A Waikato Stud family with an abundance of quality two-year-old performers in its immediate ranks produced another promising youngster at Wyong on Thursday.
The Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained Major Beel (NZ) (Savabeel) opened his winning account over 1300m with a commanding performance in the hands of Tim Clark.
The Savabeel juvenile travelled sweetly in fourth spot one off the fence before angling three wide at the top of the straight and let down strongly to win going away by 1.3 lengths.
Major Beel is the first foal of the unraced O’Reilly mare Gram (NZ), who has a yearling Savabeel filly and is back in foal to the champion sire.
Gram is a daughter of the Gr. 2 Karakatta Plate (1200m) winner Gold Rocks (Oratorio), whose daughters Gold Fever (NZ) (Savabeel) and Gold Rush (NZ) (So You Think) both won editions of the Gr.2 Matamata Breeders’ Stakes (1200m) while Calaverite (Lonhro) was successful at Listed level as a juvenile in the Gimcrack Stakes (1000m) and St Albans Stakes (1200m).
Third on debut at Goulburn earlier this month, Major Beel was purchased out of Waikato Stud’s draft at the Gold Coast Yearling Sale for A$260,000 by Waterhouse, Bott and Kestrel Thoroughbreds with the Matamata farm remaining in the ownership.
