A sneak Southern Hemisphere preview of the wave of popularity enjoyed by Cambridge Stud shuttle stallion Almanzor was provided by a small sample at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
The multiple Group 1-winning son of Wootton Bassett (GB) had three Book 1 yearlings sell for $1.52 million at an average of $506,667 and a top price of $800,000.
“Almanzor has had fantastic exposure in Australia ahead of Karaka. It was very exciting to see the buzz about the stallion and the buyers reacting in such a positive way,” Cambridge Stud Chief Executive Officer, Henry Plumptre, said.
Farm principals Brendan and Jo Lindsay share in the ownership of Almanzor and Hello Youmzain (Fr) (Kodiac {GB}) with Haras d’Etreham, who doubled his Group 1 tally during last year’s Royal Ascot carnival with victory in the Diamond Jubilee S. after earlier landing the Haydock Sprint Cup.
Hello Youmzain is standing his first Northern Hemisphere season at the Normandy, France, stud of co-owner Haras d’Etreham, before arriving in New Zealand later this year for his first tour of duty at Cambridge Stud.
“On an international basis that was the highlight for us as it looked a million miles away when we bought into him as a 3-year-old,” Plumptre said.
“The Diamond Jubilee was a long-range target for his trainer Kevin Ryan and he did a remarkable job with him. Nothing will ever take that away, it was an amazing night for all of us. He then went very close in France when second in the Prix Maurice de Gheest.
“The Diamond Jubilee was a long-range target for his trainer Kevin Ryan and he did a remarkable job with him.” – Henry Plumptre
“He is a dual Group 1 winner and the important thing about bringing these stallions down is that they are good types. You might think that’s an obvious thing to say, but it’s not.
“New Zealand breeders are a very analytical bunch when they look at stallions and he’s a very good-looking horse with good scope and very strong. He combines the best of those two sire lines – I Am Invincible who his mother is related to and Danehill.”
Closer to home, Probabeel (NZ) (Savabeel) was a star performer for the farm with her Group 1 triumph in the Epsom H. to go with her G1 Surround S. win earlier in the year and preceded by her Ellerslie heroics.
Probabeel (NZ) winning the R. Listed Karaka Million 3YO Classic
She created turf history by becoming the first horse to win both the Karaka Million Classics as a 2 and 3-year-old while stablemate Kahma Lass (NZ) (Darci Brahma {NZ}) carried the stud’s familiar black and gold silks to victory in the G1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas.
“It’s been a great run with the racehorses and Probabeel has been a great flagbearer. The exciting thing for Brendan and Jo is that she’s a Kiwi-bred, off a great farm and by a great stallion,” Plumptre said.
“It’s been a great run with the racehorses and Probabeel has been a great flagbearer.” – Henry Plumptre
“She will be a blue hen mare for us in the broodmare paddock. It’s a lovely family that Waikato Stud have been developing for 15 or 20 years.
“Kahma Lass is exactly the same and Greg Tomlinson at Nearco Stud is a fantastic breeder off small numbers and keeps throwing up good horses.
“We bought another filly called Taroni off Greg and she ran third in the Karaka Million last year.”
All eyes are now on New Zealand Bloodstock’s National Yearling Sale and the first Southern Hemisphere crop representatives at Karaka of Almanzor, a three-time Group 1 winner and champion European colt.
Almanzor (Fr) | Standing at Cambridge Stud
“We’ve got some lovely colts and fillies out of lovely families and just a really nice line-up of correct and strong individuals,” Plumptre said. “The feedback from the Gold Coast is they are all temperamentally very sound.
“They might have had 25 parades a day and came back to their box and ate and slept. It’s a very good trait for a young thoroughbred to behave like that at the yearling sales.
“We’ve found the same thing with the yearlings we’ve prepped for Karaka and they are eager to please and there's no sign of bad temperaments there, which is fantastic. They are a particularly nice group of horses for a first-season sire.
“Based on what we have seen at the Gold Coast, buyers can buy with confidence.”
Leading stallions represented
Cambridge Stud will also offer a quality line-up of youngsters by Tavistock (NZ) and representatives of New Zealand-based sires Savabeel, Per Incanto (USA), Shamexpress (NZ) and Ocean Park (NZ) as well as leading Australian stallions.
“The thought process was that we also need to keep a sprinkling of Australian stallions to add depth to the draft. We’ve got yearlings by Rubick, Zoustar, Spirit Of Boom, Dundeel, Flying Artie, Dissident, Churchill, So You Think, Lonhro, Merchant Navy, Russian Revolution, I Am Invincible and Snitzel,” Plumptre said.
“We’ve infused the Australian stallions into the draft for diversity and hopefully that keeps everyone happy.
“We’re going to have a bigger lot in two years’ time because we sent a lot of mares to Australia last year without having Roaring Lion to use and effectively only having Almanzor and Embellish to use.
“We sent 60-odd mares over and we’re only bringing two back empty, so we’ve had a good run. In order for us to stay relevant to Australia, you’ve got to have that diversity and give the draft more depth.”
“In order for us to stay relevant to Australia, you’ve got to have that diversity and give the draft more depth.” – Henry Plumptre
Plumptre said the strong trade at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale wasn’t necessarily an accurate guide to outcomes at Karaka.
Bhima Stud's Almanzor (Fr) colt which sold at Magic Millions for $800,000
“Geography is the problem we have in New Zealand this year and the difficulty is that we can’t get our biggest buying bench, the Australians, here in any numbers.
“There’s no doubt they will have representation on the ground with local agents, but we’ve all been around long enough to know that the degree of difficulty goes up when you can’t put a horse in front of a prospective buyer.
“I don’t think we should be under any illusions about how tough next week will be, regardless of the success of the Gold Coast.
“Magic Millions did an incredible job to keep that Sale live to their buying bench and moved heaven and earth with the Queensland Government to get their people and horses in there. It’s a miracle they pulled it off.
“We haven’t got the same luxury here because we’re sailing along and will be predominantly online. Having said that, the quality of videos and quality of presentation from New Zealand is very, very high.
“You can add to that a raft of agents out there who have been looking at horses for the last two months. The fact that New Zealand Bloodstock is doing everything they can to accommodate overseas buyers makes us optimistic.”
