Most Popular Sires in New Zealand 2024

New Zealand Studbook have released covering stats for last year and at the top of the list is Waikato Stud young gun Noverre, who made a big splash with his first offspring at the yearlings sales this year in both Australia and New Zealand.

Winner of the Group I NZ 2000 Guineas, Noverre got his sales year off to a flyer when Waikato stud sold a filly from Shopaholic for $500,000 at Magic Millions and the good looking son of Savabeel was strong at Karaka with 16 yearlings selling  in Book 1 at an average $135,625, not bad off a fee of $10,000.

The types thrown by Noverre obviously have not gone unnoticed and he has covered an increased book in each of his three seasons at stud so far.

Windsor Park Stud’s Australian bred G1 winner Profondo has been very popular and when we had Group I winning trainer John O’Shea on our podcast Tara Talks Racing this week he was quick to offer up Profondo as a horse whose progeny had impressed him greatly when he was in New Zealand… look out for them at Karaka next year.

Bred and sold by Arrowfield, Profondo was a $1.9million Magic Millions purchase by Japanese super sire Deep Impact from a stakes-winning Redoute’s Choice mare and he delivered on the track to win the G1 Spring Champion Stakes ticking a lot of boxes for savvy broodmare owners.

Waikato Stud’s Aussie bred Caulfield Guineas winner Super Seth highlights the fickle nature of the breeding world given he’s come out and thrown two Australian Group I winners this year in Australian Guineas winner Feroce and Randwick Guineas winner Linebacker, plus a Karaka Million winner in La Dorada to boot, but in 2022 he could attract just 65 mares.

Attracting mares will not be a problem in 2025!

The New Zealand stallion ranks were bolstered considerably by the arrival of a couple of genuine European superstars in Paddington (GB) (to Windsor Park from Coolmore) and Chaldean (GB) (to Cambridge Stud from Juddmonte Farms) with the four time G1 winning son of Siyouni finishing ahead of the three time G1 winning son of Frankel.

Splitting the pair in terms of first season sires was Grangewilliam Stud’s blueblood Fastnet Rock G2 winner Hilal, whose half-sister Marhoona won the Group I ATC Golden Slipper… there would have been plenty of Kiwi breeders happy to see her win last week!

New Zealand’s Busies Sires in 2024 (sires that have covered 90 or more mares in 2024)