Another Dollar's (NZ) win in the G3 Premiers Cup at Doomben on Saturday was the seventh stakes victory for Ocean Park's progeny in Australia in 2019/20, a season which has been highlighted by Group 1 victories from Kolding (NZ) in the G1 Epsom H. and Tofane (NZ) in the All Aged S.
With 43 winners overall from 93 Australian starters across the season, Ocean Park's progeny have earned $9.86 million in Australia this season, enough to put him 11th overall on the Sires' list.
Former Waikato Stud resident O'Reilly (NZ) was the last New Zealand-based stallion to finish top 10 in the Champion Sires race, finishing ninth in 2014/15 with $7.35 million in earning from his progeny, highlighted by his top earner Sacred Falls (NZ).
Helped by Kolding's (NZ) victory in the inaugural edition of the $7.5 million Golden Eagle, Ocean Park has easily passed that mark, albeit in an era with considerable boosted prizemoney in Australia.
Should his progeny earn another $140,000 in Australia over the final month of the campaign, he would become the first New Zealand stallion-based since the legendary Zabeel (NZ) to break through the $10 million mark in Australia.
| Kolding (NZ) | 2 |
| Tofane (NZ) | 3 |
| Oceanex (NZ) | 3 |
| Another Dollar (NZ) | 2 |
| Out of the Park | 1 |
| Star Of the Seas (NZ) | 1 |
| Pretty To Sea (NZ) | 1 |
Table: Ocean Park (NZ) stakes winners in the 2019/20 season
The Cambridge icon did that on two occasions, in 2004/05, where his progeny earned $10.31 million Australia, and in 1998/99, when he was the last New Zealand-based stallion to win the honour of leading the Australian Sires' table, with $11.2 million in earnings
Zabeel was able to achieve that in his fifth season with runners on the track, while it is a measure of Ocean Park's trajectory that he is close to passing that milestone with only four crops running for him.
When you add in the NZ$713,611 his progeny have earned in New Zealand, where he has 26 winners in (and for the sake of simplicity, give parity to the NZ and Australian dollars), he is well past the $10 million overall.
Zabeel (NZ) broke through the $10 million mark in Australia in 1998/99 and again in 2004/05
Again, you have to go back to 2004/05 for a New Zealand-based sire, again Zabeel, having his progeny earn over that $10 million combined barrier, something he did just twice in his career.
Ocean Park's fellow Waikato Stud resident Savabeel has had a remarkable past few years. He has won the Grosvenor Award as New Zealand's Champion Sire on no less than five previous occasions and is on track for a sixth.
However, he has never earned more than $10 million combined across both jurisdictions, with a previous best of $9.65 million last year. His total this year is $9.45 million, meaning he is still a possibility of getting into eight figures but would need a good run of results. Indeed, had New Zealand not been forced to shutdown its racing for COVID-19, he too may have been joining a very elite club.
Waikato comparisons
As horses who won the G1 Cox Plate and ended up at the same stud, comparisons between Ocean Park and Savabeel are going to be inevitable as their careers continue to evolve.
At the same point of his career- June 28, 2012, Savabeel's numbers were very similar to what Ocean Park's are now in several key areas.
| Runners | 226 | 231 |
| Winners | 143 | 137 |
| Wins | 318 | 316 |
| Stakeswinners | 18 | 9 |
| Stakes wins | 29 | 16 |
| Prizemoney | $10,498,684 | $20,150,636 |
Table: Comparison of Ocean Park (NZ) and Savabeel at the same point in their careers
Savabeel had 143 winners from 226 runners, while Ocean Park has 137 from 231. Savabeel's progeny had won 318 races, while Ocean Park's have won 316.
The main difference is at that point, Savabeel had 18 stakes winners while Ocean Park has nine. In spite of that, Ocean Park's progeny to this point have earned over $20 million in prizemoney, compared to Savabeel's stats of $10.5 million at the same stage.
Ocean Park (NZ) | Standing at Waikato Stud
While increases in prizemoney in Australia, and the distorting impact of Kolding's Golden Eagle win contribute to some of that, the disparity in money won, is also in no small part due to Ocean Park's progeny's greater success in Australia.
Across his first four seasons with runners on the track, 66 per cent of the wins across both countries from Ocean Park's progeny have been in Australia. At the same point of his career, Savabeel was at 58 per cent on that score and now with 12 crops on the track, his percentage stands at 56.1 per cent.
Kolding (NZ) winning the inaugural Golden Eagle
In a measure of comparison, three-time champion New Zealand stallion O'Reilly had more winners in New Zealand than Australia (50.6 per cent) across his breeding career, whereas Zabeel had 75.5 per cent of his wins across Australasia coming in Australia.
Ocean Park still has a bit to achieve as a stallion before he can be considered in such elite class, but with his quality and quantity of winners in 2019/20, he is indeed making giant strides.
