Chittick Reveals Lows that Go with Highs

Having just celebrated a superb double by graduates Probabeel (Savabeel) and Aegon (Sacred Falls) – see above item – Waikato Stud principal Mark Chittick revealed that as great as that was, the achievement was still tinged with sadness in an industry where’s it’s seldom just cake and roses. Waikato Stud lost Aegon’s sire, the homebred Sacred Falls (O’Reilly-Igauzu’s Girl, by Redoute’s Choice) at the age of just 10, while Probabeel was the only foal out of Far Fetched, who died at the age of seven. Waikato Stud is continuing to breed from Aegon’s dam Toss Up, but again there has been some recent misfortune. “Toss Up was in foal to Almanzor this season, but unfortunately she lost it towards the end of last year,” Chittick said. “But she’s still only a young mare, and we’re looking forward to getting her going again in the spring. We don’t know yet which stallion we’ll send her to – we’ve got a bit of time to make up our minds about that. But, unfortunately, it won’t be Sacred Falls.” Chittick reflected, “It’s the same with Far Fetched, who unfortunately didn’t get the chance to produce any more foals after Probabeel. But we’ve had that family for up to 40 or 50 years now, and we’re still going with a fair bit of it.”

The loss of Sacred Falls was a big blow to Waikato Stud (pic: Trish Dunell)