Sav’s final resting place

Savabeel has been buried right outside his box at Waikato Stud, a place he spent the last 21 years of his life and reshaped that of the Chittick family and the New Zealand thoroughbred industry.

The stable that Savabeel occupied will also be turned into a memorial in a lasting tribute to the 10-time champion New Zealand stallion who died suddenly on Friday at the age of 24.

Having informed Savabeel’s shareholders of his death and burying the turf great, Chittick took time for reflection of what the horse had done for Waikato.

“I’ve got a couple of very special bottles of wine that I’ve had for a number of years, and usually they would have been opened on a celebration, but I thought it was very pertinent, and well, it was a celebration, it was a celebration of his life,” Chittick told The Straight.

“One of the first people outside of the farm that I rang was, obviously, Rogie (Savabeel’s trainer Graeme Rogerson), and he just said the best words, ’we’ve had a lot of bright times, and that’s what we’ve got to remember and celebrate’, so that’s what we were doing. 

“There was no real significance with this spot other than it was just a really nice day.”

Waikato Stud stood champion stallions O’Reilly and Pins (two-time Centaine Award winner for global earnings), among others, but Chittick believes 2004 Cox Plate winner Savabeel was on a pedestal all of his own.

“(When we bought him) going back to the 22 or 23 years with the kids, Charlotte was obviously here, was born just before him, George (was born) around about the same time, and obviously Harry and Charlie weren’t, so, for those ones in particular, he’s been here longer than them,” he says. 

“He gave us more Saturdays to celebrate hard than most, and we certainly did that, and what he’s achieved and is still achieving (is amazing). 

“As we’ve said so many times, he gets two-year-olds through to older horses, fillies, colts, sprinters, stayers, broodmares, all of those things – he’s just the best.”  

While Chittick’s immediate family are understandably grieving the loss of Savabeel, so too are Waikato Stud’s staff and in particular Ryan Figgins and Dave O’Leary, the two men who spent most time with the stallion during his stud career.

“Both those guys have looked after him probably 50 per cent each during the time that he’s been at the farm and he’d been looked after so well,” he said.

The memories are worth a drink indeed.

Article from The Straight