Arzak , a multiple grade 2 winner, millionaire, and a track-record setter by Not This Time , has been purchased by Amsterdam Two Farm in Middleburgh, N.Y., where he will retire to stud for a fee of $6,000, with special consideration to approved mares.
Produced from the Tapit mare Delightful Melody, Arzak was a $575,000 Ocala Breeders' Sales Spring 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale purchase and precocious enough to win gate-to-wire second time out as a juvenile against maiden special weight company going six furlongs over Woodbine's synthetic surface.
He went on to earn triple-digit Equibase Speed Figures in the 2023 Woodford Stakes (G2T), earning a 106 ESF, and in the 2024 Shakertown Stakes (G2T), getting a 108 ESF. Both races were run at 5 1/2 furlongs on turf at Keeneland. Arzak also scored victories in the 2022 Jacques Cartier Stakes (G3), going 6 furlongs, and the 2022 Thorncliffe Stakes at 5 1/2 furlongs on the Tapeta at Woodbine. In the Thorncliffe, he set a new track record of 1:02.62. Other stakes wins included the 2021 Tom Ridge Stakes, going six furlongs at Presque Isle Downs.
Arzak was also runner-up in the Jaipur Stakes (G1T) at 5 1/2 furlongs on turf at Saratoga Race Course, behind fellow Not This Time son Cogburn .
"If it wasn't for an absolutely freakish, course-record performance by Cogburn that day, Arzak would've retired a grade 1 winner," said Michael Trombetta, who trained Arzak through the duration of his career and is planning to breed at least one mare to him in 2026.
Arzak, who raced in the colors of Marc Tacher's Sonata Stable, retires with a record of 8-5-3 in 36 starts with earnings of $1,081,294.
"Physically, Arzak is an absolute rocket ship," said Ken Williams, manager of Amsterdam Two. "He's 16.2 hands, with tremendous bone, a powerful build, and an absolutely monster walk—and he's got arguably the three most important qualities sought by New York breeders: speed, soundness, and precocity. We knew we needed a special horse to launch Amsterdam Two's stallion operation, and Arzak fits that description to a tee."
"Just a few days ago Mike Repole himself tweeted that Not This Time is 'the best American stallion right now,' and with 21 black-type winners already this year, an average yearling price of almost $700,000, and a veritable armada of offspring headed to the Breeders' Cup next month, it's hard to argue otherwise," said Michael Slezak, who brokered the deal to bring Arzak to New York and will stay involved to help Amsterdam Two sell shares and seasons. "That's exactly why now is the perfect time to stand a son of Not This Time in New York, especially one who's out of a Tapit daughter who is out of the explosively quick multiple grade 2 stakes winner Bending Strings."
Slezak said an additional incentive to send Arzak to New York was the 40% New York state breeders' awards on New York-sired, New York-bred foals.
Williams and Slezak said they will be shopping the fall breeding stock stables to ensure Amsterdam Two has a base of some 25 high-quality mares to support Arzak in his first season at stud.
Slezak pointed out that Not This Time's versatility—he has sired graded stakes winners this year on dirt, turf, and synthetic in sprints and routes—and Arzak's graded wins on both turf and Tapeta, are a big selling point now that the New York Racing Association is set to conduct winter racing on an all-weather surface three months out of the year when Belmont Park reopens in 2026. To date, Not This Time has sired 59 black-type winners from six crops of racing age, with total progeny earnings exceeding $64 million. His lifetime Average Earnings Index of 2.06 is higher than his career Comparable Index of 1.79, which occurs in about 32% of all stallions.
Tacher, meanwhile, said he knew Arzak was special from the time he laid eyes on him at OBS, and the horse exceeded those lofty expectations throughout his career, winning at five different racetracks, recording triple-digit speed ratings in 13 races, and getting beat by less than 2 lengths in the 2023 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1T) at Santa Anita Park.
"I'm excited to stay in for a piece of Arzak, and to get acquainted with the lucrative New York program," Tacher said.
Trombetta noted the quality he appreciated most about Arzak was his genuineness.
"This horse was so sound and so willing—I never had a moment's problem with him, and I say that with 100% sincerity," Trombetta said. "Arzak was as clean-legged on retirement as the day he came to the barn. And I think based on his sire's accomplishments and Arzak's own win going a mile at Tampa Bay in his third career start, his offspring will be well-suited to most distances offered at the new Belmont Park."
Williams added that Amsterdam Two has built a state-of-the-art stallion barn that he's excited to show off at an open house after Thanksgiving.
This press release has been edited for content and style by BloodHorse Staff.
