Matings Mix: Cambridge to support Chaldean with quality mares

Cover image courtesy of Cambridge Stud

When a New Zealand Horse Of The Year is just one of many high-class mares in a broodmare band you know it is a strong one - which is the case, as always, with Cambridge Stud with the Lindsay family continuing on the famed farm’s great tradition of breeding quality.

That mare is of course the outstanding Probabeel (NZ) (Savabeel) who did such a great job winning 13 of her 29 starts with four of her successes coming at the elite-level - the G1 Epsom H., the G1 Surround S., the G1 Caulfield S. and the G1 Futurity S.

Retired to stud in 2022, the daughter of the Group 3-placed Far Fetched (NZ) (Pins) from the family of the dual Group 1 winner Savvy Coup (NZ) (Savabeel), produced her first foal last spring - a filly by Cambridge’s high-class resident Almanzor (Fr).

With seven of the first 10 runners by Almanzor out of Savabeel being winners - including the G3 Wellington S. winner Zabmanzor (NZ) and two stakes placegetters - there are high expectations around Probabeel’s first baby.

Star quality

“She is a really nice filly,” Cambridge’s Scott Calder enthused - “like a lot of first foals she is not overly big but she has a ton of quality.”

“She is one of those fillies who knows that she is special, she has that star quality!”

Due in late October to Champion Sire Snitzel, Probabeel is one of many high-class mares due to visit Cambridge’s exciting newcomer Chaldean (GB) this spring - the dashing chestnut who impressed winning five of his 10 starts including the G1 Dewhurst S. and the G1 2000 Guineas.

Calder is excited to meet Chaldean who comes out of quarantine in early August, buoyed by the descriptions from Brendan Lindsay and Henry Plumptre who visited him at his Juddmonte base at Newmarket.

“They raved about him and everyone who has seen him has been really complimentary.”

“Henry describes him as a very strong, balanced, athletic horse and is going to suit a wide range of our mares.”

“We’ve had a great response from breeders to him, many have committed mares and will decide which ones to send him once they see him.”

Though Calder is confident that Chaldean will, like his his illustrious sire Frankel (GB), prove to be the sort of stallion to suit “a vast group of broodmare sires and broodmare types.”

Chaldean - a horse of quality

“We are really excited to be standing a horse of his quality in New Zealand,” Calder said, noting that Cambridge will be heavily supporting the well-related stallion.

“One of the main reasons we sought to secure him was that matches up well with so many of our mares and we will be giving him every opportunity to make it.”

Already the sire of a stakes winner, Miss Fabulass, out of a mare with Zabeel (NZ) - Frankel has fared particularly well with Zabeel’s dam sire Nureyev (USA) with 30 of his stakes winners bred on that cross, including seven of his Group 1 winners.

It is never a surprise to see such a cross work, with Frankel’s grandsire Sadler’s Wells (USA) being a three-quarter brother to Nureyev - the wonderful mare Special (USA) (Forli {Arg}) proving herself to be one of the great modern day line-breeding forces.

Which makes the pedigree of any future Chaldean x Probabeel foals rather exciting.

And Probabeel is not the only high-class Savabeel mare pencilled in for a date with Chaldean, also part of his debut book being the G1 New Zealand Oaks heroine Amarelinha (NZ) who had her first foal, an Almanzor colt, last spring.

Zabeel and Frankel a nice fit

A number of nice Zabeel mares are also due to visit Chaldean, including Zenella (NZ), the Moonee Valley-winning G1 Queensland Oaks runner-up who has already produced the Listed winner Miss Ella (NZ) (Iffraaj {GB}).

She is generations of Cambridge breeding, her dam being the Listed winner Diamond Like (Danehill {USA}) whose dual Group 1-winning dam Tristalove (NZ) (Sir Tristram {Ire}) is out of one of Eight Carat’s (GB) (Pieces Of Eight {Ire}) G1 Railway H. winner Diamond Lover (Sticks And Stones).

The match is an interesting one with Frankel already showing that he can bring out the best of this family - his multiple Group 1-winning son Cracksman (GB) being a descendant of Eight Carat’s grandam Courtessa (GB) (Supreme Court {GB}).

Meanwhile his locally bred G1 ATC Oaks and G1 Vinery Stud S. winner Hungry Heart is a descendant of Eight Carat’s ancestress Mumtaz Begum (Fr) (Blenheim {GB}). And his star daughter Alpinista (GB) is a daughter of that mare’s famed dam Mumtaz Mahal (GB) (The Tetrarch {GB}).

Ardeche (NZ) (Dehere {USA}), another daughter of Diamond Like and already dam of the G3 Waikato Cup winner Mongolian Marshal (NZ) (High Chaparral {Ire}), is also visiting Chaldean. As is, the stakes-placed Onlyarose (NZ) (One Cool Cat {USA}), a granddaughter of Eight Carat’s daughter Cotehele House (GB) (My Swanee {GB}) and already dam of the G3 Standish H. winner Snapper (NZ) (Power {GB}).

The G3 Ladies Day Vase winner Zonza (NZ) is another classy Zabeel mare on Chaldean’s list and she has already well and truly proven her worth as a broodmare with her second, third and fourth foals all being stakes winners - Bavella (Snitzel), Vernazza (NZ) (More Than Ready {USA}) and the G1 Queensland Derby winner Pinarello (NZ) (Tavistock {NZ}).

Vernazza is also pencilled in to visit Chaldean.

