Home

Back in August, we posted an interview with Cecile Smith, co-breeder of champion So You Think (NZ) (TrueNicks). Cecile emailed me to report that So You Think's now 22-year-old dam, Triassic, foaled a healthy Medaglia d'Oro (TrueNicks,SRO) colt in October.

Triassic with her 2012 Medaglia d'Oro colt.

Cecile said: "He is a big, strong colt and Triassic had no problems foaling down despite her age. In fact, she foaled him down in just 20 minutes. The stud staff were impressed. Sometimes Mother Nature endows a horse with an extra dose of je ne sais quoi that makes a super talented racehorse or an evergreen mare as in Triassic's case."

Cecile also revealed that Triassic's 2012 mating will be to Waikato Stud stallion Savabeel, a Cox Plate (Aus-I)-winning son of Zabeel. The stallion decision came down to "pedigree, type, age, and commerciality."

"Zabeel for years has dominated the New Zealand breeding market. However, in the last couple of years his colts have not been selling as well as his fillies by about half, even though his foal crops are smaller than in past years. He is 26 years old and has fertility problems. Moreover, his service fee remains the highest in NZ ($100,000) and there is no live foal guarantee. Ideally, a Zabeel filly would have been the ultimate, but I wasn't willing to take that chance financially.

"The second horse that I looked at was Makfi (GB) (TrueNicks) and I absolutely loved that stallion. He is young, gorgeous, the right type, and was a great racehorse. His pedigree cross was A+. He would have suited Triassic perfectly except that he is unproven and non-commercial...at the moment. If he had been two years older with runners on the ground, or Triassic had been younger, that would have been a great mating.

"Savabeel, on the other hand, is the up-and-coming pretender to Zabeel, his sire. His first crops are proving themselves in the big races and Savabeel himself was a Cox Plate winner. As far as the other criteria go, he is young, a good type with a pedigree match of B. His star is on the rise and his colts are selling very well. Furthermore, he has a good temperament which is often overlooked as a criterion for breeding. If Triassic gets in foal this year, and if she has a Savabeel colt, it will be two years before that colt will go to the sales and the Savabeels will be even more competitive on the market. So, commercially, this stallion outshone the other two. The other beneficial aspects of going to Savabeel is Waikato Stud itself. Mark and Lisa Chittick run an excellent operation, have great communication skills with their clients, and are a down-to-earth, welcoming young couple. That's not to say the other studs aren't professionally run, but I feel comfortable with their ethos.

"If Triassic has a Savabeel filly, I will be keeping her to carry on with my little breeding operation. If the foal turns out to be a colt, I think that I will cease breeding horses altogether by myself and take a share perhaps in a mare and breed as part of a syndicate. The daily operation of a farm is demanding physically as well as time-consuming, and I am not as young 'as I used to was.' I envisage a day when there will be time to travel, having the responsibility only of my two old broodies, Triassic and Tokyo Belle, in their retirement."

Filed under: Mares, New Zealand, Australia