Vale Savabeel - A Special Connection

Everyone connected to the Thoroughbred Racing industry is mourning the accidental death of 10-time Champion Sire Savabeel (Zabeel), who, in the early hours of 19 June, fractured a shoulder in his paddock at Waikato Stud.

A Group 1 Cox Plate (2040m) winning three-year-old, Savabeel served so well the trilogy of his Champion forefathers, Zabeel and Sir Tristram.

The sire of 159 individual stakes' winners, including 39 Group One's, Savabeel still has a chance to eclipse the record 166 by his sire Zabeel, after Sir Tristram (Sir Ivor) had produced 130.

Where the breed shaping lineage began is open to debate, but 11-time Champion Jockey Lester Piggott stated that Sir Ivor, one of his nine Group 1 Epsom Derby (2400m) winners, was the best horse he ever rode.

The 1968 Derby winner, Sir Ivor possessed a turn of foot that proved the key attribute passed on to his sire sons, including Sir Tristram, Zabeel, and Savabeel, and again evidenced by sire sons of Savabeel now at stud, including the trio of Embellish, Cool Aza Beel and Noverre (all purchased and trained by Te Akau), Mo’unga, The Chosen One, and Savaglee who set to stand his first season at Windsor Park Stud.

Savabeel holds a special place in hearts of so many, especially for Sir David Ellis and Te Akau Racing, who have had more success with his progeny than any other racing entity.

When Belle Cheval won the Group 1 Vinery Stud Stakes (2000m) in March at Rosehill, she became the 11th Group One winner by Savabeel for Te Akau, following Group One winners now at stud: Embellish, Cool Aza Beel, and Noverre, and other Group One winners: Probabeel (4), a dual NZ Horse of the Year, Prise De Fer, Amarelinha (NZB Filly of the Year), Hall Of Fame, Sword Of Osman, Skew Wiff, The Perfect Pink, and a host of other stakes' winners by the remarkable sire.

Te Akau bought and trained Damask Rose (Savabeel), the inaugural winner of the $3.5 million NZB Kiwi, while also being represented by Savabeel progeny in three of eight Karaka Million 2YO winners purchased by Ellis. 

While four-time Group One winner Probabeel, purchased on spec as a yearling by Ellis at Karaka, and owned by Sir Brendan & Lady Jo Lindsay, remains the only horse to have won the Karaka Million 2YO and Karaka Million 3YO double. 

"Savabeel is certainly a horse that has been beautifully managed by Garry & Mark Chittick, and our thoughts are with the entire Chittick family and all the team at Waikato Stud,” 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.

"The breeding team at Waikato Stud has done an incredible job with Savabeel, and bred and marketed his progeny so well. He's served beautiful mares and he's been so well handled that it's no wonder he's been such a good sire.

"I was at the Cox Plate the day Savabeel won. We had a runner in it, King's Chapel, who finished seventh and went on to win New Zealand Horse of the Year, Champion Sprinter/Miler and Champion 3YO for his prior season. 

"His yearlings were well conformed and striking types right from the outset. We've always liked them as types and have been consistent buyers of his stock and we at Te Akau and our owners have been well rewarded.

"It's quite remarkable how well they develop from the yearling sales to two-year-olds and they're natural racehorses that, typical of the breed, just keep getting better with time. 

"Statistically, we've had more success buying and training his progeny than any other stable and it's certainly an honour to have achieved that.

"While it's such a loss, thankfully Waikato Stud has his sire son Noverre to take up the mantle. The trainers I spoke to this year at the Sydney sales and last month on the Gold Coast, all said they like them, and his first winner (Hailstones) looked promising when winning on debut recently in Sydney."

The winner of 10 NZ Champion Stallion titles, Savabeel remains one shy of Foxbridge (Foxlaw), who won 11 titles, 1941 - 51 inclusive.

With his current foals and racing stock, Savabeel still has an opportunity to enhance his record of stakes' winners and Champion Stallion titles, and with 37 horses on the books, either by Savabeel or out mares by him, Te Akau will be doing everything possible to help him achieve that goal. 

Main picture - Savabeel's sire son Noverre winning the G1 NZ 2000 Guineas