Photo: Kenton Wright (Race Images)
Waikato Stud principal Mark Chittick has barely had time to draw breath just lately, but on Monday he found a brief window to reflect on what has been a landmark period for his family’s Matamata nursery.
That all began 10 days ago with the announcement that unbeaten Group One winner Return To Conquer will take up duties at Waikato this spring, followed a day later by a first stakes success for resident sire Banquo when his son Justin Case won the Gr.3 Fairview Matamata Slipper (1200m), and in one of the biggest breeding stories ever, last Friday’s news that leading young stallion Super Seth had been sold to Coolmore.
Capping all that on Saturday, another member of the Waikato roster, Gr.1 Cox Plate (2040m) winner Ocean Park, produced a superb result when his daughters Ohope Wins and Autumn Glory dominated the finish of the Gr.1 New Zealand Oaks (2400m) at Ellerslie.
Ohope Wins has become the star of a strong crop of three-year-old staying fillies, completing a Group-race hat-trick with another huge finish in the country’s premier distaff classic.
Autumn Glory followed her win in the Gr.2 Waikato Guineas (2100m) with a top-notch effort behind Ohope Wins to credit both their sire and owners with a notable quinella.
Both Ocean Park fillies were sold earlier this summer by their respective breeders, Gartshore Bloodstock and Monovale Holdings, to Yulong Investments. The post-Oaks focus now centres on the decision as to whether one or both will target the Gr.1 Trackside New Zealand Derby (2400m) back at Ellerslie on Saturday week.
“It was great so see Ocean Park come up with a result like that,” Chittick said. “He’s always been a good sire with a decent horse racing and that filly (Ohope Wins) looks special, she might even be the best he’s left.
“We’re so pleased for both fillies’ breeders. Bill and Jim Gartshore have been with us for quite some time, and we’ve also had wonderful support over the years from the Smithies family.”
Meanwhile, the changing of the guard on the Waikato Stud roster will see Snitzel’s son Return To Conquer take up residence as the unbeaten winner of four black-type races, the last of those the Gr.1 Sistema Stakes (1200m), while Super Seth, already the sire of four Group One winners with just three crops on the track, will head to Coolmore’s Jerrys Plain headquarters in the Hunter Valley.
Waikato Stud was already a member of the Te Akau syndicate that outlaid A$1.3 million and raced Return To Conquer, and now with a majority interest in the handsome colt soared across all three generations of the Chittick family, has been joined by a number of existing shareholders including Australia’s Kia Ora Stud.
In a fitting segue and coinciding with the sale of Super Seth, Coolmore’s Irish-based principal John Magnier has also joined the partnership in Return To Conquer, whose introductory fee will be $15,000 plus GST.
“During the negotiations around Super Seth, Tom Magnier said that he had been asked by his father if there was any chance of getting a piece of Return To Conquer, who’s a horse he’s well aware of and has a lot of time for.
“My family has always had a relationship with the Magnier family, and with our commitment to continue to support Super Seth at Coolmore and them now having an interest in Return To Conquer, that just strengthens our long-term relationship.”
Gr.1 Caulfield Guineas (1600m) winner Super Seth was secured in 2020 by Waikato Stud in a deal reported to value him around $15 million, with his Australian owner Jonathan Munz retaining an interest and taking up duties at $35,000 plus GST.
His fee increased to $45,000 plus GST in 2024, and with Australian Group One winners Feroce, Linebacker and Maison Louis from his first crop, followed by a fourth, champion New Zealand two-year-old La Dorada, from his second crop, his fee increased to $75,000 plus GST.
That 2025 book was Super Seth’s largest at just under 200 mares, while another strong point in his favour was his fertility figures, with a five-year average of just under 83.5 percent.
Chittick is both thrilled and philosophical when discussing the lucrative deal struck with Coolmore.
“When you put in the time and effort that we have for many years now, it’s great to kick a goal of this size. The Super Seth deal is a big one; I don’t think there’s ever been one like this in the Southern Hemisphere.”
One constant at Waikato Stud over the past two decades has been champion stallion Savabeel, who took up duties in 2005 as a rare three-year-old winner of the W S Cox Plate winner and completed his 21st season in December after covering 88 mares.
Last Saturday his three-year-old daughter Belle Cheval won her second consecutive Group Three race in the Uncle Remus Stakes (1400m), confirming her position as joint second favourite for next week’s $4 million NZB Kiwi (1500m).
Now with a tally of 157 black-type winners, Savabeel is just nine short of matching his fellow champion sire Zabeel’s record of 166 black-type winners. With numerous progeny currently competing and at least three more crops still to reach racing age, it’s becoming more and more a matter of when, rather than if, Savabeel establishes a new benchmark.
“He’s been an amazing stallion and we’ll be forever grateful for what he’s achieved for Waikato, for our clients and you’d have to say for the whole of racing and breeding,” Chittick said.
“He suffered an injury in the serving barn midway through the 2024 covering season which didn’t help him, but to his credit he was back covering last spring, even if his fertility isn’t what it used to be.
“We can’t ignore the fact that this spring he’ll be 25 and we’ll have to take increasingly greater care of him, which means that he’ll be restricted to shareholders’ mares.”
As for the whole experience he’s been through over the past 10 days, Chittick said he’s still in recovery mode.
“From the time Tom Magnier made contact on the Friday 10 days ago and arrived here on the Monday, it’s been full-on. I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck, but that’s the nature of what we were dealing with.
“We’ve got Return To Conquer arriving shortly at the same time as Super Seth is going out the gate, so now the job begins to develop our next stallion.”
