Savabeel’s exceptional season lifted to another level when tough Kiwi campaigner Tullamore (NZ) won the G2 Brisbane Cup on Saturday.
Tullamore (4g Savabeel – Trocair by Flying Spur) edged out Glass Harmonium (Verglas) after going stride-for-stride with the international G1 galloper in the straight.
Tullamore is the latest stakes winner for 2004 Cox Plate hero Savabeel who stands at Waikato Stud. The son of Zabeel has sired 9 stakes winners from 1200m to 2400m and his winning strike-rate is a buoyant 59%.
Savabeel’s Queensland Oaks winner Scarlett Lady has more potential than any galloper in Australasia. And his juvenile filly Dowager Queen, who finished a good fourth in the G1 T J Smith, will be set for the spring classics on either side of the Tasman.
Tullamore was initially offered by Little Avondale Stud at the 2008 NZB Karaka Select Sale but failed to reach a $60,000 reserve. He was sold to clients of Gai Waterhouse after winning a Waipukurau maiden in January 2010.
The Savabeel gelding carries the same silks as stablemate Descarado (High Chaparral) who won the 2010 Caulfield Cup.
Tullamore was runner-up to Waikato Stud bred gelding runner Legsman (Pins) in the LR Winter Cup at Rosehill before travelling to Brisbane.
His dam Trocair is a winning half-sister to Pins gelding (Our) Nautique who won in New Zealand and was placed in Brisbane before transferring to California where he captured the G3 San Francisco Mile at Golden Gate.