Another topliner for Savabeel

Multiple champion stallion Savabeel advanced his top-flight tally at Ellerslie on Saturday afternoon
when his outstanding daughter Orchestral romped to an effortless victory in the G1 New Zealand Derby.

Waikato Stud’s remarkable resident sire has now produced 33 individual Group 1 winners and his latest headline act promises to add to her haul at the elite level.

The Roger James and Robert Wellwood-trained Orchestral was a commanding favourite off the back of successes in the G2 Avondale Guineas and the Listed Karaka Millions and she never gave her army of supporters any concerns.

Rider Craig Grylls settled the filly back in the field before they picked up ground and strolled to the front 300 metres from home before forging clear to win untouched by nearly four lengths.

“I’ve been lucky enough to have had a lot of runners in this race, and I said to Robert when they went out that I don’t think I’ve ever had one parade better out the back,” James said.

“She just never missed a beat. She was cool, calm and collected.

“I wasn’t worried when she got so far back in the running. There was a lot of pace on, and I thought she’d outstay them. Pace makes the race. The best horse usually wins when there’s a good pace in the race.

“It was very, very special when she went to the lead the way she did in the straight.”

The exceptional filly comes from a red-hot family, her dam is the stakes-placed O’Reilly mare Symphonic, whose full-sister Glee produced the recent Waikato Stud-bred G3 Matamata Slipper winner Savaglee.

Orchestral was bred by Barneswood Farm and was offered by Haunui Farm at Karaka in 2022, where James and Wellwood bought her for $625,000 on behalf of owners Colin and Helen Litt.

She has now had eight starts for five wins and two placings, banking more than $1.57 million.

James is now setting his sights across the Tasman, where Orchestral could contest the G1 Vinery Stud Stakes and the G1 Australian Oaks.