Champion Sires form the bedrock of Waikato Stud

Images courtesy of Waikato Stud

Waikato Stud has played a major role in New Zealand breeding throughout the modern era. Already a significant player under its previous owners, it was taken over by Gary Chittick in 1993 and since then has become ever more successful.

Now with Chittick’s son Mark at the helm, the stud is currently riding high, thanks in part to five-time NZ Champion Sire Savabeel (NZ) (Zabeel {NZ}) who stands tall at the head of its six-strong roster.

A former dairy farm, Waikato Stud was founded in 1967 by Texan billionaire Nelson Bunker Hunt, who put it onto the radar internationally by importing the 1966 Derby runner-up Pretendre (GB) (Doutelle {GB}) from America.

Pretendre, who had been allotted second top weight in the British Free Handicap as a two-year-old in 1965, was bought by Bunker Hunt at the end of his three-year-old season and stood his first three seasons at Plum Lane Farm in Kentucky before being sent on his travels, Bunker Hunt turning him into the first ‘shuttle-sire’ in 1970 by instituting a regime which saw the horse standing at Coolmore Stud in Ireland during the first half of the year and at Waikato Stud in the second half.

Pretendre arrived in New Zealand as something of a celebrity and became even more esteemed the following year when his US-bred, Venezuelan-trained son Canonero II won the Kentucky Derby.

The other stallions who stood at Waikato Stud during Bunker Hunt’s ownership of the property included Decies (GB) (Pardal {Fr}), winner of the Dewar Trophy for the 1978/’79 season. His star that campaign was the outstanding three-year-old gelding Dulcify (NZ) whose victories that season included the VRC Derby, VRC Australian Cup, STC Rosehill Guineas and AJC Derby.

Tragically that champion, hailed by C. S. Hayes as the best he ever trained, was fatally injured in the Melbourne Cup the following spring, ten days after registering one of the most impressive victories in Cox Plate history.

The roster also included Ace Of Aces (USA) (Vaguely Noble {GB}) who had won the G1 Sussex S. in England for Bunker Hunt in 1974; and Zephyr Bay (Biscay) who had been an outstanding sprinter in Australia (setting track records in the VATC Oakleigh Plate, AJC Challenge S. and AJC Expressway S.) before embarking on a top-class stud career.

A public company

Nelson Bunker Hunt suffered a succession of financial setbacks during the 1980s before filing for bankruptcy in the USA in September 1988. By chance, his woes coincided with a short-lived Australasian boom in which investors were encouraged to treat the bloodstock business as an alternative to the stock exchange. Consequently Waikato Stud, then managed by Rick Williams, became a public company.

During this period the star of its roster was Pompeii Court (USA) (Tell {USA}) whose stars included his Blue Diamond- and Golden Slipper-winning daughter Courtza (NZ) and her Adelaide Cup-winning full-brother Our Pompeii (NZ).

Echoes from the Bunker Hunt era were provided by Palace Music (USA) (The Minstrel {Can}) and Dahar (USA) (Lyphard {USA}). The former, a winner for Bunker Hunt in England of the G1 Champion S. at Newmarket in 1984, sired a champion in each hemisphere: Naturalism (NZ) and Cigar (USA).

Dahar was a Bunker Hunt horse through and through, one of three Grade One winners produced by his outstanding international race-mare Dahlia (USA) (Vaguely Noble {GB}), dual winner in England of both the G1 King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Diamond S. at Ascot and the G1 Benson & Hedges Gold Cup (now Juddmonte International) at York.

Courtza’s victories helped Pompeii Court to become Australia’s leading sire of juveniles in the 1988/’89 season.

The Chittick's Waikato Stud

Inevitably, Waikato Stud’s period as a public company did not last indefinitely. In 1993 the property was bought by Garry and Mary Chittick, who were already established as successful breeders at Thornton Park Stud, initially near Masterton and then at Longburn, near Palmerston North.

Under the Chitticks’ auspices, the stud has blossomed with much of the initial credit going to the mighty Centaine (Century) who had accompanied them on the journey north. Centaine had already been NZ Champion First-Season Sire (in 1988/’89) and then won the Dewar Trophy that year, when his stars included Slight Chance (NZ) and Kinjite (NZ).

As Centaine became a senior citizen, the supporting cast at Waikato was emerging, headed by O’Reilly (NZ) (Last Tycoon {Ire}), Pins (Snippets), Danasinga (Danehill {USA}) and No Excuse Needed (GB) (Machiavellian {USA}). O’Reilly was the brightest of these stars.

Bred and raced by Garry Chittick, O’Reilly, a son of the aforementioned Courtza, emulated his mother by winning Group One sprints but at stud he produced top-class horses across the distance spectrum including Silent Achiever (NZ), Sacred Falls (NZ), Shamrocker (NZ) and Alamosa (NZ).

During his career he topped all three of New Zealand’s major sires’ tables, being Champion Sire and winning both the Dewar Trophy (judged on combined Australasian earnings) and the Centaine Trophy (including all international earnings).

Pins, who died last year, was a dual winner of the Centaine Trophy and was represented by a wide array of top-liners including Ambitious Dragon (NZ) and Aerovelocity (NZ) in Hong Kong, 2007 Cox Plate hero El Segundo (NZ) in Australia and the outstanding filly Katie Lee (NZ) in New Zealand.

Waikato Stud has been NZ Breeder of the Year on six occasions, with its top-level tally currently standing at 40 individual Group 1 winners of 77 Group 1 races. The 2008/’09 season was particularly special with six individual horses taking a total of nine Group 1 races in Australasia.

Another notable landmark came in 2006 when the stud became the first in New Zealand to have produced a European Group One winner: the international superstar Starcraft (NZ) (Soviet Star {USA}), whose dam Flying Floozie (NZ) (Pompeii Court {USA}) was a three-time winner of the NZ Broodmare of the Year award.

Looking to the future

The 2018/’19 season was another excellent one for Waikato Stud with Savabeel, now aged 18, again heading the General Sires’ Premiership, ending the campaign with progeny earnings ($3,956,068) over $1.8million clear of the runner-up, his deceased Waikato colleague Pins. Savabeel also topped the tables for individual winners (68) and races won (100).

Along with Ocean Park (NZ) (Thorn Park), Savabeel is one of two Cox Plate winners on the Waikato roster. During the past season Savabeel was represented by 16 individual Australasian stakes winners (as well as Rattan (NZ) taking the G2 in Hong Kong) with Savvy Coup (NZ), Shillelagh (NZ) and Nicoletta (NZ) all scoring in Group 1 company. He sired the quinella in four stakes races including the G1 NZ Thoroughbred Breeders’ S. at Te Aroha and the Karaka Million at Ellerslie.

The success of G1 Ormond Memorial S. heroine Savvy Coup, who supplemented her victory in the previous season’s G1 NZ Oaks, must have given the Chitticks particular pleasure as they bred her from the Pins mare Eudora (NZ), herself a daughter of the O’Reilly mare Hyades (NZ). Similarly satisfying must have been the Karaka Million victory of Probabeel (NZ) whom they bred from the Pins mare Far Fetched (NZ), who herself is a daughter of Beyond (NZ), who is by Centaine out of Hyades.

Fully booked during the current season at a fee of $125,000 + GST, Savabeel is a worthy successor to Centaine and O’Reilly, currently ranking as the dominant stallion in New Zealand.

As for the future? Well, it’s going to be an interesting season for four-time Group 1 winner Sacred Falls (NZ) (O’Reilly {NZ}) whose first crop have just turned three.