Champion sire Zabeel made a rare public appearance at New Zealand's famous Cambridge Stud on Sunday, being paraded with stallions Keeper, Lucky Unicorn and new addition Tavistock.The rising 24-year-old is this season's leading sire of Group One winners in Australasia with four - Efficient (Turnbull Stakes), Jessicabeel (Sydney Cup) Zabrasive (Rosehill Guineas) and Zavite (Auckland Cup).He will cover a restricted book of mares in the upcoming spring and is usually kept behind closed doors when v

Champion sire Zabeel made a rare public appearance at New Zealand's famous Cambridge Stud on Sunday, being paraded with stallions Keeper, Lucky Unicorn and new addition Tavistock.

The rising 24-year-old is this season's leading sire of Group One winners in Australasia with four - Efficient (Turnbull Stakes), Jessicabeel (Sydney Cup) Zabrasive (Rosehill Guineas) and Zavite (Auckland Cup).

He will cover a restricted book of mares in the upcoming spring and is usually kept behind closed doors when visitors arrive at the stud.

Zabeel is the sire of 41 individual Group One winners, just four short of his own sire Sir Tristram's southern hemisphere record.

He has also sired 132 individual stakes winners.

Sir Tristram was retired in 1995 at the age of 23 but Cambridge proprietor Sir Patrick Hogan expects Zabeel to be able to continue for two or three more years.

Trained by Colin Hayes to win the Australian Guineas in the autumn of 1990, Zabeel was purchased by Hogan the following year as the heir apparent to Sir Tristram.

Zabeel was an instant success, producing champion Octagonal in his first crop.

Octagonal won the Cox Plate as a three-year-old in 1995 before finishing a narrow second in the Victoria Derby. He came back in the autumn to claim Sydney's triple crown of the Canterbury Guineas, Rosehill Guineas and AJC Australian Derby.

A couple of years later, Might And Power became the second Australian champion produced by Zabeel when he won the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups.

Jezabeel gave him another Melbourne Cup the following year while Efficient added his name to the famous race in 2007.

Zabeel's enduring popularity was in evidence at this year's Easter sale when a filly by the super sire fetched $1.3 million.

Randwick trainer John O'Shea prepares both Jessicabeel and Zabrasive with both to be set on the path towards this year's Melbourne Cup.

O'Shea bought both horses in New Zealand specifically to target staying races including the Melbourne Cup.

Jessicabeel is among the top fancies in early Melbourne Cup markets which are headed by VRC Oaks winner Faint Perfume.