Well on his way to his 10th Grosvenor Award as New Zealand’s leading sire, Waikato Stud’s Savabeel is undoubtedly a stallion of a generation. This week’s Run The Numbers looks beyond the champion, to see how the next generation of Kiwi sires compare.
Thanks to the record NZ$2.4 million paid for one of his daughters at the New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sale on Monday, Savabeel now has five of the 10 highest-priced lots at the sale since 2015.
That stat (current as of the end of the second day at Karaka) is hardly surprising given how his progeny has dominated on the track in that time, with Savabeel having won every New Zealand champion sire title bar one across that decade.
It was Guy Mulcaster and Chris Waller who went to that record amount for a filly to secure the sister to Group 1 winner Orchestral. She is the 13th Savabeel that the pair have purchased at Karaka since 2015, and nearly five times the price of their second most expensive buy by the sire.
Usually, it has been Te Akau’s David Ellis paying top dollar for the best available Savabeels at Karaka. He has been the buyer of six of the top 12 priced yearlings by the sire at the sale. Among that collection have been two Group 1-winning colts who have gone onto stallion careers, Embellish and Noverre.
Since 2015, there have been 464 Savabeel yearlings sold in Book 1 at Karaka, 184 more than any other sire (Tavistock is second), for a total sale’s yield of NZ$117.6 million, which is 16.6 per cent of overall spend in that time. Their average price has been just over NZ$253,000.
On the track, Savabeel is on the verge of a couple of major milestones. He has 149 stakes winners and 99 Group winners. He also has 35 Group 1 winners.
It is feasible he could chase down the extraordinary record of his own sire Zabeel, who had 166 stakes winners, 113 Group winners and 46 Group 1 winners. Indeed, he is tracking better at the same stage of their respective careers. Zabeel had 134, 90 and 30 in those three categories at the same point.
Leading sires at NZB Yearling Sale (Book 1) at Karaka since 2015
But what about beyond Savabeel? Having turned 23, the champ is in the twilight of his career, so who can take up the mantle?
The obvious answer is Rich Hill’s Proisir, the only sire to have knocked Savabeel off the top perch when it comes to the sires’ championship in the past decade. He had the top-priced lot at last year’s Karaka sale, the NZ$1.6 million filly, a sister to Prowess, with a top price of $700,000 this year. (Update: this has since leapt to $1.1 million)
His yearlings have averaged just short of NZ$197,000 at Karaka over recent years, second of all Kiwi-based sires.
What is fascinating is how dominant Proisir’s fillies have been commercially. The top six-priced Proisir yearlings at Karaka have all been fillies.
That is not a reflection of any clear on-track results bias for the son of Choisir. He has 21 stakes winners, 10 colts/geldings and 11 fillies. His six individual Group 1 winners have an even split between the sexes.
A comparison with Savabeel at the same stage of their respective careers sees him trailing on stakes winners, 21 to 37, but when it comes to Group winners, it is a much smaller difference, 18 to 20. Savabeel had the same number of Group 1 winners at this point of his career.
To give those comparisons further context, Savabeel had more runners, 408 to 334, at this point. Proisir’s progeny have also earned more prize money, but that’s a measure of their respective eras more than anything else.
Comparison with Savabeel at same point of breeding career
Tavistock is currently third on the NZ sires’ premiership. We have covered his remarkable record in this column before but given he died in 2019 and his final crop is now four, he can’t be considered as an heir apparent.
Moving on to Cambridge Stud’s Almanzor, currently fourth on the sires table, and he has certainly had plenty of appeal in the commercial yearling market. His progeny have averaged NZ$157,000 over the past five editions at Karaka and grossed NZ$27.7 million, the third most of any stallion in the past decade.
Progeny comparisons on the track are a little more difficult as Almanzor shuttled between France and New Zealand until it was decided he would stay at Cambridge Stud permanently last September.
Filtering by southern hemisphere foaled progeny only, Almanzor has 12 stakes winners, seven Group winners and one Group 1 winner. At the same point of his career, Savabeel had 13 stakes winners, seven group winners and two Group 1 winners. Almanzor has had 215 SH-bred runners, Savabeel had 202 at this point of his career.
Comparison with Savabeel at same point of breeding career
Iffraaj, Almanzor’s grandsire, is currently fifth, but given he hasn’t shuttled to NZ since 2019, we will move past him, along with sixth-placed Belardo, whose last trip to New Zealand was 2022.
El Roca, who is a contemporary of Proisir, is currently seventh, and is 10 years into a consistent stallion career at Westbury Stud. His Book 1 progeny have averaged just under NZ$100,000.
On the track, he has 10 stakes winners, six Group winners and two Group 1 winners.
Vadamos, who has had five stakes winners, three Group winners and one Group 1 winner, sits eighth, but no longer shuttles to Rich Hill.
Little Avondale’s Per Incanto continues his remarkable career. Heading towards his 15th season in New Zealand, he now has 32 southern hemisphere bred stakes winners, 21 Group winners and seven Group 1 winners.
Tim Rowe
At the same point of his career, Savabeel had 86 stakes winners, 52 Group winners and 17 Group 1 winners,
Waikato’s Super Seth is the one which has emerged over the past couple of seasons and on Saturday, he had La Dorada win the Karaka Million 2YO. She is out of a Savabeel mare.
Super Seth is outpointing Savabeel to this early part of his career, with five stakes winners and two Group winners, compared to his barnmate who had three stakes winners and one Group winner with two crops at the track in January 2010.
Super Seth has also had fewer runners 56 to 59, but more winners, 21 to 17.
It’s early in the journey, but those are stats that Waikato would be pleased to see, having done such a remarkable job over the years of replacing one champion stallion with another.
The 11 Super Seth lots sold over the first two days at Karaka this year have been purchased at an extremely reasonable average of NZ$88,636. His second crop of yearlings did sell up to NZ$700,000 at Karaka last year.
Comparison with Savabeel at same point of breeding career
*All data current as of January 27, 2025
*Data courtesy of Arion and NZB
