Waikato Stud devastated by death of champion sire Savabeel

New Zealand’s 10-time champion stallion Savabeel has died as the result of a freak paddock accident.

Savabeel fractured a shoulder at his long-time home of Waikato Stud early on Friday in a devastating blow for the Chittick family who have managed the son of Zabeel’s magnificent stud career for the past 21 years.

The rising 25-year-old, who covered 88 mares last year, was expected to serve a small book of mares at a private fee in 2026.

Trained by Graeme Rogerson, Savabeel was retired to stud after a $10 million deal with Waikato in 2005, having won the 2004 Cox Plate. Fields Of Omagh was runner-up in that year’s weight-for-age championship at Moonee Valley, with Starcraft finishing third.

Savabeel is the sire of 159 individual stakes winners including 37 Group 1 winners.

His sire sons include Mo’unga, Embellish, Cool Aza Beel, Waikato Stud’s Noverre, The Chosen One and Savaglee, who will stand his first season at Windsor Park Stud later this year.

Rogerson was contacted by Mark Chittick soon after Savabeel’s fatal accident and the trainer, who prepared the champion sire to win a Spring Champion as well as his defining Cox Plate.

“And I said to Mark this morning when it happened, ‘think of the bright side. Think of all the pleasure he brought and all the great successes that he’s had’,” Rogerson told The Straight.

“He’s had a wonderful life. It’s just a shame what happened.”

Waikato Stud general manager Mike Rennie admitted the Matamata nursery was grieving the loss of its stalwart stallion.

“It was a sombre morning at the farm after everyone heard (of his passing), which just showed how much he meant to everyone,” Rennie said.

“He lived a very happy and healthy life, did an incredible job and we have done right by him along the way. Not only the Chitticks and Waikato Stud, but the wider New Zealand industry has got a huge amount to be thankful for with Savabeel, he has been an incredibly dominant force across Australasia.

“Not only is he following in his father and grandfather’s footsteps, but hopefully in time will surpass them. He has been here for well over 20 years and is a horse that has been here the longest. He was fighting fit until he wasn’t this morning. He is what every stud on the face of the earth dreams to have.”

After attracting interest from Hunter Valley studs at the conclusion of Savabeel’s three-year-old autumn campaign – he ran eighth in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Randwick behind Grand Armee – Waikato Stud negotiated the $10 million deal to buy the stallion.

Savabeel was syndicated in a 50-share deal at $200,000 each with Waikato having the controlling interest alongside Rogerson, who maintained at least five shares.

Prolific Australian owner Max Whitby also retained breeding rights in the stallion, having part-owned Savabeel during his racing career.

“On one hand he has succeeded at the very highest level in Australia and on the other he is by New Zealand’s champion stallion from a New Zealand Oaks winner,” Chittick told the NZPA in a 2005 New Zealand Herald article.

“He is everything you look for in a stallion, and there was a fair bit of hot competition to secure him over the last few days.

“The importance of having control of a horse like this cannot be overstated, and the upside or profits he may generate will come mainly to the local industry and not offshore parties.”

Chittick was rather prophetic with that original statement, with Savabeel developing into a commercial success story who has had a deeply influential impact not only on Waikato Stud but the New Zealand industry.

Savabeel, who stood for an introductory fee of $35,000 (plus GST), has consistently averaged more than $200,000 for his yearlings sold at public auction each year. 

The sister to Group 1 winner Orchestral setting a new record for a filly at the 2025 New Zealand Bloodstock Karaka Yearling Sale when bought by agent Guy Mulcaster and trainer Chris Waller for Kiwi owner Glenn Ritchie for $2.4 million.

Te Akau has been one of the biggest supporters and major beneficiaries of Savabeel’s success as a stallion, with Mark Walker training the sire’s three-year-old daughter Belle Cheval to win the Group 1 Vinery Stud Stakes at Rosehill in March.

She is one of 11 horses by Savabeel to win Group 1s for Te Akau, headed by champion mare Probabeel who won four times at the elite level in the Cambridge Stud silks. 

“He’s a horse that has been beautifully managed by Garry and Mark Chittick, and our thoughts are certainly with the entire Chittick family and all the staff at Waikato Stud,” Te Akau’s Sir David Ellis said.

“It’s come as quite a shock, because he’s always been such a well stallion and they’ve kept him fit. 

“He’s been a freakishly good sire. Few would have thought you could have got another such good stallion as his father Zabeel and grandfather Sir Tristram, but he’s done them very proud and he’s really been the cornerstone of the New Zealand breeding industry for quite a while now.”

Rogerson says his stable’s connection to Savabeel will live on for some time to come. 

“I’m lucky I got a Savabeel weanling filly and I’ve got a nice Savabeel colt, a two-year-old, that we think’s pretty good out of Malambo, who we raced,” Rogerson said.

“He’s called Savalambo and he hasn’t raced yet.”