Paddington and Chaldean, the latest star shuttlers added to the New Zealand stallion ranks, have been well received by breeders on both sides of the Tasman as the pair look to make their mark in Australasia when they begin covering their first book of the southern hemisphere later this year.
Paddington, a four-time group 1 winner, was announced in March and Windsor Park's Rodney Schick revealed to ANZ Bloodstock News that the stallion was already fully booked.
"We had a big lunch to launch him and I think we got 60 bookings at that event alone, but the phone didn't stop ringing—we filled his book within three days after he was announced," he said.
Paddington's sire Siyouni's reputation as a world-class sire is further bolstered by his record in the southern hemisphere, having sired 26 winners from 44 starters, headed by group 1-winning mare Amelia's Jewel.
Schick believes the Siyouni factor coupled with Paddington's great race record will stand him in good stead ahead of his first time in the Windsor Park breeding shed.
"He is an unbelievable horse," he said. "He is very exciting for New Zealand, being by Siyouni, who is a great sire in Europe and his statistics with his runners in Australia is phenomenal, so very, very exciting. He is an exceptional horse and it's great to extend our relationship with Coolmore. I really believe that he will suit Australasian racing."
Finishing second behind Paddington in last year's St James's Palace Stakes (G1) was Chaldean, who went to Royal Ascot off the back of his fine victory in the English Two Thousand Guineas (G1).
Scott Calder, head of sales and nominations at Cambridge Stud, where the son of Frankel will reside in the southern hemisphere, said that the response from breeders to the stallion shuttling has been strong.
"When we got to make that public the excitement was definitely shared by breeders and by our clients. He is limited to 120 mares, which is a smaller book, and as soon as we announced him it became apparent that space was going to be at a premium," Calder said.
Like Paddington, the 4-year-old comes with a superb race record of two group 1 victories among five wins from ten starts, which ranks him seventh-best among Frankel's 843 runners worldwide.
"I think a son of Frankel is so high up on the wish list of any stud farm and given he was such a while performed 2-year-old by Frankel who went on to win a Classic he has the perfect profile, particularly for New Zealand," Calder said.
Both farms have been inundated with interest from Australian breeders intent on using their new young stars, something Calder believes can only see as a positive for New Zealand breeding.
"In my time at Cambridge, we have always struggled to get mares to come across the ditch to New Zealand," Calder said. "But Chaldean has had far more Australian support than any stallion in my time at Cambridge and that just reinforces how good a profile he has for both countries."
Schick said the Australian response has been unrivalled and that Windsor would support the stallion heavily themselves.
"We have got a lot of mares coming over from Australia and the feedback I have had from there has been unreal," he said.
