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New Zealand colt The Chosen One enhanced his future stallion prospects with his classy win in the G3 Frank Packer Plate at Randwick on Saturday, extending the notable success the Dennis family have enjoyed with their homebred products.

The long list of top performers the Dennis brothers have raced or bred saw them recognised in 2015 with the Outstanding Contribution to New Zealand Racing award, not surprising considering the list includes the G1 winners The Phantom Chance, The Twinkle, The Phantom, The Diamond One and The Chosen One’s grand dam The Jewel.

The South Island based family of brothers made up of Tony, Ray, Kevin and Martin Dennis bred The Chosen One and are members of the syndicate who race the three-year-old.

Tony Dennis – the only of the team who didn’t make it to Randwick on Saturday due to commitments at his Riverton farm - admits that the current state of the NZ industry has seen them reduce their breeding and racing numbers in recent times due to lesser returns not matching increasing costs.

Dennis said the family is breeding from only eight mares and not racing as many horses.

“We’ve dropped our numbers a fair bit as it’s a pretty expensive game to be in,” he said.

“You have to sell to make ends meet and at the moment the racing returns just don’t stack up.”

The Dennis brothers did try and sell The Chosen One but retained him after the Savabeel colt after he was passed in for $NZ150,000 at the 2017 NZB National Yearling Sale at Karaka.

It was a wise decision as The Chosen One (Savabeel x The Glitzy One by Flying Spur) has now won four of his 11 starts and more than $290,000 prizemoney with his stud value increasing exponentially due to his black type performance and strong pedigree.

The Chosen One is now a stakes winner on both sides of the Tasman with Saturday’s win in fast time following up his fourth in the $2 million ATC Derby, certainly enough to stir the interest of studs looking for a well-performed son of New Zealand’s champion sire Savabeel.

The Chosen One, who previously won the Listed Zacinto Stakes at Riccarton and the G3 Manawatu Classic at Awapuni, is the only foal to race out of the eight-time winner The Glitzy One (Flying Spur).

The Glitzy One is a daughter of the Dennis brothers dual G1 winner The Jewel (O’Reilly), making her a half-sister to G3 winner The Diamond One (Tale Of The Cat) and the stakes-performed pair The Precious One (Darci Brahma) and The Bold One (Fastnet Rock).

The family features other notables La Bella Diosa, Irish Chance and The Phantom.

The Chosen One is one of 89 stakes winners by Savabeel with the son of Zabeel heading for more premiership honours in NZ where he is at the top of the tables by both winners and earnings.