Cover image courtesy of Inglis
The G1 The Goodwood was taken out by Savatoxl (Kuroshio), sold by Stonehouse Thoroughbreds for just $8000 as a yearling at the Inglis Melbourne Gold Yearling Sale, before being re-offered through the Red Centre Sale. His career started out on the red dust of Pioneer Park in Alice Springs and has now reached a pinnacle of a victory in South Australia's most famous race.
Up in Brisbane, homebred Eduardo (Host {Chi}) captured his second Group 1 in the Doomben 10,000 for Joseph Pride, having not been broken in until he was four. From a horse that had been allowed to grow out in a paddock because the owners didn't initially have the finances to get him to a trainer, he has now developed into one of the top sprinters in the country.
Savatoxl's journey started out at Mark and Sheryl Atkinson's Carrington Park at Drouin, before the long-time breeders put their faith in a young farm, based at Eddington, north of Melbourne, to sell him as a yearling.
For Stonehouse Thoroughbreds' Ryan Arnel, the Kuroshio yearling colt the Atkinsons gave him to sell, initially through the 2017 Inglis Melbourne Premier Sale, and then through the Gold Sale, was an example of how harsh a judge the yearling market can be on anything viewed as not overly commercial.
Savatoxl as a yearling
"He was a nice type. I guess being by Kuroshio, who wasn't on everybody's radar, made it a bit hard, and the mare, while I really liked her breeding, she looked a little limited at the time," Arnel told TDN AusNZ.
"He came through the Premier Sale and passed in there before going to the Gold Sale. He was a nice type, but just in the sales ring, he didn't have that commercial side to him.
"He was always well put together, a great type, an excellent mover, he had everything you needed there. He just wasn't on the radar."
"He (Savatoxl) was always well put together, a great type, an excellent mover, he had everything you needed there. He just wasn't on the radar." - Ryan Arnel
It was the Alice Springs Turf Club that paid the $8000 for Savatoxl, before then re-offering him through the Inglis Red Centre Sale, where his first trainer, and current part-owner Will Savage, paid $18,000 for him.
The story since that day reads 16 wins from 28 starts, having raced at Alice Springs, Darwin, Eagle Farm, Balaklava, Caulfield, Flemington and Morphettville, where Saturday's Goodwood success came off the back of his victory in the G3 D C McKay S. earlier this month. The now 5-year-old has blossomed under the eye of Tony and Calvin McEvoy, who are keen to send him to Brisbane for the G1 Kingsford-Smith Cup.
Stonehouse Thoroughbreds was busy preparing its 10-strong draft for this year's Melbourne Gold Sale when Savatoxl became its second Group 1-winning graduate, in another boost for the burgeoning operation.
"It's brilliant to have that success. The first one we were lucky enough to be associated with was Extra Brut, who won the Victoria Derby, and we sold him as a weanling. So this fella is the first one we have sold as a yearling, which is great," Arnel said.
"We've got a couple of others running around that are almost getting there in Swats That and Harmony Rose. Swats That was born and bred off the farm, and she came second in the Coolmore (Stud S.) but has yet to get that elusive Group 1. It was great to see Savatoxl come through and nab that one for us yesterday."
Success from a small start
After a day of dodging the Antarctic blast which hit Melbourne while showing off its draft for the Gold Sale, it was a success to warm the heart for Arnel, who has relied on a lot of smaller breeders to get his business off the ground in the past five years.
"We have always been a farm that had a lot of small clients and a couple of big ones and there is obviously success to be had at every level," he said.
"Savatoxl was bred by Sheryl and Mark Atkinson. They had Carrington Park. They’ve been in the game for years and they get a to a point where it became a bit hard and they have since got out of the game. They sold everything and wrapped it all up."
Ryan Arnel | Image courtesy of Stonehouse Thoroughbreds
Before the Atkinsons sold up their thoroughbred interests, they did get one more reward from their relationship with Stonehouse Thoroughbreds, with Savatoxl's half-brother by Brazen Beau selling for $380,000 at the 2019 Inglis Premier Sale to trainer Mick Price.
Last Thursday, the now 3-year-old, named Bengal Bandit, broke his maiden for Price and Michael Kent Jnr at Hamilton.
"For him to knock his maiden over in the same week, it's been a great little result for the family," Arnel said.
Bengal Bandit as a yearling
The other beneficiary of that success in the man who now owns Savatoxl's dam, Li'L Miss Hayley (NZ) (Savabeel), Frank Mazor. The mare has a yearling filly by Needs Further and visited the same stallion again last year.
Not only is Savatoxl the first Group 1 winner by Kuroshio, who stood at Darley's Northwood Park for five seasons before permanently relocating to Starfield Stud in Ireland in 2018, he also became the first Group 1 winner to feature Waikato Stud's Savabeel as his damsire.
