Potemkin

It's no secret that now retired champion New Zealand stallion Zabeel has no peers as a broodmare sire in the Southern Hemisphere and that he clearly stamps progeny in that role. We couldn't help but notice the influence the great sire had put into this athletic Testa Rossa colt at Sydney Easter, especially the swagger this colt had at a walk - a real Zabeel trait.

We bought his brother Murcielaga for similar reasons at the same sale three years earlier and Mike is adamant that, not for some bad luck in the shape of unfortunate setbacks, Murcielaga would have fashioned a top class record above the four wins he has notched to date. So, with this colt possessing even more of Zabeel about him, we had no hesitation in going back to the well with full knowledge that the cross produces real ability.

Definitely a potential Guineas horse by a stallion for the ages that keeps siring colts that compete at the highest levels.