Pivotal mares an exciting match

One of the most successful Nureyev lines for Frankel has been Pivotal (GB), the G1 Nunthorpe S.-winning handsome chestnut whose daughters have produced five Frankel Group 1 winners.

Cambridge is excited to be sending two Pivotal mares to Chaldean - the three-time winner But Beautiful (Ire) who has already been well-represented by the stakes winners Bella Waters (NZ) (Sacred Falls {NZ}) and Immediacy (NZ) (Tarzino {NZ}) - and the two-time winner Steer By The Stars (Ire) whose first foal Never Back Down (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) is a Listed winner.

Strains of Sadler’s Wells’ full brother Fairy King (USA) are also being appreciated by Frankel with his G1 Queen Anne S. winner Triple Time (Ire) bred this way as is the local two-time Group winner Argentia whose dam is by Encosta De Lago.

And Cambridge have some very nice daughters of that outstanding stallion visiting Chaldean - such as the multiple city winner Polyantha (a mare who also has a Nureyev strain), dam of the two-time Group winner Polygon and the unraced Pizzazz, dam of the dual Listed winner All That Pizzazz (Spirit Of Boom).

Also members of Chaldean’s harem are the G2 Rose Of Kingston S. winner Excelida (Exceed And Excel), the two-time winner Orphea (Fastnet Rock) - dam of the G3 Manawatu Classic winner Outovstock (NZ) (Tavistock), the Listed winner Pretty To Sea (NZ) (Ocean Park {NZ}), the G2 Matamata Sires Produce S. winner Vernazza, the Listed Atlantic Jewel S. winner Zouzarella (Zoustar) and the dual Group 3 winner Melt (NZ) (Iffraaj).

And so Cambridge are supporting their young stallion with a mixture of young classy race mares and proven broodmares - “we want to get him off to a good start,” Calder said.

Almanzor picking up on Danehill and Zabeel influence

With his oldest New Zealand-bred runners now four, Calder feels that Cambridge have a good handle on what sort of mares are suiting their multiple Group 1 winner Almanzor - noting that nine of his first 17 stakes winners (including his G1 VRC Derby winner Manzoice) are out of mares carrying a Danehill (USA) strain.

And five have Zabeel in their pedigrees, making Almanzor a logical match for Cambridge’s Danehill-line mares - “we tend to gravitate to him with those mares,” Calder said.

“Danehill and Zabeel have been real drivers in Almanzor’s success,” he said, particularly excited about Darci Brahma (NZ) mares for him... he being by Danehill out of a Zabeel mare.

There have been just four runners bred on this cross so far and all are winners including this year’s Listed VRC St Leger winner Ahuriri (NZ).

The G1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas winner Kahma Lass (Darci Brahma) is, Calder said “a good example” of the sort of mare suitable for Almanzor and she heads back to him having been served by him last spring.

The dual Group winner Polygon (NZ) (Highly Recommended) will also visit Almanzor whilst the Group 2-placed My My Maree (Testa Rossa) makes her second visit to Cambridge’s G1 Sistema S.-winning Snitzel horse Sword Of State.

A 2-year-old pedigree

“He was a champion 2-year-old and she has produced a champion 2-year-old so it is a mating which makes sense,” said Calder, with My My Maree dam of the G1 Manawatu Sires Produce S. winner Marky Mark (NZ) (Makfi {GB}).

Sword Of State is being readied for his third year at stud with Calder delighted to see him serve a bigger book of mares in his second year than he did in his first, such the quality of his foals.

“We are confident sending mares who have already been to him back,” he said, adding that mares who need “a bit of spark and a bit of speed” are well suited by Sword Of State.

Another horse with plenty of pace is Hello Youmzain (Fr), the G1 Sprint Cup and G1 Diamond Jubilee S. winner whose first-crop were well-received at this year’s sales.

“He is siring strong, good moving horses with good bone,” Calder said, “and they look like they are going to go early.”

“He has already had five winners in the Northern Hemisphere and he had one go close at Royal Ascot, Electrolyte second in the G2 Coventry S., so we are excited about his first runners here.”

“He is another Danehill-free horse who should do well with mares from that line looking for a bit more speed. Sienna Rose (More Than Ready) is a good example,” he said, noting that her yearling by him, already named Stormland (NZ) for the Ciaron Maher stable, fetched $325,000 at the Magic Millions.

Good sales season

That eye-catching colt was part of a good sales season for Cambridge.

“We didn’t have any stand-out sale topping types,” Calder said, “but we had solid results at every sale we went to. As a first season sire Hello Youmzain created interest and Almanzor was also popular - we had one sell for $400,000 and he had quite a few in that $250,000/$260,000 range.”

“A good result for a stallion off a $30,000 service fee,” he said.

It will be a very busy spring for Cambridge with around 150 - 160 mares foaling down and being served, the farm going through “a growth burst” in recent years with Brendan and Jo Lindsay sourcing well-related mares both privately and at the sales.

“They are happy to heavily support their own stallions,” Calder said, adding that they are now in a better position to do so than ever before; their broodmare band being constantly upgraded with nice yearlings also being purchased and fillies doing well on the track before heading back to Cambridge.

“When we had two of three stallions we’d send more mares out but with five - one more than last year - we have a lot of options.”

“We are improving our broodmare band year by year and hopefully that will be of great benefit to our stallions,” Calder said.

Table: High-profile mares visiting the Cambridge Stud roster in 2024