by Kit Gow/TTRAusNZTen-time New Zealand Champion Sire Savabeel has died from a paddock accident, Waikato Stud announced on Friday. The son of Zabeel was 24.“He will be sorely missed, but he departed this world in good nick,” said George Chittick, Waikato Stud's sales and nominations manager.“Ryan Figgins, the stallion manager, has kept the horse picture perfect for the last eight years. He was happy the whole way through, and he went with all of our team and the Waikato Stud family around him.“Looking around and seeing the amount of people crying proved how much he meant to us all. He was a horse who had such a huge positive impact on so many lives.”Bred by Glenlogan Park in partnership with New Zealand Hall Of Fame trainer Graeme Rogerson, Savabeel was a son of Savannah Success (Success Express).While Rogerson sold Savannah Success with foal at foot, when Savabeel appeared at the 2023 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in the draft of Baramul Stud, Rogerson was so taken by him that he purchased the colt for A$400,000. A debut winner, he would go on to be third in the G1 Champagne Stakes at two. At three, Savabeel claimed the G1 Spring Champion Stakes and the G1 Cox Plate in succession before seconds in the G1 Victoria Derby and G1 C. F. Orr Stakes. His record upon retirement was 14-3-3-1, with $2,042,570 in earnings.Waikato Stud brokered a deal worth A$10 million at the time to stand the stallion at the end of his stud career, and he served his first book of 128 mares in 2005. From 1450 runners, Savabeel is credited with 1063 winners (73%), 159 stakes winners (11%), 104 group/graded (7%) and 36 Group 1 scorers (2.5%). Savabeel will have one final crop of foals, having covered a book of 88 mares in 2025.“He has been here for well over 20 years and is the horse that has been here the longest,” said Waikato Stud's general manager Mike Rennie.“He is what every stud on the face of the earth dreams to have.”Savabeel's daughters have been carving their own niche, and he is the damsire of nine Group 1 winners to date, including this season's dual Group 1 winner Autumn Boy (The Autumn Sun), G1 Manawatu Sires' Produce Stakes winner La Dorada (NZ) (Super Seth), and G1 Hong Kong Champions Mile winner Beauty Eternal (Starspangledbanner).“He obviously meant the world to us,” said Chittick. “He was a proper gentleman. You won't find another like him – he was a champion in Australasia and at one point, was the sire of the world's highest rated sprinter.”The post Paddock Accident Claims NZ Champion Sire Savabeel At 24 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.