STANDARDBRED

Karaka's champion vendor Sir Patrick Hogan will head to his favourite selling haunt in 2012 with added firepower in the Cambridge Stud arsenal.

Sir Patrick Hogan with Zabeel (NZ)

The king of the ring won't be leaving any of the nursery's powder dry when he presents a Premier Sale draft featuring all the pin-up girls this time to complement the poster boys.

" Over the past three or four years I've kept the fillies to refresh the broodmare band after they've finished racing and now I've got a huge racing team," Sir Patrick said. He has 55 horses he either owns or has shares in on his racing books. " It's got to the stage where it's saturated and I need to get the numbers down a bit and until New Zealand racing can at least get minimum stakes of nine or ten thousand dollars it's going nowhere, " Sir Patrick said. " I would be better to race 25 in Australia than 55 here and that's certainly a major reason why I will be offering the whole filly draft. There's all the Eight Carat family there, and there will be some wonderful opportunities for buyers.

As has become the norm, Cambridge Stud has enjoyed yet another star-studded 12 months with continued racetrack success at the highest level, and Sir Patrick is delighted with all members of his stallion roster. He continues to marvel at the deeds of his champion resident Zabeel (NZ) (Sir Tristram). " He's 25 now and when he was 24 we thought we might have to put the retirement flag up, but he did it happily and he got 65 or 70 mares in foal," he said. " This year he's going to get 80 mares and is getting them in foal again and he is just one amazing horse who has defied all the rules.

The son of the great Sir Tristram is also forging a remarkable record in another role. " He's probably going to be one of the all time great broodmare sires and he's just sensational. I know how great he is with Fastnet Rock, but he's had them by all sorts of other stallions out of Zabeel mares. He's doing the business and he's just a champion. " Southern Speed (Southern Image), Atlantic Jewel (Fastnet Rock), Planet Rock (Fasstnet Rock), Darci Brahma (Danehill), Anacheeva (Anabaa), Headturner (Anabaa), Samantha Miss (Redoute's Choice), Faint Perfume (Shamardal), Shootoff (Duelled), Purple (Commands) and Sarrera (Quest For Fame) are a selection of his grandsons and grandaughters to succeed at the top.

The sire of more than 100 individual stakes winners and 41 at Group One level, he is now second only to his legendary sire's record tally of 45 for a New Zealand-based stallion. Zabeel (NZ) is a dual Champion Australian Sire and four times Champion New Zealand Sire. He is also the winner of the Dewar Award (combined Australian and New Zealand earnings) a record 14 times and in 2009-10 he claimed the Centaine Award as the sire whose New Zealand-conceived progeny had accumulated the highest stakes earnings worldwide for the season.

Cambridge Stud also welcomed the return this season of the internationally successful Stravinsky (Nureyev). " We're delighted to have him back of course and he's another great horse," Sir Patrick said. Stravinsky was Champion First Season Sire in New Zealand in 2004, Champion Second Season Sire in 2005 and Champion Two Year Old Sire and third on the general list at the end of the 2006 season. His yearlings have sold for up to $NZ2.2m at Karaka.

The stock by Keeper (Danehill) have unfailingly performed at all levels too, with progeny the calibre of Keep the Peace, Keepa Cruisin, Linky Dink, Insouciant, Midnight Oil and Miss Keepsake emulating their sire's own Group One-winning exploits. " Keeper just keeps going on and on with the job and he's had another terrific year with winners everywhere." Lucky Unicorn (Redoute's Choice), a stakeswinning son of Redout's Choice, has thrilled Cambridge Stud with the start he has made to his career. " He's shown enough to me that he is going to be really exciting," Sir Patrick said. "He's got a very, very good horse (Flying Unicorn) in Hong Kong who they think might be good enough to go to Dubai, and a nice one of Bruce Wallace's who won as a two year-old." He was referring to Ellerslie winner Pat's Trick, who has also transferred to Hong Kong. Lucky Unicorn, whose daughter Bacio Francese beat the older horses as a juvenile last season, has now made his mark at Group One level with a filly who, appropriately, is a winner in Sir Patrick and Lady Hogan's famous colours. " Capital Diamond ran a big race to finish third in the 1000 Guineas Gr.1," he said.

The newest recruit to the stallion roster is Tavistock (NZ) (Montjeu) and he is also proving to be a great source of satisfaction. The son of Montjeu, was sourced off the back of a racing career that netted him wins in the Group One Waikato Draught Sprint and the

Group One Mudgway Partsworld Stakes as well as in Australia in the Group Two Blamey Stake. " I just couldn't be more pleased with his foals and he's thrown above himself and more to a Sadler's Wells and Blushing Groom type," Sir Patrick said. " They' ve got deep bodies, are short coupled and are really nice, tidy horses."

While Precedence (NZ) (Zabeel) might not have been able to match the Flemington heroics of Zabeel's other sons Efficient (NZ) and Might and Power (NZ) and his daughter Jezabeel (NZ)l, he still provided Sir Patrick with a 2011 highlight in the great race." It was a huge thrill when he led into the straight in the Melbourne Cup and we certainly weren't disappointed with him. Expectations weren't very high as he hadn't been going as well as previously, but to have a runner in the Cup two years in a row was great."

Cambridge Stud will offer lots in both the Premier and Select sessions of the 2012 NZB National Yearling Sales.