group 3 events in New Zealand in impressive fashion, but he endured a failed campaign in Sydney in the spring, where a foot abscess disrupted a three-race preparation, but Plumptre said Australian success this time around would be ‘immeasurable’ for the stallion’s stud prospects, with connections targeting next Saturday’s Gold Coast Guineas (Gr 3, 1200m) before a potential tilt at a Group 1.
“We had a shy at the stumps in Australia in the spring and nothing went right at the time. He’s going to go back to Brisbane and we’re praying that we get some dry weather as he’s much more effective on a dry surface than a rain-affected one. But what we’d really like to see is if we can improve his CV by getting some Australian Group form,” Plumptre said.
“He’s going to start off in the Gold Coast Guineas over six furlongs and if he runs really well in that we might have a tilt at something like the Kingsford Smith Stakes at Eagle Farm at weight-for-age on May 28.
“It also puts the horse in front of the Australian racing public as well so that they can see him and see what type of horse it is, so they can come to Cambridge Stud and they can remember him.”
Rounding out the Cambridge Stud roster is Embellish, with the son of Savabeel (Zabeel) once again standing at a fee of $4,000 despite impressive figures in the sale ring. His first yearlings brought an average of $40,128 and a median of $42,000 at the delayed Karaka yearling sales in March.
The stallion covered a book of 158 mares in 2021, his largest to date, with 132 foals on the ground from his first two crops.
“Any of those stallions that stand for that sort of service fee, if you can average what he is at the yearling sales you’re definitely doing something right. But I think the most important thing about Embellish is that he’s got numbers on the ground, which is a great testament to (nomination managers) Scott Calder and Cameron Ring, who have done a great job,” Plumptre said.
“We’ve supported him well with some of those great Cambridge families and we’ve got some lovely stock out of some decent mares. We’re keeping half a dozen of them ourselves, so he’s going to get every chance.”
Cambridge Stud stallion roster (all fees plus GST)
2022 2021
Almanzor (Wootton Bassett) $50,000 30,000
Hello Youmzain (Kodiac) $30,000 unchanged
Embellish (Savabeel) $4,000 unchanged
Sword Of State (Snitzel) TBC new