Outstanding stallion Zabeel has been put out to pasture after one of the most successful careers in Australasian breeding history.
Sir Patrick Hogan of Cambridge Stud announced on Monday that the sire of 43 Group One winners was being retired after getting none of his 30 mares in foal during the current breeding season.
“He is enormously fit both physically and mentally, and you wouldn’t pick anything was wrong with him,” Hogan said.
“The fertility just hasn’t happened.”
Zabeel won four New Zealand stallion premierships and two Australian championships and his progeny worldwide have won $A173 million ($NZ187m).
His progeny include the champions Octagonal and Might And Power, along with Melbourne Cup winner Jezabeel and two outstanding sires, Savabeel and Reset.
The progeny of his daughters have also proved top-class, including arguably the two best horses in Australasia this season, Atlantic Jewel and It’s A Dundeel.
He helped Cambridge Stud retain its pre-eminence among New Zealand studs, established by Zabeel’s own superb sire, Sir Tristram.
“I could never have imagined what Sir Tristram was able to achieve, and pretty well immediately afterwards came Zabeel came to take over the mantle. It’s been an amazing 33 year run,” Hogan said.
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