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It was no surprise that Zabeel’s champion sire Savabeel was the most popular New Zealand stallion in 2018.

The Waikato Stud-based sire covered 182 mares, 43 more than his nearest rival.

Savabeel, on track for his fifth consecutive New Zealand leading sire title this season, was the busiest among 89 registered stallions according to figures released by the NZ Stud Book.

Some 18 NZ-based stallions covered more than 100 mares in 2018.

They included Cambridge Stud’s shuttler Almanzor (Wootton Bassett) who was second busiest covering 139 mares in his first southern hemisphere season.

Westbury Stud-based Group 1-winner Tarzino was the third most popular stallion in 2018, covering 133 mares, some 15 more than his own sire Tavistock.

Shamexpress (O’Reilly) was fourth on the list, covering 130 mares, while Waikato Stud’s Tivaci (High Chaparral), whose oldest progeny are weanlings, covered 125 mares.

Unproven stallions Turn Me Loose (Iffraaj), Telperion (Street Cry) and Preferment (Zabeel) were popular, each covering covering 123, 122 and 121 mares respectively.

Iffraaj (Zafonic) covered 119 mares.