Waikato Stud ‘extremely proud’ of ten-strong draft heading to Magic Millions
New Zealand-based operation represented by six-time champion New Zealand sire Savabeel, Ocean Park and Tivaci
Waikato Stud will be represented at next week’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale by a draft under their name for the first time in over a decade, with stud principal Mark Chittick excited for attendees to see what the New Zealand breeding operation has to offer.
Over recent years, Waikato Stud have sent multiple yearlings to the sale through other drafts, predominantly Sledmere Stud, but decided to push for their own account this year with Chittick keen for an added presence in Australia.
Waikato’s ten-yearling draft consists of six from their headline act Savabeel (Zabeel), the sire of 109 individual stakes winners; three from Group 1 winner Tivaci (High Chaparral), whose first crop graced the racetrack last year; and one from Ocean Park (Thorn Park), who has made a name for himself with his versatility, producing Group 1-winning sprinter-milers like Tofane and Kolding, as well as a first Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) runner in Oceanex last year.
With logistical preparations beginning all the way back in July, it was no mean feat for Waikato to send ten of their finest yearlings across the Tasman. But after spending the last month and a half under the care of Alison and Matt Park at their Symphony Lodge base, the team in New Zealand were delighted for their yearlings to finally arrive at the Gold Coast earlier this week.
“We are really, really excited about the draft we’ve got going to the Magic Millions sale and we’ve been very meticulous in the horses that we’ve taken there,” Chittick told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“It’s the first time we’ve sold under Waikato Stud for a while. We’ve had horses there over the past few years, mostly through the Sledmere draft, but we think these yearlings are a great product to represent Waikato Stud in Australia.
“We chose to have the horses prepared at Symphony Lodge by Alison and Matt Park, who are extremely good horse people. We were very comfortable with them preparing them for us for the sale and when we organised this back in July, they were prepared to take them as one group and take them to the sale at Waikato Stud, which I felt was very honourable of them and also really worked in our favour of having a presence in Australia.
“We had fantastic support from Magic Millions when we came across this opportunity to sell under our own name. Back in July I said to Alison and Matt, ‘we will send you horses that I believe will work in the market and hopefully be easy to sell, if we are able to get there and be part of it that would be the gold standard, but as long as the horses are there that is the main thing’. As it’s panned out, that is exactly where we’re at.
“From the day the horses walked off the float, both Alison and Matt said, ‘what an incredible bunch of horses, you can be very proud of them’.”
Leading their draft is six-time Grosvenor Award winner Savabeel, the sire of 21 individual elite-level winners, most recently Epsom Handicap (Gr 1, 1600m) heroine Probabeel and Zabeel Classic (Gr 1, 2000m) victress Concert Hall, as well as last season’s New Zealand champion two-year-old Cool Aza Beel.
Among his offering is a brother to Listed winner Savacool (Lot 155), out of unraced mare Chilled Out (Anabaa), while another standout on paper is the Candelabra (Pins) colt (Lot 134), who is a three-quarter brother to Group 1 winners Diademe and Embellish, from the family of Sacred Star (Flying Spur).
However, while recognising all six of his yearlings more than hold their place, it is the colt out of unraced five-year-old mare Gram (O’Reilly) that Chittick is really taken by.
“The colt that I have loved from birth, and I’ve got a soft spot for the family, is the Gram colt,” said Chittick. “It is a family that does perform early. The grand dam, Gold Rocks, was a two-year-old stakes winner and she’s directly left three two-year-old stakes winners.
“We were getting Gram prepared by Te Akau for one of our smart two-year-old fillies races over here and unfortunately she overreached and cut her tendon.
“That’s why she never got to the races herself and I do believe a beautiful mare like that, with that sort of breeding, they make great broodmares very early, because they just put everything into their foals.
“This colt is the first foal out of the mare, and she’s got another Savabeel foal following on behind which is just as high class, so she’s a very special mare who I’m sure will be one of our best mares in years to come.”
Savabeel capped off another remarkable year with a black-type treble on Boxing Day, courtesy of Concert Hall scoring in the Zabeel Classic, Amarelinha taking out the Eight Carat Classic (Gr 2, 1600m) and Brando victorious in the Uncle Remus Stakes (Listed, 1400m).
The son of Zabeel (Sir Tristram), who stood at Waikato for NZ$100,000 (plus GST) in 2020, is showing no signs of slowing down and Chittick paid tribute to the stud’s pride and joy.
“He’s an incredible horse. He’s 19 years old now, he’s just finished off the season and he’s got over 100 mares in foal,” he said.
“I’ve always said he’s an incredible stallion because firstly he is consistently leaving ten per cent stakes winners to runners, which is huge, but also the versatility of the horse. He can get a two-year-old, they run through to whatever age they need to be, he’ll leave a sprinter, he’ll leave a two-miler, he’ll leave a filly, he’ll leave a colt, he’s just an incredible horse.
“The next chapter is starting to unfold now with him as a broodmare sire and being by Zabeel, who was such a wonderful stallion, and out of a Success Express mare, it’s a no–brainer that he’s a good broodmare sire as well.”
At the other end of the scale is Tivaci, who is just starting out on his journey as a stallion.
Winner of the All Aged Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) on his last start before retirement, Tivaci’s first crop of foals arrived on the ground in 2018 and they are showing early signs of success in various trials across Australasia.
On offer at the Gold Coast, he has the first foal out of the unraced Caramel Sundae (Savabeel) (Lot 138), a daughter of Group 2 winner Shopaholic (Pins); a colt out of Chorus (Danasinga) (Lot 160) and the third foal out of Kim Dynasty (Dylan Thomas) (Lot 442).
“Tivaci has had a bunch of two-year-old trial winners and most people have put those away,” said Chittick.
“He’s a horse that didn’t actually win until he turned three. There’s been a bunch of trial winners throughout Melbourne and Sydney and everybody is talking very highly of them.
“We have chosen probably our best types of Tivaci horses to go over there, so they’ll sell and so he’ll get more representation in Australia.”
Ocean Park, who stands for NZ$20,000 (plus GST), has 12 stakes winners to his name. His sole representative at the Gold Coast is the second foal out of Impurrfection (Miss Purrfection) (Lot 392), an unraced half-sister to Singapore speedster Kiwi Karma (Fast ‘n’ Famous). The colt is a three-quarter brother to the Group-2 placed Seaway (Ocean Park).
On the colt, Chittick said: “He’s an absolute bull of a colt, looks like a hell of a runner. It’s a family that’s just extremely well-performed throughout this part of the world and he is a colt that I don’t think you’ll have to wait too long on.”
Reflecting on a year full of challenges for the bloodstock industry, Chittick has been delighted with the performance of their stallions.
The acquisition of new stallion Super Seth (Dundeel), who won the Caulfield Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) in 2019 and hails from the second crop of impressive young sire Dundeel (High Chaparral), will add a fresh dose of quality to Waikato’s stallion ranks.
“It’s been a really good year for us with our stallions. We’re very proud of the purchase of Super Seth earlier this year and him coming to stud and of those proven horses, they’ve had their chance to perform in their own right throughout the year,” he said.
“We had a purple patch with Ocean Park, and then we went into an incredible patch with Sacred Falls and over the summer period with Savabeel. We’re very proud of the stallions that we’re standing at Waikato Stud.”