G1 Race

In the debate over New Zealand’s greatest stallion, Zabeel stands at the forefront. Zabeel finished his career with 46 individual Group One winners of 83 Group One races, the most of any stallion to serve at stud here. Champion gallopers litter the page of his notable winners, the likes of Might And Power and Octagonal headlining a who’s who of star performers. With his own sire Sir Tristram finishing with 44 individual Group One winners of 72 Group One races, there wasn’t much between father and son.

Iconic studmaster Sir Patrick Hogan was always reluctant to compare the two. But in 2008, when Maldivian gave Zabeel his fourth Cox Plate win after Octagonal, Might And Power and Savabeel to earn the title of “most influential sire in the history of the race” from the Moonee Valley Racing Club, Sir Patrick yielded. ‘I’ve got to be fair to Zabeel now. I said I’d never say it, but he has probably surpassed Sir Tristram now. He’s emulated his own sire in every category.”

Bred by Swettenham Stud, Zabeel was born at Cambridge Stud and secured his future at stud when he won the 1990 Gr.1 Australian Guineas. Sir Patrick was looking for a son of Sir Tristram to continue his legacy and was delighted to secure Zabeel for Cambridge Stud. “When Zabeel came through the gate, I was certainly rapt in him. I believed he was the right son of Sir Tristram but I did say to myself ‘if he’s a nice bread-and-butter commercial stallion, I’ll be more than happy because I can’t get one again like the one I’ve just had’. But as they say, lightning struck twice.” Zabeel served at stud till the ripe age of 27 and died at Cambridge Stud in 2015, aged 29.