16 Feb 2022Cambridge Stud is sad to announce the retirement of its great race mare Probabeel.
The reigning New Zealand Horse of the Year and Champion Sprinter Miler was discovered to have a suspensory ligament injury to her off foreleg this morning. The mare is well and not lame but the injury is sufficient for owners Brendan and Jo Lindsay to pull down the curtain on a stellar career.
Probabeel raced 29 times, winning 13 races, four of them at Group 1 level in Australia. She ran second at an elite level eight times during her career – with four of them at Group 1 level. She is currently the only racehorse in the history of the race to claim the Karaka Million double, as a two year old and three year old. She retires as the current New Zealand Horse of The Year and Champion Sprinter Miler.
Probabeel was bred by Waikato Stud and purchased by David Ellis, Te Akau Racing, at the 2018 NZ National Yearling Sale for NZ$380,000. With Brendan and Jo the underbidders, she was offered to Cambridge Stud and so began her amazing career, most of which was spent in Australia where she was the benchmark middle distance mare of her generation.
Cambridge Stud would like to thank the amazing team that has enabled Probabeel to perform at an elite level for four years, led by Te Akau trainer Jamie Richards throughout that time. He managed to train and minutely plan her path each preparation which, with the difficulties posed by Covid-19, was an incredible feat. His attention to detail and communication was outstanding throughout and we wish Jamie well with his future training career in Hong Kong.
Our thanks go to Te Akau's David Ellis CNZM and Karyn Fenton-Ellis MNZM for being with us on the journey and for offering her to us in the first place; special thanks go to the Te Akau Racing team at Matamata, particularly Nicole Shailer and her team in the fillies' barn; to Cambridge Stud’s Karaka team who looked after her for each spell; in Australia, John Thompson and Anthony Freedman who stabled her for each preparation. We are particularly grateful to the team of jockeys who partnered her throughout her career – Opie Bosson, Kerrin McEvoy, Damian Lane and Brett Prebble. She was incredibly lucky to have a wonderful travelling companion in Ashley Handley for most of her career and was looked after more recently by Hunter Durrant while in Melbourne.
Brendan and Jo said today:
“While we are both saddened at the news, we are eternally grateful for the unique role that Probabeel has played for Cambridge Stud and our family for the past four years. She came on the scene at the beginning of our time at Cambridge and has been a constant flag bearer for everyone. We are sad that it has come to an end but look forward to getting her home and to racing her progeny over the next ten years.”
Probabeel will return to New Zealand when she is fit to travel and mating plans for the forthcoming season will be decided. She will become a cornerstone broodmare for Cambridge Stud and we look forward to her progeny performing on the racetrack. It has been an amazing story for the farm and all connections.