Dynastic did his sire Almanzor proud in an outstanding debut season.“The general consensus is that there’s plenty of talent out there and it’s exciting to think that the best is yet to come.”
This time a year ago much of the dialogue around Cambridge Stud shuttle stallion Almanzor was about the impact he had made with buyers clamouring to buy his first crops yearlings at sales across New Zealand and Australia.
Twelve months on and the former champion European three-year-old has the results that really matter after a standout debut season with his Southern Hemisphere-conceived two-year-olds.
Dynastic has led the charge with victory in the Karaka Million and a nose defeat in the Gr. 1 Sistema Stakes. Another quality colt, Andalus, finished second at Group Three, third at Group Two and fourth at Group One, and with five winners to date between New Zealand and Australia, Almanzor is well on the way to proving he’s the real deal.
A stakes winner at 1600m himself as a two-year-old before blossoming in his second season with middle-distance wins in the Gr. 1 Prix du Jockey Club, Irish Champion Stakes and Ascot Champion Stakes, Almanzor’s Northern Hemisphere-bred three-year-olds are following a similar pattern.
In the opening weeks of the European season his tally of winners stands at 15, while across the Atlantic his three-year-old son Unanimous Consent took his record to three from three with victory last weekend in the Listed Woodhaven Stakes over a mile at New York’s Aqueduct track.
“It would be fair to say that in both hemispheres Almanzor has met expectations,” commented Cambridge Stud CEO Henry Plumptre. “What’s especially encouraging is that it’s still early days and after spending time recently in Australia the underlying strength is that the market returned, the people who bought them last year came back for more.
“The general consensus is that there’s plenty of talent out there and it’s exciting to think that the best is yet to come.”
Off the back of his debut season it has been announced by Cambridge Stud in this week’s service fees release that Almanzor will stand at $50,000 in the 2022 breeding season. His fellow shuttle, champion sprinter Hello Youmzain, will again stand at $30,000 in his second season at Cambridge, while Savabeel’s resident Group One-winning son Embellish will again be offered to breeders at $4,000.
Like Almanzor, Hello Youmzain’s book is restricted to the 140-mare mark and he covered an unsurprisingly quality book in his debut season. As a forerunner to his first Southern Hemisphere crop arriving, the feedback from France’s Haras d’Etreham is that his first foals are well up to standard.
“They like them in Europe,” said Plumptre. “It’s early days yet but he’s a horse that will put plenty of substance into his mares; he’s not a difficult horse to mate.”
The first crop by New Zealand 2000 Guineas winner Embellish will make their racetrack debuts next season and while they would be expected to be better with time, there’s still a level of optimism for some early indicators.
“We sent some pretty useful mares to him and for example we’ve got a filly out of a Fastnet Rock mare that is a strong, precocious type, so it’s going to be interesting to see what they might do,” added Plumptre. “The thing about Embellish is how well he’s been supported, not just by us but by so many other breeders.
“For a horse at his level to cover more than 150 mares in his third season was quite extraordinary, it reflects on his quality and the value he represents at a fee of $4,000, which he will stay at this season.”
Cambridge Stud is keeping its powder dry on a fee for the newcomer to its 2022 roster, Group One-winning Snitzel colt Sword of State. Last season’s champion New Zealand two-year-old is about to embark on his final campaign at the Queensland winter carnival, after which his debut fee will be finalised.
“He will start in the Gold Coast Guineas next week, which will be a nice entry level race that will tell us how he measures up, then we’ll know whether he’s up to a race like the (Gr. 1) Kingsford-Smith,” said Plumptre.
“Standing a son of Snitzel fits well with us, he’s a classic Australian-bred sprinter. If you’d asked which son of an Australian stallion would you want to be standing in New Zealand, you’d be saying Snitzel.
“He’s not one-dimensional, you only have to look at the range of sire sons that are now doing the job. Shamus Award is leaving all sorts of winners with five Group One horses amongst them, and Russian Revolution has got off to a tremendous start.”
