Savabeel is a retired

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are c ...

race horse Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic pr ...

and active

sire Sire is an archaic respectful form of address to reigning kings in Europe. In French and other languages it is less archaic and relatively more current. In Belgium, the king is addressed as "Sire..." in both Dutch and French. The words "sire" a ...

. He is best known for his win in the 2004

Cox Plate The W. S. Cox Plate is a Group 1 Thoroughbred horse race for horses aged three years old and over under Weight for age conditions, over a distance of 2040 metres (approximately 1m 2f), that is held by the Moonee Valley Racing Club at Moo ...

. He was trained by

Graeme Rogerson Graeme Arthur Rogerson is a New Zealand Thoroughbred racehorse trainer. He is notable for having trained more race-day winners than any other trainer in New Zealand and for having won many Group One races in New Zealand and Australia. Biogra ...

, and ridden by

Chris Munce Chris Munce (born 17 May 1969) is a highly successful Thoroughbred horse racing jockey, having won both the Melbourne Cup and the Cox Plate. He is now a highly successful trainer of horses in Brisbane Queensland heading up a family based operat ...

in his most important wins.

Breeding

Savabeel, foaled on 23 September 2001, is a brown horse sired by champion

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

sire

Zabeel Zabeel (25 October 1986 – 25 September 2015) was a New Zealand-bred racehorse who predominantly raced in Australia. He was retired to stud and became a champion sire. He is a bay son of Sir Tristram (IRE) from the Nureyev mare Lady Gisell ...

out of the multiple Group 1 winner Savannah Success.

Racing career

In Spring 2004 he won the race considered the Weight for Age Championship of Australasia, the Cox Plate, beating the previous year's winner

Fields of Omagh Fields Of Omagh (foaled 1997) is a champion middle distance Australian Thoroughbred racehorse of the early-mid-2000s. He was a half-brother to the stakeswinners, King Brian (Bunbury Cup, Pinjarra Cup), Malcolm (STC Canterbury Stakes, Ajax Stake ...

. He was the first three-year-old to win the race since another son of Zabeel,

Octagonal In geometry, an octagon (from the Greek ὀκτάγωνον ''oktágōnon'', "eight angles") is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon. A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, whi ...

won the race nine years earlier in 1995. At the time of Savabeel's Cox Plate win, Rogerson described him as the best horse he had ever trained. Savabeel also won the

Group One Group One, Group 1, Grade I or G1 is the term used for the highest level of Thoroughbred and Standardbred stakes races in many countries. In Europe, the level of races for Thoroughbred racing is determined using the Pattern races, Pattern race sys ...

2004

Spring Champion Stakes The Spring Champion Stakes is an Australian Turf Club Group 1 Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds at Set Weights over a distance of 2000 metres at Randwick Racecourse, Sydney, Australia in October. Prize money is A$2,000,000. History Th ...

over 2000m at Randwick. After an excellent run for second behind

Elvstroem Elvstroem (foaled 14 November 2000 in Australia) was a bay Thoroughbred racehorse, by world champion sire Danehill from the former champion three-year-old filly, Circles of Gold. Dam Circles of Gold, is a 1991 chestnut mare by the Australasi ...

in the

C F Orr Stakes The C F Orr Stakes is a Melbourne Racing Club Group 1 Thoroughbred horse race at Weight for Age, run over a distance of 1400 metres at Caulfield Racecourse, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia in February. Total prize money is A$750,000. Histo ...

in February 2005, Savabeel had an unsuccessful autumn campaign which saw him only place once and was retired to stud in 2005. All in all, he retired the winner of $2,760,460 in stakes. Savabeel started on 14 occasions, winning 3 and placing on 4 occasions.

Stud career

Savabeel stands at Waikato Stud in the

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

, as one of the primary stallions. Savabeel made a clean sweep of New Zealand's three stallion categories for the 2016–17 season. For the second straight year the stallion won the Grosvenor Award for New Zealand stakes earnings, the Dewar Stallion Trophy for Australasian earnings and the Centaine Award for global earnings.

Notable stock

Savabeel has sired 27 individual

winners: 'c =

colt Colt(s) or COLT may refer to: *Colt (horse), an intact (uncastrated) male horse under four years of age People * Colt (given name) *Colt (surname) Places *Colt, Arkansas, United States *Colt, Louisiana, an unincorporated community, United States ...

, f =

filly A filly is a female horse that is too young to be called a mare. There are two specific definitions in use: *In most cases, a ''filly'' is a female horse under four years old. *In some nations, such as the United Kingdom and the United States, t ...

'', g =

gelding A gelding is a castrated male horse or other equine, such as a pony, donkey or a mule. Castration, as well as the elimination of hormonally driven behavior associated with a stallion, allows a male equine to be calmer and better-behaved, makin ...

Breeding

Racing career

Stud career

Notable stock

Pedigree

References

See also