00:00With the sales firmly in the rearview mirror for another year, attentions turn to more
00:05exciting things as breeders gear up for the 2024 season. Among the list of the tried and
00:11tested stallions are the new recruits, and new to the National Stud for the 2024 season
00:16is Muta Saabek, the multiple group 2 winner who raced in the Shadwell Silks. Joe Bradley
00:21tells us all about the son of Invincible Spirit.
00:23At this time of the year it's very exciting for a lot of stud farms. We're very happy
00:28to have a new stallion for 2024 in Muta Saabek, of course raced and owned by Shadwells. We're
00:35very grateful to Her Highness Shikahisa to be allowed the opportunity to purchase a horse
00:39of his calibre. He was incredibly well performed, a sensational pedigree, and for us placing
00:46at the right price point was very key to everything, so we're really happy that we can offer breeders
00:52him in 2024. That's what we're all about here at the National Stud, Muta Saabek by
00:57Invincible Spirit, a sensational stallion in Ireland, out of Gennady, the fastest ever
01:01Thousand Guineas winner. That's really only where it begins. She's a half-sister to two
01:06very strong Group 1 performers, and then of course Haida Fashion, who's probably one of
01:09the greatest broodmares we'll ever see. Not only the dam of Influane and Naif, but of
01:15course Nashwin. You could go on all day about his pedigree, the next seven dams after Haida
01:21Fashion were all Group 1 winners, or Group 1 producers, so to have a pedigree of that
01:26calibre to be able to offer breeders is very exciting. I think his race record really speaks
01:31volumes for the horse, Invincible Spirit, such a sensational stallion that produces
01:35two-year-old winners, but really I think if you look at Invincible Spirit's progeny, they
01:41always train on, and that's vital to what we're doing here, to the whole industry as
01:45a whole, to have that longevity. He was a two-year-old winner, really came to the fore
01:51as an older horse, won the Group 2 Joel Stakes. He made all that day, which is a trend that
01:57he did in his races. This year, in his seasonal debut, the Bet365 Mile, he beat Group 1 performers
02:04that day. He won by three lengths. That was a sensational performance if you look back
02:09on it. That ability to get out to the front, to really push on, and that tenacity is something
02:14that we're really confident he'll pass on to his progeny. And then his final race of
02:19the year in the Group 2 Joel Stakes again, made all as well. And to be able to finish
02:25his racing career with a group victory is something that really stood out to us. He's
02:32the only stallion in the last couple of years to be retired at the top of the game as a
02:35group winner, highest rating this year of 120. So he's really proved that he's one of
02:41the best coats of his generation, and I think breeders will be really receptive to that.
02:47Look, he's a beautiful horse. One thing we've learned that it's really important that when
02:52a horse steps out of his box, especially at the December seals, which we just had, that
02:57breeders are really taken aback by how he looks. And they have been. He's got a beautiful
03:00head, a lovely dark colour, which I think, even though it's so simplistic, it means a
03:06lot. There's a lot of invincible sperm about him. He's short-coupled, but with a very strong
03:11shoulder and really powerful hind end, which I think is his best attribute. So look, breeders
03:17have seen him now and probably will keep on seeing him for every time. They're very happy
03:23with what they see, and we're really hoping to cover a very strong book with his debut crop.
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