Photo: Supplied
Hall of Fame stallion Savabeel’s nine-year hold on the Centaine Award has been broken by the pride of the Wairarapa, Per Incanto.
The Little Avondale Stud star has achieved worldwide progeny earnings of more than $20 million in the 2024-25 season, giving him a comfortable buffer over Savabeel ($17.85 million) in the Centaine standings. Waikato Stud supremo Savabeel continues his dominance of the Grosvenor and Dewar Awards for New Zealand and Australasian progeny earnings, collecting his 10th and ninth title respectively.
Per Incanto’s award-winning season has been underpinned by a career-best year across the Tasman. He has risen to 15th on the Australian sires’ premiership with over A$10.7 million in progeny earnings, with 46 winners from 91 runners. Group One stars Jimmysstar and Gringotts have been backed up by Group Two victories by Evaporate, Marble Arch and Belclare.
Per Incanto is also in the top five on the New Zealand premiership with 35 winners and total stakes of $2.3 million, while he netted another top-10 finish in Hong Kong with 11 winners and HK$25.9 million.
“It’s a massive achievement,” Little Avondale principal Sam Williams said. “We’re only starting to see the better-pedigreed horses from his seasons at a higher service fee coming through now, and he’s gone and taken the Centaine Award off Savabeel.
“Savabeel’s been our champion sire for close to a decade now, so to take this award off him is just a very proud moment for everyone here at Little Avondale, as well as for Per Incanto’s shareholders and the whole syndicate behind him.
“Savabeel’s still deservedly taking the Dewar and Grosvenor awards, but for Per Incanto to beat him on worldwide earnings is something very special.
“We know how much they’ve liked him up in Hong Kong for a good number of years, and now he’s doing it in Australia too, so it’s just a huge result and I’m so proud of him.
“There could be a whole lot more to come too, with big things in store this season for the likes of Jimmysstar, Gringotts and Evaporate. There are also some really exciting horses coming through now, two and three-year-olds from these better-pedigreed mares. I’ve been hearing so many wonderful reports from trainers who have these exciting Per Incantos coming through. I can’t wait to see them. Watch this space – he could be in for another wonderful year.”
The Per Incanto story is a remarkable one. He was born in America and is by the influential Street Cry out of the British-bred Indian Ridge mare Pappa Reale, who won 13 races in Italy and was that country’s champion sprinter in 1997 and 1998.
Per Incanto is a half-brother to Patapan (by Stravinsky), who himself stood in New Zealand from 2008 to 2013 with limited success.
In a 13-race career, Per Incanto recorded six wins and was Italy’s joint champion sprinter in 2007. His biggest win came in the Gr.3 Premio Tudini (1200m) in Rome.
Secured to stand at Little Avondale in the 2011 season, Per Incanto was introduced at a service fee of just $4,000. He will command $60,000 in 2025.
“Bruce Perry and I were on the lookout for a stallion, and we got a call from Angus Gold, who was the racing manager for Shadwell at the time,” Williams recalled. “He heard we were looking for a new stallion.
“We knew Angus well, with a relationship with Shadwell that had developed through Nadeem standing here for a number of years and serving some good numbers.
“So we flew over and had a look at Per Incanto, and I made sure that we weren’t going home without securing a deal to stand him. He’s always been such a good-looking horse.
“And then his first crop of yearlings really set the tone. The Classic Sale in Sydney took place before Karaka in those days, and he ended up as the second leading sire by average behind Not A Single Doubt! That was stunning. There were reactions along the lines of, ‘Who is Per Incanto? Who is this Italian stallion who’s sold so well?’ He was a real mystery horse and it was very cool.”
But that was only the beginning of Per Incanto’s rise to stardom.
“What he’s gone on to do is unbelievable,” Williams said. “It’s so hard in the stallion world, and especially in Australia. Getting results there is what it’s all about.
“He’s 15th on the premiership there this season. There are only three in the top 20 who have had under 100 runners – Per Incanto in 15th, and Too Darn Hot in 17th and the late Tavistock in 20th.
“You’re competing against stallions that have had several times the volume of runners. So, when New Zealand stallions do well over there, it’s an incredible achievement considering how much the numbers are against them.
“Australia has a far bigger broodmare pool and those stallions serve big books of well over 200 mares. New Zealand stallions are on the back foot trying to compete.
“When you do manage to compete, like Per Incanto is now and the likes of Savabeel, Zabeel and O’Reilly have before him, it’s a massive achievement for the stallion and for the New Zealand industry. It shows that our genetics here are very, very strong, along with our wonderful growing environment.”
Williams is now looking forward to continuing that Per Incanto momentum in the 2025-26 breeding season.
“We’ve limited his book for the upcoming season to 85 mares,” he said. “He’s got a wonderfully high-quality book of mares lined up. I’m really looking forward to the start of the season, which is only a few weeks away.
“We’re really excited to have his son Little Brose as well, who was a Group One-winning two-year-old in Australia. He brings that youth as well as the Per Incanto genes.
“I think having a stallion like him available at such an affordable fee ($15,000) is amazing for the New Zealand industry.
“It’s certainly redeveloped my enthusiasm for the industry. It’s got me really motivated, making sure that Little Avondale doesn’t just fade off into the background when Per Incanto goes. We know now that’s not going to be the case.”
