Cool Aza Beel has first-season fee set by Newhaven Park
Newhaven Park has announced that Cool Aza Beel, their Group 1-winning son of Savabeel (Zabeel), will stand his first season at their Boorowa property for a fee of $16,500 (inc GST) in 2021.
The winner of the Sistema Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) and Karaka Million (RL, 1200m) during an outstanding two-year-old season for trainer Jamie Richards and Te Akau Racing, Cool Aza Beel takes his place on the Newhaven roster alongside young stallion Xtravagant (Pentire), who remains unchanged at a fee of $11,000 (inc GST).
Cool Aza Beel was retired from his track career in December, after injury ruled him out of spring and returning as a three-year-old, possessing a record of four wins from six starts, with Newhaven Park moving swiftly to secure the New Zealand Champion Two-Year-Old in January.
Since acquiring Cool Aza Beel, stud principal John Kelly says he has been well received by breeders, with the stallion possessing a potent mix of Australian bloodlines and being by New Zealand’s perennial Champion Sire, Savabeel.
“We’ve been really pleased with the response we have got,” said Kelly. “He’s got a very good syndicate behind him that has taken shares in the horse and we are receiving quite an amount of enquiries about bookings to him. We are over the moon with that.”
Cool Aza Beel becomes the first son of Savabeel, the sire of 23 individual Group 1 winners, to stand at stud in Australia, while he is the second active grandson of Zabeel (Sir Tristram) to ply his trade in the country after Lonhro (Octagonal).
A NZ$150,000 purchase by Te Akau Racing’s David Ellis from the Fairdale Stud draft at the 2019 NZB Karaka Yearling Sale, Cool Aza Beel is out of the winning Testa Rossa (Perugino) mare Cool ‘N’ Sassy, with this being the prolific ‘Tennessee’ family, with third dam, the Group 2-winning Tennessee Morn (Bletchingly) having produced dual Group 1 winner Malaguerra (Magnus) and two-year-old stakes winner Tennessee Midnight (Danehill), the dam of Coolmore Classic (Gr 1, 1500m) winner Aloha (Encosta De Lago), in turn the dam of Group 2 winner and Group 1-placed Libertini (I Am Invincible).
“I think being out of a fast Australian family, being such a good two-year-old, and then having an attraction of Savabeel, that really helps,” said Kelly. “He’s (Savabeel) a six-time champion sire and is doing such a great job. He is having such a great run in Australia.
“That Australian family is a big help as well. There have been four or five Group 1 winners in that pedigree in the last five or six years, plus Libertini. It’s an evolving family,” Kelly said.
Another enticing aspect for breeders towards Cool Aza Beel in the Australian market is that he is Danehill- (Danzig) free in his pedigree, a trait Kelly believes will see him prove popular with the mare population in Australia.
“If you look at his pedigree, he’s by Savabeel and out of a Testa Rossa mare. She’s out of a Red Ransom mare who is in turn out of Bletchingly mare,” Kelly continued.
“They are the three strains we want to use with these Snitzel, Not A Single Doubt mares and the daughters of every Danehill-line stallion.
“If you go and look at the statistics of all the nicks around those lines, they are fantastic. That’s what really attracted us to him. The whole package. His sire line and his female line will be pretty appealing to most broodmare owners in Australia.
“He has that presence about him. He’s 16 hands, he’s strong, and he’s got a lovely head and hip on him. He’s a great mover and our experience would be that most stallions produce what they are. If he does that, he’s going to produce really attractive foals and hopefully they can turn into good racehorses,” he added.
The experienced stud master says they deliberated at length over his opening service fee in Australia, but believe they have struck the balance right to meet the market.
The Champion Two-Year-Olds in Australia and Great Britain have already had their Australian fees announced, with Farnan (Not A Single Doubt) and Pinatubo (Shamardal) standing at $55,000 and $44,000 respectively, and Kelly believes there is value to be found with Cool Aza Beel.
“I think you’ll find that he’ll be very attractive at that price. We haven’t seen many service fees yet, but as a Karaka Million winner and a Group 1–winning two-year-old, he will be very attractive to people.
“We need to stand stallions where people can make a dollar and we feel that’s what he is,” he said.
Dual Group 1-winning stallion Xtravagant has seen his first two-year-olds hit the track this season and recently celebrated his first winner with the talented Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young-trained He’s Xceptional scoring at Cranbourne, who has two subsequent metropolitan placings to his name.
“Obviously, being by Pentire out of a Zabeel mare, he was never going to have crack early two-year-olds, but he has had seven starters and had a winner and a couple of placegetters as well,” said Kelly, who noted his progeny will only improve as they move into their three-year-old campaign.
“Every trainer who has got them likes them and if you watch all of his horses, they all finish their races off. We are very hopeful that as we get into the late part of their two-year-old careers and the spring of their three-year-old season, they will really come to the fore.”
Xtravagant remains at an unchanged fee, despite covering good numbers within his first four years, having covered 387 mares, including 94 last term, while his yearlings have proved sought after in the ring.
His first yearlings averaged $66,994 across 43 sales in 2020, while his second crop have averaged $52,550 across 20 sales in 2021 to date, while the median price for his progeny has increased from his first crop to his second crop, from $40,000 to $42,500.
Kelly said much of the demand at the yearling sales in 2021 has been driven by repeat buyers, which is an endorsement of the impression his first crop has made.
“We’ve been really happy with the way the people who bought them last year have come back and bought them this year. We can only take positives out of that,” he said.
“They’ve got confidence in him and we will be disappointed if we are not sitting in a position at this time next year with a stallion who has people pretty excited.”