Not my last bid
Immediately prior to the 2023 NZB Karaka Yearling Sale The Oaks Stud’s Rick Williams was thrown a curveball. Instead of looking at buying a nicely bred filly, owner Dick Karreman caught Williams a little off-guard: “What about a Savabeel colt, a future sire prospect?” If the purchase was to happen, Williams was keener on a filly.
Williams has been in this game for a few years and knows the odds of finding a potential stallion as a yearling. The odds are miniscule but he set about looking at all the Savabeel (Zabeel) colts for sale.
Fast forward to late on day one: Lot 210. Williams, bidding ringside while on the phone to Karreman, said to his boss: “That $400,000 is my last bid.” Karreman came back with: “It might not be my last bid.” There were no more and the colt came under the ownership of The Oaks Stud.
Savaglee (Savabeel) took a giant step towards his connections’ dream with a dominant New Zealand Two Thousand Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) win at Riccarton on Saturday. He was first into stride but his rider Sam Spratt was content to let him sit third on the rail. At the 600 metres Spratt wisely moved him off the fence and before they lined up for the run home they were beautifully poised to challenge.
Savaglee had no problem taking over, fending off a brief challenge from Love Poem (Snitzel) but from the 200 metres there was no doubt. The time on a perfect track that continued to dry throughout the day, was a slick 1:33.86, the last 600 metres in 35.19 seconds. Given that the strong breeze favoured runners down the straight and also given that Savaglee’s winning margin was two and three-quarter lengths, he could have run a faster time but he didn’t need to. That top run was, however, just one step and the next steps will be interesting to follow.
Savaglee is eligible for the rich Karaka Millions 3YO (Listed, 1600m) to be held in January. He might be called up by a slot-holder for the NZB Kiwi scheduled for early March. He might be a candidate for the Australian Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) which is also next March. Sydney and The Championships is yet another possibility.
The colt has proved he is getting better with maturity, a point that Williams is totally aware of. His form at two was well above average. After a fifth in the Karaka Millions 2YO (Listed, 1200m), he broke through at his next start with a nice win in the Matamata Slipper (Gr 3, 1200m), followed by a fourth and a sixth in the two Group 1 events for the juveniles.
This time in his form is almost flawless. A Taupo win fresh up preceded a second at Hastings in the El Roca Trophy (Listed, 1200m) where he was held up for a run then flew home. Since then he has been on a roll. At Matamata for the re-programmed and delayed Hawkes Bay Guineas (Gr 2, 1400m) he sat three wide without cover throughout but got up gamely and narrowly. He’s a gritty customer.
Another delayed run was in the James & Annie Sarten Memorial (Gr 2, 1400) which could have been an issue regarding spacing between it and the Guineas but Williams commented: “Although he didn’t really enjoy the racing surface at Te Aroha, he bounced through that really well. It had little effect on him. He didn’t have a hard run.”
As a Group 1 winner the colt is certainly stallion material and as a son of Savabeel, he will look good in the stallion register but there’s more to do yet. An Australian Group 1 win is the goal of any studmaster.
Bloodlines-wise, since his purchase his close-up family has had a huge injection of black type on his page. Last year’s champion three-year-old Orchestral (Savabeel) and Savaglee are full blood relations. Both are by Savabeel while their respective dams, Symphonic (O’Reilly) and Glee (O’Reilly) are sisters. Savaglee is one of ten Group 1 winners bred on the Savabeel-O’Reilly (Last Tycoon) cross. Three more can claim O’Reilly as the sire of their granddams, including The Chosen One (Savabeel) who stands at The Oaks Stud.
So, he’s a sprinter-miler
Mr Brightside (Bullbars) was an inch from winning the 2023 Cox Plate (Gr 1, 2040m), losing in a desperate finish against Hong Kong raider Romantic Warrior (Acclamation). The Cox Plate is, after all, the weight-for-age championship of Australia. Everyone with a horse good enough wants to win it.
Mr Brightside has had three attempts, running seventh in 2023, the close second last year and fourth this year. Of course, except for the narrow loss to Romantic Warrior, one would expect that he has winning form beyond 2000 metres but his record says no. In eight attempts he has yet to win.
Since he broke through for his maiden stakes success at Ballarat two years ago, Mr Brightside has raced 32 times. His 24 starts at either 1400 metres or 1600 metres have resulted in 12 wins (five at 1400 metres and seven at 1600 metres). Beyond 1600 metres has brought none, so he’s a sprinter-miler who tries hard no matter what.
In a post-Champions Mile (Gr 1, 1600m) comment, winning rider Craig Williams commented: “He just loves to win and once he saw the winning post he went just as fast as he could.”
