Proisir joins Savabeel on the sires’ podium

An incredible $18 million season in Australia has seen Savabeel add another two New Zealand sire trophies to his ever-growing collection, but a relative newcomer’s record-breaking results on home soil earned him a place on the podium alongside the perennial champion.
Savabeel brought almost a decade of dominance into the 2022-23 season. He had won all of the last eight Grosvenor Awards for champion New Zealand sire, six of the last seven Dewar Awards for combined progeny earnings in New Zealand and Australia, and all of the last seven Centaine Awards for worldwide progeny earnings.
The Waikato Stud giant won the Dewar and Centaine Awards again this season, lifting him to a total of 23 stallion awards in his glittering career.
But now Savabeel has to share the spotlight with Proisir. After bubbling just below the surface when 12th in 2020-21 and fifth in 2021-22, the Rich Hill Stud sensation had a breakthrough season like no other.
Proisir soared to the top of the table with Dark Destroyer’s win in the season-opening Gr. 1 Tarzino Trophy at Hastings in early September, and that was only the beginning. In the final week of the season he now boasts a total of 47 winners from 89 runners on New Zealand racetracks in 2022-23, with eight individual stakes winners and total progeny earnings of $4.15 million. He became the first stallion to ever break the $4 million barrier in a New Zealand season.
As the season progressed, Dark Destroyer was joined by another four Group One winners – Pier in the New Zealand 2000 Guineas, Legarto in the New Zealand 1000 Guineas and Australian Guineas, Levante in the Telegraph and Otaki WFA Classic, and Prowess in the Bonecrusher New Zealand Stakes and Vinery Stud Stakes.
Proisir’s dream season has well and truly announced his arrival among the top echelon of New Zealand stallions, and it prompted an increase in his service fee from $17,500 to $70,000 plus GST.
For Rich Hill Stud’s managing director John Thompson, it has also been an enormously satisfying breakthrough after a number of narrow premiership defeats for foundation stallion Pentire.
“Pentire went so close on quite a number of occasions,” Thompson said. “He really deserved to win a premiership and never quite managed it, so it’s great to get the monkey off the back for the stud in some ways.
“I don’t think there’s been many more convincing winners than Proisir. His progeny have earned more than $4 million – the first stallion to pass that mark in New Zealand, and not far off double the amount Savabeel has earned in second place. It really has been a special season.
“It’s the reason you get into the stallion business – you hope to one day have a champion, but it doesn’t happen all that often. It’s been amazing.”
Thompson admits that it was only in January that he started to believe that Proisir was on target to break Savabeel’s eight-year reign as champion domestic sire.
“He’d obviously had an incredible spring, winning both Guineas and having Dark Destroyer win the Tarzino as well, but we knew all too well that stallions can be overtaken through the latter part of a season,” Thompson said.
“It was that win by Prowess in the Karaka Million that changed everything. Immediately after that race, I said straight away, ‘I don’t think they can catch him.’
“I probably still didn’t expect him to win as easily as he has, but Proisir has just kept getting winners all the way through. He’s pretty much had at least one winner every week.”
Giving Rich Hill Stud further cause for celebration, exciting shuttle stallion Satono Aladdin has finished the 2022-23 season as New Zealand’s champion second-season sire and champion sire of two-year-olds.
Satono Aladdin sired 12 winners from 33 runners in New Zealand this season, with three stakes winners and progeny earnings of more than $1.3 million.
Pennyweka was a headline act, becoming only the third horse in history to win both the New Zealand Oaks at Trentham and the Australian Oaks at Randwick. Another highlight came courtesy of Tokyo Tycoon, who demonstrated his supremacy among New Zealand’s two-year-old ranks with a barnstorming finish to win the Karaka Million.
“For Satono Aladdin to be champion second-season sire and champion sire of two-year-olds is fantastic for us,” Thompson said. “It’s not very common to see a stallion produce a top two-year-old and a top staying three-year-old in the same year.”
But the exciting rise of Rich Hill Stud’s young guns should take nothing away from the mighty Savabeel, whose exploits in Australia were nothing short of extraordinary. He sits in third place on the Australian sires’ premiership, trailing only I Am Invincible and So You Think and ahead of the likes of Snitzel, Zoustar, Dundeel and Written Tycoon.
Savabeel sired 95 winners from just 182 runners in Australia this season – a stark contrast to the number of runners for I Am Invincible (377), So You Think (304), Snitzel (289) and Zoustar (355).
Three of Savabeel’s progeny won at Group One level in Australia in 2022-23, and notably they all achieved that feat during The Championships at Randwick. I Wish I Win announced himself as one of Australasia’s most exciting sprinting talents with a stunning win in the TJ Smith Stakes, Major Beel outstayed his opposition in the Australian Derby, and Atishu took out the Queen Of The Turf Stakes.
Savabeel’s Dewar and Centaine Awards were backed up by an additional honour for a former kingpin of the Waikato Stud roster, with the late, great O’Reilly finishing as champion broodmare sire for the fifth time. His daughters produced 17 individual stakes winners this season, including Group One stars Major Beel, Espiona, Belclare and He’s A Doozy.
“Savabeel has had another great year,” Mark Chittick said. “To be third on the Australian premiership behind I Am Invincible and So You Think is a pretty fair effort, and he’s coming away with a total of $25 million worldwide and $20 million across Australasia. Those are very special results.
“He really showed his versatility on that first day of The Championships at Randwick in April, where he had such a unique double with I Wish I Win in the TJ Smith Stakes and Major Beel in the Australian Derby. I think that’s the first time it’s ever been done, certainly in our part of the world – the same stallion and same breeder winning a Group One sprint and a Derby on the same day. That’s something we’ll never forget.
“For O’Reilly to be champion broodmare sire for the fifth time is another fantastic honour. He’s been a wonderful horse for us, and his legacy is continuing to be felt.”
At the opposite end of the spectrum, The Oaks Stud’s U S Navy Flag has taken top honours among first-season sires. The son of War Front had 24 first-crop runners in New Zealand this season, with seven winners and total earnings of $373,000 – a comfortable win over Santos with $306,075.
Chantilly Lace delivered a first-crop stakes win with her dominant performance in the Listed Castletown Stakes, while To Catch A Thief and Aprilia were both Group One-placed.