Contrasting approaches produce rare double for Almanzor

Leading New Zealand stallions are making a habit of showing off their versatility and class with broad-spectrum achievements at this time of the year.
Last April Savabeel stole the show during The Championships at Randwick with a Group One treble in the 1200-metre TJ Smith Stakes (I Wish I Win), 1600-metre Queen of the Turf (Atishu) and 2400-metre Australian Derby (Major Beel). Fast-forward 12 months, and Cambridge Stud shuttler Almanzor produced a black-type double at even more far-flung extremes last Saturday.
The first leg came at Riccarton when unbeaten two-year-old Nucleozor won the Listed Welcome Stakes by four and a quarter lengths. He sat in second place before producing a brilliant turn of foot, stopping the clock at 58.39 seconds for the 1000m and his last 600 metres in 33.52. Bred and raced by Te Akau Stud in partnership with Westonlea Bloodstock, Nucleozor has now had three starts for three increasingly impressive wins.
But even bigger and better things followed later on Saturday when Almanzor sired the quinella in the 3200-metre Gr. 1 Sydney Cup at Randwick. The race was won impressively by the British-bred Circle Of Fire, who endured a taxing wide run, but his superiority and stamina shone through in a two-length victory over the French-bred Athabascan.
Circle Of Fire became the second Group One winner for Almanzor, whose first Southern Hemisphere crop produced last season’s Victoria Derby winner Manzoice. Fittingly, on the same day that Randwick staged the prestigious Gr. 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes, Circle Of Fire became a posthumous Group One winner for his breeder, Queen Elizabeth II.
“To have a Sydney Cup quinella and a stakes-winning two-year-old over 1000 metres was quite an unusual double, coming at such opposite ends of the spectrum, but enormously pleasing nonetheless,” Cambridge Stud CEO Henry Plumptre told RaceForm. “I thought that two-year-old showed very good speed on Saturday.
“David Ellis has been a fantastic supporter of Almanzor with his Te Akau mares. He also has the full-sister (Qali Al Farrasha), who placed in the New Zealand Oaks a few weeks ago.”
Plumptre suggested that Saturday’s starkly contrasting double highlights a difference in approach to Almanzor between the two hemispheres.
“I think the mating plans with Almanzor in the Northern Hemisphere have been completely different to the mating plans here,” he said. “He’s covered a lot of faster mares in his New Zealand books – mares from that six-furlong to mile bracket – and I think that’s been borne out in his results.
“All of his progeny that have shown anything in Europe have been stayers, and obviously those two in the Sydney Cup on Saturday both come from very stout families. It’s different to how we’ve been approaching him in our part of the world, but having said that, finishing first and second in a signature Group One race during the Sydney Autumn Carnival – you’d always take that.”
This season alone, Almanzor has sired a total of 12 individual black-type performers across Australasia. He has had five stakes winners, with Circle Of Fire and Nucleozor backed up by Athabascan (Gr. 3 Colin Stephen Handicap, Listed City Tattersalls Club Cup), Zabmanzor (Gr. 3 Wellington Stakes), Positivity (Gr. 3 Sunline Vase) and Sudbina (Gr. 3 Desert Gold Stakes).
Athabascan, Zabmanzor, Positivity and Qali Al Farrasha have all been Group One-placed. The latter pair finished second and third in last month’s New Zealand Oaks.
“Almanzor has had a really solid season,” Plumptre said. “I believe Andrew Forsman has taken Positivity across the Tasman, and Te Akau are targeting the Oaks in Adelaide in a couple of weeks’ time with Qali Al Farrasha.
“If one of those could nail another Group One to the board, that would be terrific for the stallion. His yearling market hasn’t been crazy this year, but his results were really solid and his good progeny were consistently making $250,000 to $300,000. That’s pretty good going for a stallion six seasons into his career.”
Cambridge Stud owners Brendan and Jo Lindsay were on course at Randwick on Saturday to not only witness Almanzor’s Sydney Cup quinella, but also to see their colours carried by Joliestar to a brilliant win in the A$1 million Gr. 2 Arrowfield 3YO Sprint.
“It was an extraordinary training effort by the Chris Waller camp to get her to perform like that first-up on Saturday,” Plumptre said of last November’s Gr. 1 Thousand Guineas winner. “She’d had an extended break and undergone ankle surgery.”
Adding even more lustre to a special month, Cambridge Stud also bred and sold Outovstock and Investigate, who finished first and second in the Gr. 3 Manawatu Classic at Trentham. Apostrophe, who won the Gr. 3 Manawatu Breeders’ Stakes at the same meeting, is another graduate of the stud’s Karaka yearling drafts.