Chaldean popular as ‘smart play’ Almanzor has fee cut by Cambridge
The book full sign is up on Chaldean, the first Group 1-winning son of champion European sire Frankel (Galileo) to shuttle to New Zealand with Cambridge Stud now evaluating which mare applications to accept for the exciting Juddmonte sire.
The news comes as Brendan and Jo Lindsay’s Cambridge Stud on Tuesday revealed that fellow European shuttler Almanzor (Wootton Bassett), who has enjoyed a spate of stakes winners recently headed by this month’s Sydney Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) winner Circle Of Fire, would stand at a reduced fee of NZ$30,000 (all fees plus GST) in 2024, having stood last season for NZ$50,000.
Fellow shuttler Hello Youmzain (Kodiac), whose first southern hemisphere crop yearlings were well received at the Australasian sales, will stand for an unchanged fee of NZ$30,000.
The fee for third season Group 1-winning sire Sword Of State (Snitzel) also remains unchanged at NZ$15,000, as does Embellish (Savabeel) at NZ$5,000.
Cambridge’s sales and nominations manager Scott Calder is confident that Almanzor, New Zealand’s leading three-year-old sire by earnings and winners so far this season, can continue his rich vein of form. Alongside Circle Of Fire, the stallion has also sired stakes winners Athabascan, Moonlight Magic, Nucleozor, Positivity, Sudbina and Zabmanzor this season.
“Seeing some of the other stud fee announcements, there’s a realisation that the market’s got a bit tougher and we just wanted to put Almanzor in a place where he is a really good opportunity for breeders,” Calder told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“Given he’s always been well supported, he’s got a couple of nice books in the last couple of years, I think he’s a very, very smart play this year.”
Calder is also optimistic about the prospects of the Haydock Sprint Cup (Gr 1, 6f) and Diamond Jubilee Stakes (Gr 1, 6f) winner Hello Youmzain whose first crop yearlings averaged more than NZ$171,000 at New Zealand Bloodstock’s National Yearling Sale with one lot, a Cambridge consigned-colt, selling to Chris Waller and Guy Mulcaster for NZ$425,000.
A colt by him also sold for $400,000 at the Inglis Australian Easter Sale earlier this month and another sold for $325,000 at the Magic Millions sale at the Gold Coast in January.
“He couldn’t have gone better on two fronts, really. The overall feedback, particularly with his really good clearance rate of 92 per cent across all sales with some really high prices, but I think that just backs up the fact that he’s left a very uniform line of horses,” Calder said.
“He’s stamped his stock but he’s left a style of horse that is clearly very popular with people and the upshot of that is his stock have been supported by most of the leading agents and trainers, so they’re going to go into the right stables.
“With his profile, hopefully it won’t be too long until we start seeing some action on the track.”
The Sistema Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m)-winning juvenile Sword Of State is in a similar boat with breeders sending 142 mares to him in 2023, up from 126 in his first season.
“And that only happens if you’ve got good stock on the ground. As much as we get out there and promote the first foals of our new stallions, there’s nothing better than word of mouth,” he said.
“We heard it from so many farms that they had a nice foal and that resulted in mares coming back but also people used him who hadn’t in his first year because they were impressed by what they saw.
“He’s on an upward trajectory at the moment.”
New Zealand 2,000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) winner Embellish has also made an exciting start to his stallion career, siring six stakes performers, headed by first crop Australian Listed winner Bold Soul.
“He has always been the one we’ve pitched as one of the best value stallions around and we stand by that. He’s made a really good start off a lower base of mares,” Calder said of Embellish.
“He’s had his first stakes winner in Australia with Paddy Payne and he’s second to Almanzor in New Zealand for three-year-old winners with his first crop. He’s doing a really good job and he’s another stallion who has really benefited from continued support.
“He’s got some really good books coming through in terms of numbers and I think he’ll just continue to grow in stature being by Savabeel.”
As for Chaldean, the immediate positive response to his announcement has been a pleasing one for Calder.
“It’s fantastic and rightly so, too. He is a really big addition for New Zealand and breeders have cottoned onto that,” he said.
“The fact that he’s limited to 120 mares means we’re over subscribed, so we’re just trying to sift through them all as we speak.
“My job is always easier when people ring me rather than vice versa, so it’s a nice position to be in.”
Cambridge Stud roster
2024 2023
Chaldean (Frankel) NZ$35,000 new
Almanzor (Wootton Bassett) NZ$30,000 NZ$50,000
Hello Youmzain (Kodiac) NZ$30,000 unchanged
Sword Of State (Snitzel) NZ$15,000 unchanged
Embellish (Savabeel) NZ$5,000 unchanged