23 Apr 2017
Only 10 nominations remain available to Tavistock, Cambridge Stud boss Sir Patrick Hogan revealed today.
Tavistock's continued success around Australasia and Singapore has prompted and influx of applications, with Sir Patrick and stud general manager Marcus Corban assessed and approved successful nominations this morning.
Rather than leaving breeders waiting till a booking period had ended and then having to deliver bad news to disappointed mare owners, Sir Patrick decided that applications for a service to Tavistock would this year be assessed immediately so breeders either knew their mare was accepted or else could move straight on to the second-choice stallion.
Tavistock has enjoyed another fruitful past few days, with further stakes success in New Zealand and Singapore, while Hiflyer was only narrowly defeated in Saturday's Gr.2 Easter Stakes (1600m) at Ellerslie.
That close miss meant Tavistock was denied a race-to-race Group Two double at Ellerslie after Tavidream became his sire's 12th individual stakes winner surging to victory in the Championship Stakes (2100m).
It was Tavidream's fifth win from seven starts to go with two runner-up finishes and his fourth victory at Ellerslie, sealing Northland trainers Donna Logan and Chris Gibbs' plans to send the gelding to Brisbane for the Gr.1 Queensland Derby (2400m).
"He's definitely Queensland Derby bound," Chris Gibbs said afterwards.
"The Derby here just came up too soon for him so we backed off and he's rewarded us today so it's onwards and upwards."
Tavistock's son Infantry enjoyed Listed Moonbeam Vase success in Singapore last week and on Friday night Tannhauser confirmed Singapore Guineas favouritism with another wide margin win at Kranji.
Only last week did Cambridge Stud boss Sir Patrick Hogan announce he would leave Tavistock's service fee for 2017 unchanged at $65,000 plus GST plus live foal guarantee with a restriction of 160 mares.
"Marcus and I approved another 10 mares to Tavistock today so that means there's only 10 spaces left and once those 10 have gone, that's it," Sir Patrick said.
"I said I was restricting his mares to 160 this year and I'm sticking to my guns."
Sir Patrick said while interest remained high in Tavistock, breeders were again supporting Power in good numbers and with Tavistock's book close to full, Power was likely to be high on the list for breeders looking for an alternative stallion.
"Power is filling up fast and again he's proving relly popular with breeders. Coolmore did talk to me about letting his mare numbers get too high last year so I really do have to watch how many applications we approve to Power this year," Sir Patrick said.
Power's 2017 service fee has been set at $12,500 plus GST plus a live foal guarantee, while associate stallions Burgundy and Keeper are at $7000 plus GST and $5000 plus GST respectively.