Run The Numbers – Savabeel, from furthering a legacy to creating his own

When Savabeel retired to stud in 2005, he inherited significant pressure as the son of the legendary Zabeel, who had been twice Australian champion sire and four-time champion of his native New Zealand.

At this point, a natural heir to Zabeel’s considerable genetic talents had yet to be found. Savabeel was from his 10th crop and was his 28th individual Group 1 winner. Of those 28, just a handful had gone to stud.

Much was expected of the champion Octagonal, and while he would leave four Group 1 winners, 25 stakes winners, and ongoing influence through his champion sire son Lonhro, his stallion career never quite lived up to expectations. His best finish in an Australian sires’ title was fourth in 2002/03.

Don Eduardo, the $3.6 million yearling turned Group 1 winner, never gained huge traction as a sire, while Mouawad’s fertility prevented him making a mark. In 2004, Zabeel’s unbeaten son Reset retired to Darley with high expectations.

As a three-year-old Cox Plate-winning son of Zabeel, there were obvious comparisons between Savabeel and Octagonal, who had completed the same feat 10 years earlier. But the key difference was that Savabeel, like his sire, would stand in New Zealand, in his case, Waikato Stud.

Group 1-producing sire sons of Zabeel

Data: Arion.co.nz

It would be his combination with the Chittick family’s rich bloodlines of daughters of Waikato residents O’Reilly and Pins that would help him finally fill the breach as Zabeel’s true heir, a champion son of a champion stallion.

At the time of his sudden death last week, an event marked throughout the thoroughbred world, Savabeel had sired 36 Group 1 winners, 159 stakes winners and won 10 New Zealand sires’ titles.

In comparison, Zabeel finished with 46 Group 1 winners and 166 stakes winners. Savabeel is ahead at the same stage of their careers, with more stakes winners (159 to 142) and Group 1 winners (36 to 30). With three crops still to reach the track, Savabeel could yet surpass his sire’s final tally.

Yet measuring Savabeel purely against Zabeel undersells his achievement. While he emerged as the heir to one of the greatest stallions of the modern era, he ultimately built a legacy that stands comfortably on its own merits.

No sire since Foxbridge, who won 11 straight titles in the 1940s and 1950s, has claimed as many New Zealand champion sires’ titles.

His first came in 2014/15, and he reeled off eight in a row from that point, only deposed when Proisir edged him out in 2022/23. Normal service has resumed for the past two completed seasons, 2023/24 and 2024/25, while he looks destined to remain one short of the record mark for now, with Proisir again holding an edge over him with only five weeks of the season remaining.

In terms of his impact in Australia, he has had to compete with the sprint-orientated breeding and racing culture. The best Australian season for his progeny came in 2022/23, when he finished third, with his progeny banking over $18 million, a  record for a New Zealand-based sire. That success was driven by his fastest ever son, the multiple Group 1 winner I Wish I Win, carrying the Waikato Stud colours.

Savabeel has had more runners and winners in Australia than in New Zealand, 821 to 680 runners and 588 to 444 winners. But the majority of his stakes wins as a sire have come in his adopted home of New Zealand, by a margin of 185 to 120.

It is the same story with his volume of Group 1 winners, 26 in New Zealand and 13 in Australia, and Group 1 wins by his progeny, 38 to 23.

His overall stakes-winner-to-runners rate of 10.97 per cent has been boosted by his dominance in New Zealand, where it stands at 13.5 per cent, better than both his sire, Zabeel, and his grandsire Sir Tristram.

The existing Waikato Stud bloodlines proved a cornerstone of his success.

Savabeel has 37 stakes winners, including 10 Group 1 winners with daughters of O’Reilly and 20 stakes winners, including five Group 1 winners, out of Pins mares.   

But he also combined brilliantly with Australian sprinting blood, especially Flying Spur, from whose mares he produced seven stakes winners, three of which are Group 1 winners, from just 20 runners.

But he is far from a one-trick pony when it comes to nicks. His 159 stakes winners are by mares by 66 different stallions.

The next legacy for Savabeel is through his sire sons and his daughters.

There are two sons at stud in Australia, plus one grandson, all at Newhaven Park, and five at stud in New Zealand.

In terms of his influence as a broodmare sire, he already had 46 stakes winners from his daughters, including nine Group 1 winners. At least one of those, this season’s Caulfield Guineas and Rosehill Guineas winner Autumn Boy, appears set to continue that legacy at stud.

Savabeel became the ultimate Trans-Tasman success story. An Australian-bred colt by a champion Kiwi stallion from an Aussie dam, he was sold for $400,000 at Magic Millions.  

He was trained exclusively in Australia by a Kiwi, Graeme Rogerson, who also co-bred him, and he won Australasia’s best race.

From his New Zealand base, he became a stallion of enormous influence in both countries, shaping major races, broodmare bands and sire ranks on either side of the Tasman.

His yearlings sold for a total of A$185 million across 18 crops, averaging A$177,206 from 1,042 sales, a fitting commercial reflection of a stallion whose impact extended far beyond the racetrack.

Most successful nicks with Savabeel (by stakes winners)

Data: Arion.co.nz