About

Nevele R Stud is one of the Southern Hemisphere’s best known standardbred breeding farms and is located in Canterbury, New Zealand.

Founded in 1973 by Canterbury property developer Wayne Francis and Tasmanian bloodstock agent Bob McArdle, the stud is celebrating 50 years in business this season.

Nevele R has been has been home to variety of world class stallions over the past five decades, including the premiership winning stallions Holmes HanoverFalcon Seelster and Live Or Die, and for a number of seasons was also home to New Zealand’s greatest home grown sire, Christian Cullen, who topped the New Zealand sires table five times in his stud career.

From the outset, the stud has also been at the forefront of breeding advances, from A.I. through to the use of frozen semen and embryo transfers.

In 2023, we are proud to offer breeders an outstanding line-up of some of the best Northern and Southern Hemisphere stallions available today.

An exciting addition to our roster this season is the reigning US and Canadian 3YO Pacing Colt of the Year Pebble Beach, who will stand at Alabar Australia in Victoria this season.

Pebble Beach was a sub 1:49 2-year-old and is the only male pacer in history to have paced sub 1:49 times at both two and three years of age.

As a 3-year-old he won both the North America Cup and the Breeders Crown Final and fashioned an impressive overall record of finishing first or second in 25 of his 29 lifetime starts.

Pebble Beach is the richest and fastest stallion son of the burgeoning Somebeachsomewhere sire Downbytheseaside.

The two-time New Zealand Horse of the Year Lazarus returns to stand his second season at Nevele R this year and was well supported by breeders last season.

His first two North American crops continue to impress with his standout pacers to date the two-time New Jersey Sires Stakes winner Voukefalas and the multiple Grand Circuit winning Handlelikeaporshe. Lazarus was the second leading freshman sire in North America in 2022.

Down-under, he is off to a strong start with eight winners from 15 2-year-old starters as at mid-August.

Captain Crunch stands his fourth season down-under in 2023, again at Alabar Australia. His first Southern Hemisphere crop was incredibly well received by buyers at the yearling sales, with them selling up to $220,000, and his first North American crop has got off to a strong start early in the season with his progeny to the fore in the competitive Pennsylvania Sires Stakes and Stallion Series.

Always B Miki continues to go from strength to strength in both hemispheres and has firmly established himself in the upper echelon of pacing sires.

In the Northern Hemisphere he has achieved phenomenal results to date with four US age group champions to date (including one that was a two-time Dan Patch winner) and five breeders crown winners from his first three crops.

In the Southern Hemisphere he is the sire of five Group 1 winners from his first three crops and is currently New Zealandʻs leading sire of 2-year-old pacers with six stakes performers, including the Group winners Cold Chisel and Always Ticking, from 10 starters as at mid-August.

Standing alongside Pebble Beach, Captain Crunch and Always B Miki at Alabar Australia this season in partnership with Nevele R, is Vincent, who is fashioning a strong record early in his stud career with six stakes winners from his first two crops including the Group 2 winners Sherlock, Vinke B and Vessam.

On the back of some promising results with this debut crop, Ultimate Machete becomes available again to New Zealand breeders in 2023.

He is already the sire of a stakes performer in New Zealand, as well as a number of smart juvenile winners in Australia.

He stands at Cobbitty Equine Farm in New South Wales.

In terms of Nevele Rʻs trotting sires line up, 2023 sees the welcome return of Creatine to our Prebbleton Farm, after missing last season as a result of an injury.

With just two crops of racing age down-under, Creatine has already left 13 stakes performers (9 at Group 1 level) including the Group 1 winner More Wanted, the Northern Trotting Oaks winner Walkinonsunshine (who was also second in the Northern Trotting Derby) and Harness Million 2YO winner Southern Diamond.

He was runner-up on both the New Zealand 2YO and 3YO Trotting Sires Premierships in 2022 and is currently in the top three sires on both the NZ 3YO and 4YO trotting sires tables this season.

In North America, from small numbers, he has produced the likes of the 2021 US Trotter of the Year Jujubee – a millionaire and the only 3-year-old trotting colt in history to record multiple sub 1:50 wins, as well as the $600,000+ earning Grand Circuit winner Take All Comers.

Father Patrick had an outstanding season on both sides of the Tasman in 2022, siring four individual Group 1 winners and three age group Trotters of the Year last season – Confessional, High Energy and Egret, as well as the runner-up in the Great Southern Star earlier this year, Mufasa Metro.

He completely dominated the 2-year-old trotting sires ranks in New Zealand in 2022, with his progeny winning a record amount of stakes money and sweeping all but one of the countryʻs juvenile trotting features.

He is also enjoying some terrific results of late in the Northern Hemisphere with his daughter Heaven Hanover taking out the recent Hambletonian Oaks and in Europe his champion son Francesco Zet recently stretched his unbeaten run to 17 races in the Group 1 Margareta Wallenius-Kleberg Trophy.

He is again available via frozen semen.

The three-time Group 1 winner, and Sundonʻs richest and fastest stallion son, Marcoola stands his fourth season at Nevele R in 2023 and is available to New Zealand breeders.

Nevele R offers breeders first class facilities, skilled veterinarians and staff, and a 24-hour foal watch service, providing clients with the best chance possible of getting a live, healthy foal, and an in foal mare, with consistently high on-farm in foal rates season after season.