‘There is some real momentum in the New Zealand industry’
Shuttlers Paddington and Chalden well received ahead of their maiden seasons at stud
Paddington (Siyouni) and Chaldean (Frankel), the latest star shuttlers added to the New Zealand stallion ranks, have been well received by breeders on both sides of the Tasman as the pair look to make their mark in Australasia when they begin covering their first book of the southern hemisphere later this year.
Paddington, a four-time Group 1 winner, was announced in March and Windsor Park’s Rodney Schick revealed to ANZ Bloodstock News that the stallion was already fully booked.
“We had a big lunch to launch him and I think we got 60 bookings at that event alone, but the phone didn’t stop ringing – we filled his book within three days after he was announced,” he said.
Paddington kicked off his Classic year with a low-key victory in a handicap at Naas, setting him on a path of a six-start unbeaten run. Having broken through at stakes level for the first time Tetrarch Stakes (Listed, 1m) in May, Paddington had no issues with a huge leap in class, when winning the Irish 2,000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1m) on his next start.
Paddington once again showed his superstar credentials in the stallion-making St James’s Palace Stakes (Gr 1, 1m) at the prestigious Royal Ascot meeting, a performance he followed up when beating the older horses in the Coral-Eclipse (Gr 1, 1m 2f). His fourth and final elite-level triumph came when dropping back in trip to take the Sussex Stakes (Gr 1, 1m) at Goodwood.
Siyouni’s (Pivotal) reputation as a world–class sire is further bolstered by his record in the southern hemisphere, having sired 26 winners from 44 starters and they are headed by Group 1-winning mare Amelia’s Jewel.
Schick believes the Siyouni factor coupled with Paddington’s great race record will stand him in good stead ahead of his first time in the Windsor Park breeding shed, where he will cover mares at a fee of NZ$35,000 (plus GST).
“He is an unbelievable horse,” he said. “He is very exciting for New Zealand, being by Siyouni, who is a great sire in Europe and his statistics with his runners in Australia is phenomenal, so very, very exciting. He is an exceptional horse and it’s great to extend our relationship with Coolmore. I really believe that he will suit Australasian racing.”
Out of the Listed-winning Montjeu (Sadler’s Wells) mare Modern Eagle, Schick is familiar with both sides of Paddington’s pedigree, having also stood Montjeu at Windsor in the early 2000s.
“We have been lucky enough to have a good relationship with Coolmore for the best part of 25 years standing horses like High Chaparral and Montjeu,” he said. “I think he [Montjeu] had the highest-cruising speeds of any horse I have ever seen and this horse is in a similar mould. He had a huge turn of foot, so to have the blood of Siyouni and to have Montjeu there on his dam’s side is very exciting, because we know that blood works on this side of the world.
“He is very strong, very attractive, very well balanced and is a great mover. They don’t come much better looking than Siyouni and he is very much in the mould of his father. When a stallion goes to stud with all those attributes and that ability, you’re a long way down the track.
“To do what he did was unbelievable, four Group 1s in 68 days, including the St James’s Palace Stakes which I consider as the greatest stallion-making race in the world, there are not many things he didn’t achieve.”
Finishing second behind Paddington in last year’s St James’s Palace Stakes was Chaldean, who went to Royal Ascot off the back of his fine victory in the English 2,000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1m).
Scott Calder, head of sales and nominations at Cambridge Stud, where the son of Frankel (Galileo) will reside in the southern hemisphere, told ANZ Bloodstock News that the response from breeders to the stallion shuttling has been strong.
“When we got to make that public the excitement was definitely shared by breeders and by our clients. He is limited to 120 mares, which is a smaller book, and as soon as we announced him it became apparent that space was going to be at a premium,” Calder said.
“Typically we syndicate our horses and he is not syndicated, so we have created these three-year breeding packages, which have been incredibly popular. We have a limited number of those three-year packages left.”
Like Paddington, the four-year-old comes with a superb race record of two Group 1 victories among five wins from ten starts, which ranks him seventh-best among Frankel’s 843 runners worldwide.
After taking Newmarket’s Dewhurst Stakes (Gr 1, 7f) amidst four wins in his first season in 2022, Chaldean then wo the 2,000 Guineas to become only the ninth horse to achieve Newmarket’s prestigious double in the past 50 years. It also made Frankel and Chaldean the only father-son duo to win both the Dewhurst and the 2,000 Guineas.
“We were very excited when we found out we were going to stand the horse. We were confident the market would share our excitement,” said Calder. “I think a son of Frankel is so high up on the wish list of any stud farm and given he was such a while performed two-year-old by Frankel who went on to win a Classic he has the perfect profile, particularly for New Zealand.”
Both farms have been inundated with interest from Australian breeders intent on using their new young stars, something Calder believes can only see as a positive for New Zealand breeding.
“In my time at Cambridge, we have always struggled to get mares to come across the ditch to New Zealand but with the likes of Almanzor and Hello Youmzain it’s worked really successfully, but that is the Australian buyers coming to the sales here and sourcing them that way,” he said.
“But Chaldean has had far more Australian support than any stallion in my time at Cambridge and that just reinforces how good a profile he has for both countries. We have already got mares who have come across that are on the farm and there are a lot more that are due to come over in the next month or so.
“Also more New Zealand breeders are keeping their mares in New Zealand this year and that is testament to the quality of stallions standing in the country at the moment.”
Schick said the Australian response has been unrivalled and that Windsor would support the stallion heavily themselves.
“We have got a lot of mares coming over from Australia and the feedback I have had from there has been unreal,” he said.
“I think a lot of people were quite astonished that he has come to New Zealand and not standing in Australia, but as we have had that amazing relationship with Coolmore for many years, we think that this will give him the ideal platform for him to really kick off. We have a lovely bunch of mares here that I think will really suit him.”
The New Zealand racing scene has received a massive $20.3 million prize-money injection, courtesy of the TAB NZ Entain strategic partnership, and both Calder and Schick believe that New Zealand racing and breeding is in the best shape it has been in years.
“With Entain entering the New Zealand market, the prize-money has doubled and I think things are looking very promising for the country,” said Schick.
Meanwhile, Calder said the stud farms have to ‘play their part’ to facilitate the positive changes.
“In the overall industry in New Zealand there are some really positive things happening, prize-money is going up and I think the proven stallion ranks in New Zealand are particularly strong and there is some real momentum in the New Zealand industry,” he said.
“As stud farms we have to play our part in that and part of it is bringing in horses of the highest calibre possible. It is a real coup for New Zealand to have a horse like Chaldean coming into the country and I genuinely believe the way we breed horses in New Zealand and the mares we have, he’ll get a fantastic chance to have long–term success.”
Both stallions arrive in New Zealand at the beginning of next month.