Arzak, a multiple Grade 2 stakes winner, millionaire and track-record setter by leading sire Not This Time, has been purchased by Amsterdam Two Farm in Middleburgh, NY, 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 OBS Spring 2-year-old and precocious enough to win gate-to-wire second time out as a juvenile versus maiden special weight company 6 furlongs over Woodbine’s synthetic surface.
He went on to win the Grade 2 Woodford Stakes, earning a lofty 101 Beyer figure, and Grade 2 Shakertown Stakes — both times going 5 1/2 furlongs on turf at Keeneland. Arzak also scored victories in the Grade 3 Jacques Cartier Stakes and Thorncliffe Stakes on the Tapeta at Woodbine at respective distances of 6 furlongs and 5 1/2 furlongs — setting a new track record of 1:02.62 in the latter event — and the Tom Ridge Stakes going 6 furlongs at Presque Isle Downs.
Arzak was also runner-up in the Grade 1 Jaipur Stakes at 5 1/2 furlongs on turf at Saratoga, just 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 send at least one mare to breed to him in 2026.
Arzak, who raced in the colors of Marc Tacher’s Sonata Stable, retires with a record of (36) 8-5-3 $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 of the explosively quick multiple Grade 2 stakes winner Bending Strings. And let’s not forget those 40% New York State Breeders’ Awards on New York-sired, New York-bred foals.”
Williams and Slezak 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; sprinting, at the mile, and going long — 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 per year when Belmont Park reopens in 2026. To date, Not This Time has sired 59 black-type winners from 6 crops of racing age, with total progeny earnings exceeding $64 million, and an enviable AEI to CI ratio of 2.06/1.79.
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 90-plus Beyer speed figures on 17 occasions, two of them over 100, and getting beat less than two lengths in the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Santa Anita. “I’m excited to stay in for a piece of Arzak, and to get acquainted with the lucrative New York program,” Tacher added.
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 percent 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.
