Cover image courtesy of Waikato Stud
On Friday, Waikato Stud announced the death of New Zealand’s 10-time Champion Sire Savabeel following a paddock accident. Tributes have poured in from across the industry for the 24-year-old stallion, who leaves a still flourishing legacy behind him, with 159 stakes winners and over 1060 individual winners recorded to date.
“He will be sorely missed, but he departed this world in good nick,” said George Chittick, Waikato Stud’s Sales and Nominations manager.
“Ryan Figgins, the stallion manager, has kept the horse picture perfect for the last eight years. He was happy the whole way through, and he went with all of our team and the Waikato Stud family around him.
“Looking around and seeing the amount of people crying proved how much he meant to us all. He was a horse who had such a huge positive impact on so many lives.”
“He has been here for well over 20 years and is the horse that has been here the longest,” said Waikato Stud’s General Manager Mike Rennie.
“He is what every stud on the face of the earth dreams to have.”
"He is what every stud on the face of the earth dreams to have." - Mike Rennie
A 3-year-old Cox Plate champion
Savabeel’s story started across the Tasman from his long-term home at Glenlogan Park, who bred him in partnership with New Zealand Hall Of Fame trainer Graeme Rogerson. He was one of 39 foals born in Australia in 2001 by the Kiwi champion Zabeel (NZ) out of dual Group 1 winner Savannah Success (Success Express {USA}).
While Rogerson sold Savannah Success with foal at foot, when Savabeel appeared at the 2023 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in the draft of Baramul Stud, Rogerson was so taken by him that he purchased the colt for $400,000.
Debuting with a win at Kensington in the autumn of his juvenile year, Savabeel demonstrated the early signs of his capabilities when running in the G1 Champagne Stakes at his fourth start, finishing third to Dance Hero (Danzero).
Graeme Rogerson | Image courtesy of Trish Dunell
“He always had a hell of a lot of ability, he was a very good horse,” said Rogerson, who would guide Savabeel through a trans-Tasman career that saw him strike twice at the highest level in the G1 Spring Champion Stakes and the G1 Cox Plate, both in the spring of his 3-year-old season.
“I thought every 10 years a 3-year-old can win the race (the Cox Plate) and he was the horse of his year.”
"I thought every 10 years a 3-year-old can win the race (the Cox Plate) and he was the horse of his year." - Graeme Rogerson
Savabeel prevailed against no easy Cox Plate field either, with the placings filled by Fields Of Omagh (Rubiton) and Starcraft (NZ). Seven days later, he backed up into the G1 Victoria Derby, finishing a brave second to Plastered (Laranto).
No box unticked
Waikato Stud brokered a deal worth $10 million at the time to stand the stallion at the end of his stud career, and he served his first book of 128 mares in 2005. From that first crop would come 50 winners and six stakes winners, including dual Group winner My Emotion (NZ), G2 Brisbane Cup winner Tullamore (NZ), and G3 Rotorua Cup winner Fromelles (NZ).
“You are always hopeful, he had the pedigree and all the attributes,” Rogerson said. “He has done his job and has been the leading stallion for a long time.”
Savabeel | Image courtesy of Waikato Stud
Every crop over the age of four since has produced a higher number of stakes winners, with his 2017 crop producing a remarkable 15 individual stakes winners - 11 winning at Group level - headed up by triple Group 1 winner Atishu (NZ), dual Group 1 winner Mo’Unga (NZ), G1 New Zealand Oaks winner Amarelinha (NZ), and G1 Auckland Diamond Stakes winner and Group 1-producing sire Cool Aza Beel (NZ). His individual Group 1 winner count currently sits at 36.
"We have had a great ride, and he (Savabeel) had a great life." - Graeme Rogerson
“We have had a lot of Group 1 winners by him, we have had a great ride, and he had a great life,” Rogerson said. “I was talking with Mark (Chittick) this morning and I said, ‘think of the bright side and all of the good things that he brought you, and the great times we had with the horse’.”
Rennie was proud to recount the heights that Savabeel has achieved in the two decades he has spent at the stud.
Mike Rennie | Image courtesy of Waikato Stud
“So far, he has had 159 stakes winners and 36 individual Group 1 winners, and he is always around 11% stakes winners to runners,” Rennie said. “There isn’t a box he hasn’t ticked. He has sold over $1 million horses, he has had I Wish I Win win the biggest prize money races around, and he was not only all of that from a performance point of view, but he meant the world to everyone here on the farm."
Savabeel's daughters have been carving their own niche, and he is the damsire of nine Group 1 winners to date, including this season's dual Group 1 winner Autumn Boy (The Autumn Sun), G1 Manawatu Sires' Produce Stakes winner La Dorada (NZ) (Super Seth), and G1 Hong Kong Champions Mile winner Beauty Eternal (Starspangledbanner).
"Not only the Chitticks and Waikato Stud, but the wider New Zealand industry has got a huge amount to be thankful for with Savabeel." - Mike Rennie
“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.”
The highest of highs
While Chittick was not present for the deal that brought Savabeel to Waikato’s paddocks, the stallion has been a constant presence in his life and in the development of the stud’s story.
“He obviously meant the world to us,” said Chittick. “He was a proper gentleman. You won’t find another like him - he was a champion in Australasia and at one point, was the sire of the world’s highest rated sprinter.”
A day that sticks in his memory came just over three years ago, when Savabeel delivered a memorable Group 1 double at Randwick with I Wish I Win (NZ) carrying the Waikato Stud colours to victory in the G1 TJ Smith Stakes and Major Beel (NZ) storming home to win the G1 Australian Derby.
George Chittick | Image courtesy of Waikato Stud
“I was lucky enough to be there at Randwick that day,” Chittick said. “That was probably the most exciting memory for me, seeing I Wish I Win win the featured sprint, and then an hour later, Major Beel taking out the Derby. It was very special for Savabeel to have a Group 1 double, both bred by us, and one out of an O’Reilly mare and one out of a Pins mare.”
"It was very special for Savabeel to have a Group 1 double, both bred by us, and one out of an O’Reilly mare and one out of a Pins mare." - George Chittick
“And then a week later, Atishu won the Queen Of The Turf over the mile. To have three Group 1 winners within a week is one of my highlights of his career.”
A legacy not yet finished
Savabeel will have one final crop of foals, having covered a book of 88 mares in 2025, and Chittick looks forward to seeing his final crops reach the yearlings sales ring and the race track.
“The versatility he had and passed on is something special,” he said. “He produces successful 2-year-olds here in New Zealand, and they go on to get even better as they get older. He really has achieved it all. He’s a Champion Sire, a top broodmare sire, and his legacy will be massive. He is a name that will be remembered in the history of racing and breeding.
"The versatility he (Savabeel) had and passed on is something special... He really has achieved it all." - George Chittick
“It’s a seriously successful sireline, and one that has put New Zealand on the map. Hopefully one day he can surpass his father - that will be a pretty special occasion.”
The sireline continues on either side of the Tasman; Cool Aza Beel produced G1 JJ Atkins Plate winner Cool Archie within his first crop, Embellish (NZ) has produced several Group winners to day, and Waikato Stud’s own Noverre (NZ) hailed his first winner recently.
“If he can achieve half of what Savabeel has achieved, then we will be very, very proud,” said Chittick.
Noverre (NZ) | Standing at Waikato Stud
