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Image is not everything for a stallion
I have a theory that the best runners of some stallions – definitely not all – can be those that don’t look like their sire, which usually means they throw to the dam side.
The former Golden Slipper winner and prolific sire of winners, Rory’s Jester (ch h 1982, Crown Jester-Rory’s Rocket (GB), by Roan Rocket (IRE)), a big chunky chestnut with flaxen mane and a big white blaze, was a prime example. The flashy chestnuts, in the image of their old man, seemed to be the precocious early runners, but few of them amounted to anything special, and few trained on. Couldn’t say the same about the bays.
In many cases Rory’s Jester’s bays were lighter framed, had better heads, were a bit more athletic, and were essentially his best. The bays included the brilliant Group 1 speedster Isca, the reliable and enduring Racer’s Edge, who also is a good sire, the international-winning sprinter North Boy, Aragen, Chortle and Toast For The Coast.
Savabeel (br h 2001, Zabeel (NZ)-Savannah Success NZ), by Success Express (USA)), the 2004 Group 1 Cox Plate winner, could be another stallion with a similar trait to Rory’s Jester.
Savabeel’s filly Do Ra Mi (pictured), a sensational last-to-first winner of the G2 Kewney Stakes (1400m) at Flemington on Saturday, looks nothing like her sire. She’s a small, strong, lengthy bay filly in the image of her dam, Aulide, who in turn credits her physique to her sire, the wonderful Snippets (by Lunchtime (GB)).
From what I have seen Savabeel, who stands at Waikato Stud, Matamata, New Zealand, stamps his stock very much in his image (click here to view) – athletic horses with a bit of leg, but maybe lacking in bone and strength, especially as yearlings. In some respects the Cox Plate winner has been a bit disappointing as a sire, as he was expected to be the son of Zabeel to carry on the famous sire-line.
On Sunday, Savabeel made it a weekend Stakes double when Kudakulari won the Listed Canberra Guineas for trainer Bart Cummings. Like Do Ra Mi, Kudakulari hasn’t thrown to his sire in looks, as he is more the size and shape of what we know his grandsire Zabeel can throw.
I first developed this theory (and that’s all it can ever be) when I was looking at the early stock of former star galloper Stylish Century, an almost jet-black son of the almost jet-black Double Century. Most of the progeny of Stylish Century inherited his colour and physique – black, not tall, but long and athletic – but his best runners, including the classy Runaway, narrowly beaten by Mossman in the 1998 Group 2 AAMI Vase at Moonee Valley, looked nothing like their sire. In Runway’s case, he was out of a Sir Tristram mare, Lady Tristana, and he looked every bit a son of Sir Tristram.
I had bought Runaway as a yearling because of his resemblance to the Sir Tristram side of his pedigree, and a year later, I also bought Stylish Century’s other top-class son, the multiple Group winner Buster Jones (ch g 1994, ex-Show Queen (NZ), by Balmerino (NZ), who was a flashy chestnut with a white blaze and two long white socks on the front. I don’t know where the chestnut colour came from, although Stylish Century’s great grandsire Better Boy could throw blacks, bays and flashy chestnuts with splashes of white but I was later told that Buster Jones had the same physique as his famous granddam, champion New Zealand racemare Show Gate.
Savabeel, who inherited his dark brown colour and attractive physique from his mother Savannah Success, has six Stakes winners – his oldest progeny are now four – and it’s hard not to believe that his immense talent on the track won’t come through in his progeny, no matter what they look like. Maybe a bit of patience is the right play, because he is a son of Zabeel.
Breeding lines:
Stylish Century: br h 1986, Double Century-Stylish, by Forex (GB)
Kudakulari: b g 2007, Sabaveel-Oenotria (NZ), by O’Reilly (NZ)
Spot on with Savabeel I feel Danny. He has a nice filly here called Scarlett Lady who you can expect to see in the Queensland Oaks. She is unlike the majority of his stock too, she’s reasonably short coupled with a very strong girth and good hindquarters. As a type she resembles her mum On Call, a tough Ironclad mare who had a real affinity for the mud, especially at Trentham.
Truly Vain, a tall narrowish chestnut Vain stallion who stood in NZ from the late 80’s, fashioned a good record but his best were mainly bays or darker. There was the hulking almost brown, Status who I think won an Easter, and the powerfully built bays Vain Sovereign and Lou Morton.
Nice addition John. I will keep an eye on Scarlett Lady. I remember Truly Vain well. I bought a gelding by him to race in Malaysia many years back. Tough breed.
Not a single doubt ,karuta queen finishes that theory