Guineas winners hail the rise and rise of Proisir

Cover image courtesy of Rich Hill Stud

Ten days ago, when the 3-year-old gelding Pier (NZ) won the G1 New Zealand 2000 Guineas, it was beer and skittles for his sire Proisir, who was having some sort of day out.

Prowess (NZ), also by Proisir, was third in the race, while across the ditch at Flemington, Levante (NZ) (Proisir) was fourth to Roch ‘N’ Horse (NZ) (Per Incanto {USA}) in the G1 Champions Sprint. For the crew at Rich Hill Stud, where Proisir stands, it could hardly have got any better.

But it did, because on Monday, 13-year-old Proisir had the winner of the G1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas. The filly, Legarto (NZ), made it four wins on the bounce to protect her undefeated record since hitting the racecourse in June this year.

Gallery: Proisir's New Zealand 2000 and 1000 Guineas-winning progeny, images courtesy of NZ Racing Desk

Legarto had also won the G3 Soliloquy S. in late October, a race that featured Prowess in third, meaning Proisir had littered New Zealand’s Group 1 features in spectacular fashion.

“It’s funny how short our memories can be because I remember Savabeel getting the two Guineas winners last year, but before that I couldn’t remember who else,” said John Thompson, the studmaster at Rich Hill Stud. “I think Fastnet Rock might have done it, and also a horse called Crested Wave, which was many, many years ago.

“I think there’s only been four this century, including Pins who did it with the same horse (Katie Lee). So it’s rarefied company, isn’t it?”

Crested Wave (USA) stood in New Zealand from the mid-1980s through the 1990s. He was Champion Sire in New Zealand in 1990/91, beginning his career with the Chittys at Haunui Farm and later moving to Wynyard Lodge. He died at the good age of 30 in 2006 at Frank Drummond’s Cheval Stud.

Crested Wave’s son, Surfers Paradise (NZ), won the G1 New Zealand 2000 Guineas in 1990, the same season that his daughter, the excellent Plume (NZ), won the fillies’ version. In 2009, it was the turn of Pins with Katie Lee, who took out both races in the same season.

In 2011, Fastnet Rock had Rock ‘N’ Pop win the colts’ race and Planet Rock won among the fillies, and Savabeel has done it twice since then. In 2017, he had Embellish (NZ) win the 2000 Guineas and Hasahalo (NZ) win the 1000 Guineas. The Waikato Stud resident repeated the feat last year with Noverre (NZ) for the colts and The Perfect Pink (NZ) for the fillies.

For Proisir, achieving the Guineas double has been just about bang-on with his peers. Fastnet Rock was 10 when he managed it, Pins was 13 (like Proisir), Crested Wave was 14, and Savabeel pulled it off at 16 and 21 years of age.

Like these, Proisir had significant runs on the board already, namely the Group winners Riodini (NZ) and Aimee’s Jewel (NZ), but this season he’s climbed to another level with the likes of Group 3 winner Belle Plaisir (NZ), G1 Tarzino Trophy winner Dark Destroyer (NZ), the dual Group 1 winner Levante, and now Pier and Legarto.

“He came to New Zealand with a NZ$7000 service fee and he was quite popular, but that was the level of mare that he served in those first few seasons,” Thompson said. “His popularity has continued to grow, which makes us really excited about what’s to come from him because of the better-quality mares that he’s served this last year, and they were even better again this year.”

Proisir started at Rich Hill Stud at NZ$7000 (plus GST), then bumped to NZ$9000 (plus GST) and NZ$12,500 (plus GST) in 2021. This season, he’s NZ$17,500 (plus GST).

There’s no question of him remaining at that fee next year, but Thompson isn’t definite yet about what the horse will next stand for.

“He’s looking as though he’s going to be one of New Zealand’s elite stallions now,” the studmaster said. “I think everyone’s aware that his fee is going to increase considerably, but I haven’t started bandying figures around yet.

“In hindsight, if I’d know what he was going to achieve this year, he wouldn’t have been set at that fee, but that’s the beauty of having stallions, isn’t it? You never know what’s around the corner.”

A damline that clicks

It’s fair to say that the office phone has been ringing for Proisir bookings, at least for what’s left of the current breeding season. Thompson has closed the book on his horse, a book that will sit at about 180 mares by the end of the spring.

“It’s probably more than I wanted to do with him and I think 180 is more than enough,” he said.

Proisir stands at Rich Hill Stud alongside Satono Aladdin (Jpn), Vadamos (Fr), Shocking and Ace High, the latter expecting his first crop on the tracks this racing season, with the others enjoying a boom season in their own right.

Proisir entered stud in 2015, a relatively low-key acquisition by Thompson after the horse’s promising, Group 3-winning career. Proisir was Group 1-placed (second) to Dundeel (NZ) on two occasions, and his was a vintage season that included not just Dundeel but also Pierro, All Too Hard and Rebel Dane.

“I don’t think the best of him was ever seen,” Thompson said. “He broke down at the end of his 3-year-old season and they tried to bring him back, but he redid a tendon injury and so he ended up retiring as a 5-year-old. People had almost forgotten about him by then.”

Nevertheless, it was good timing for Rich Hill Stud because Thompson was on the hunt for a new stallion at that point.

“Michael Otto, who was the agent that had found us Pentire in the past, he rang me up about Proisir when he learned that the horse was available,” Thompson said. “I remembered Proisir because of his battles with Dundeel, who we’d all been following as a New Zealand horse going to Australia, and in the Spring Champion S., if ridden differently, Proisir probably could have beaten Dundeel that day.”

As such, Proisir arrived in New Zealand largely unknown, including his sireline through Choisir, which hadn’t been seen a lot down there. However, the damline was a different story, with the horse’s fifth dam, Sunbride (GB) (Tai Yang {BG}), a Hall of Fame institution.

“Sunbride really was the Eight Carat of her time, so Proisir is from a really good female family in New Zealand,” Thompson said. “When you’ve got a taproot mare like that back in the family, and some really nice additions of Encosta De Lago and Centaine, it meant he had a lot of genetic potential to click with the New Zealand broodmare band.”

A bit of Vinnie about him?

Proisir currently heads the New Zealand General Sires’ table by earnings, well clear of nearest rival Tavistock (NZ), while Savabeel, though leading the Australian equivalent thanks to I Wish I Win (NZ) in the Golden Eagle, sits third.

Thompson isn’t shy about Proisir loosening Savabeel’s grip on the Kiwi championships, something foreseeable if the son of Choisir continues on this dizzy projection. He has plenty of good 3-year-olds still to emerge from his fourth crop, all a reflection of his steady increase in fee.

According to Thompson, this projection differs from Rich Hill's best of the past, but it's similar to a certain Australian sire.

“They’re all very different,” he said. “Our foundation sire was Pentire and he threw 16 Group 1 winners, which was right up there. But he was a dual Group 1-winner himself when he arrived and he served a far better quality of mare at the start than Proisir.

“I suppose in some ways, Proisir is looking a bit like I Am Invincible at the beginning where he came in with a low service fee, upgraded all his mares and they’ve been reaping the benefits ever since. I’d like to think the Proisir story is a bit similar.”

Around the farm, Proisir is known as ‘Ted’. He’s a soft, manageable character that has delivered on so much promise and, in weeks that have delivered service fees at the level of Flightline (USA), Dubawi (Ire) and Frankel (GB), he's got to be one of the best steals in Australasia this season at NZ$17,500 (plus GST).

His current figures are 114 winners from 204 total starters, nine stakes winners of which eight are Group winners, and his progeny has netted over $12 million in earnings. It's been a good run that's only just beginning.