Mr Brightside was due the win. In the same race, which was run as the Kennedy Mile in 2021 and 2022, he has improved each year, running fourth behind Super Storm (Sebring) in 2021, third to Alligator Blood (All Too Hard) in 2022 and second behind Pride Of Jenni (Pride of Dubai) last year.
Amassing more than $16 million in prize-money earnings, he has eight Group 1s to his name out of 18 career wins from a total of 40 starts. He underlines the great unknown, that no one knows where the next great horse comes from. He is the best horse from his immediate family, which includes a number of Group 1 winners.
However, he does prove that being from a good family might explain his talent. Apart from Bullbars (Elusive Quality), the next three sires in his dam’s line all stood at Sir Patrick Hogan’s Cambridge Stud, namely Tavistock (Montjeu), Keeper (Danehill) and the great Sir Tristram (Sir Ivor). The Sir Tristram connection is particularly important as Mr Brightside’s third dam is a sister to Sovereign Red (Sir Tristram), the colt that started it all for the stallion.
Melbourne-based trainer Geoff Murphy was also instrumental as he bought Sovereign Red at the 1979 Wrightson Bloodstock Waikato Yearling Sale. Hogan had bred a long list of foals from Sovereign Red’s granddam Vickyjoy (Sabaean), including Taiona (Sovereign Edition). Taiona was put up for sale but Murphy urged Hogan to reconsider, advising him that he had a colt (from Taiona) that would win the Derby (meaning the Victoria Derby).
Sovereign Red won the Caulfield Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) as well as the Victoria Derby (Gr 1, 2500m) and four further Group 1s. His two-years younger brother, Gurner’s Lane (Sir Tristram), nabbed the Caulfield – Melbourne Cup double in 1982.
Hogan wisely kept Taiona who ultimately foaled four stakes winners, all by Sir Tristram. In 1987 she foaled another sister, Delia’s Choice, who may not have achieved the same success on the racetrack, but at stud produced dual Group 1 winner and New Zealand Two Thousand Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) scorer Foxwood (Centaine).
Another relatively recent star from this line is Xcellent (Pentire), a four-time Group 1 winner. His granddam Dominadora is by Sir Tristram, from Vickyjoy, making her a three-quarter sister to Delia’s Choice.
Breeding pundits stumped
A Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200) winner siring a Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) winner? What’s going on? Surely, there must be more to it? As usual, Kiwi Chronicles likes to find out “where they come from” and this one should be interesting.
The tote said he had no chance. So did the running as he was among the tail enders when the field lined up for the final 500 metres but Knight’s Choice (Extreme Choice) found gap after gap and weaved his way through to be in contention inside the last 200 metres. Full of running he drove forward and was in front at the 50 metres before holding out the fast finish of Japan’s Warp Speed (Drefong) who was alongside him at the 200 metres.
Maybe the x-factor was Knight’s Choice’s trainer, Sheila Laxon? After all, she would know what it takes to win a Melbourne Cup, or a Caulfield Cup for that matter, having trained the mighty mare Ethereal (Rhythm) to score the famous double in 2002.
On his sire’s side, Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt) was a brilliant two-year-old, scoring the Blue Diamond Stakes and at three, the Moir Stakes (Gr 1, 1000m). He was nothing but a speedster.
His sire Not A Single Doubt (Redoute’s Choice) was also a two-year-old sprinter whose maximum winning distance was 1200 metres. Not A Single Doubt has sired a 2500-metre Group 1 winner, Qafila, successful in the South Australian Derby, but mostly his best performers are more effective at shorter distances including Group 1 sprints, not forgetting Everest (1200m) hero Classique Legend.
On Knight’s Choice’s dam’s line it is necessary to go back to his seventh dam to find a major cup winner. Fourteen Carat (Gold Nib) was a half-sister to Rev (Revelation), winner of the 1952 Auckland Cup (Gr 1, 2m). In between there have been several top performers, yet he remains the first and only stakes winner within the first five removes of his family.
He does have an interesting combination of blood. His granddam Black Pearl was bred in New Zealand and is by The Commander (Sir Tristram) from Diamond Lover, a daughter of the incomparable Eight Carat (Pieces Of Eight). Knight’s Choice’s third dam is by Kreisler (Northern Baby), a half-brother to Eight Carat.
There are two further descendants of Fourteen Carat who have landed Group 1s, namely Western Red (Spectacular Love) and Begood Toya Mother (My Boy Charlie). Western Red’s fourth dam is Fourteen Carat while the latter is the fifth dam of Begood Toya Mother.