21 minute read
It was a summer of Blues
Darley’s Blue Point dominated the first-season sires’ title from the get go
STALLION FEES don’t always translate into stud success, but the two sires atop of this season’s first-season sires’ league table were the two who commanded the highest fees when retiring to stud in 2020, and they represent Darley.
The champion sprinter Blue Point retired to the stud’s Irish branch at Kildangan Stud alongside his brilliant sire Shamardal, whom he resembles enormously, while Too Darn Hot, a European champion two-year-old, was the new recruit to the Dalham Hall roster headed by his sire Dubawi. Successful in the Gimcrack at two and placed in the Dewhurst and Middle Park, Blue Point came into his own at four and five when he won four Group 1 sprints, including the Diamond Jubilee and King’s Stand at Royal Ascot of 2019. Given his juvenile exploits and his status as an elite sprinter it should come as no surprise that he was so quick off the blocks.
The sire’s first crop is high on both quantity and quality with his 100 runners the most representatives of any Europeanbased first-season sire in 2022.
Blue Point’s 44 winners are also the most for that cohort as are their prize-money earnings, while his two top level winners and his ten black-type performers represent the peak.
His first Group 1 winner was the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardère and Listed Pat Eddery Stakes winner Rosallion.
Richard Hannon’s colt is a homebred for Sheikh Mohammed Obaid and boasts the owner-breeder’s brilliant broodmare Reem Three as his second dam. Rosallion’s dam is an unraced New Approach full-sister to the Group 2 Prix Daniel Wildenstein winner Ostilio and closely related to the Group 1 winners Triple Time (Frankel) and Ajman Princess (Teofilo).
Big Evs was the first stakes winner for Blue Point and that victory came, appropriately, at Royal Ascot in the Windsor Castle Stakes.
Michael Appleby’s colt continued as a standard bearer for his sire across the season, adding his fantastic Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint victory to his previous haul that included the Molecomb Stakes (G3) and Flying Childers Stakes (G2).
He is out of the Oasis Dream mare Hana Lina and that Juddmonte champion sprinter is also the broodmare sire of the Listed Alson-Trophy winner Waldfrieda.
Her dam, Waldtraut, was a Listed winner and third in the Preis Der Diana and is a half-sister to the Group 3 Hackwood Stakes winner and Group 1 Sprint Cup third Waldpfad by Shamardal from the famed W family of Waldgeist, Masked Marvel and Vauban.
The Green Desert line is also the source of the broodmare sires of Blue Point’s May Hill Stakes (G2) and Sweet Solera Stakes (G3) third Les Bleus (Invincible Spirit) and Storm Miami (Sea The Stars), who was runner-up in the Marwell Stakes.
Too Darn Hot was smokin' through the summer
As an unbeaten champion juvenile and the most expensive of the 2020 intake of stallions, Too Darn Hot had quite the weight of expectation upon him. The Group 1 Prix Jean Prat and Sussex Stakes winner has delivered on that with a Group 1 winner among the 22 he has sired from 59 runners.
On stakes winners and earnings, only Blue Point has bettered the son of Dar Re Mi. He beat Blue Point to that first Group 1 win when Fallen Angel, a homebred for Steve Parkin out of his May Hill winner and Fillies’ Mile runner-up Agnes Stewart, claimed the Moyglare Stud Stakes at The Curragh during Irish Champions Festival.
The Karl Burke-trained filly had previously been successful in the Group 3 Sweet Solera Stakes.
Too Darn Hot hails from an outstanding female line of the Aga Khan Studs – his second dam Darara won the Prix Vermeille and is a full-sister to Darshaan – so perhaps it is to be expected that Too Darn Hot has excelled with his first-crop daughters.
Three of his four Group winners are fillies with the Group 2 May Hill Stakes and Group 3 Prestige Stakes winner Darnation and the brilliantly named German Group 3 winner Carolina Reaper amongst his best performers.
His sons are none too shabby either with Alyanaabi, runner-up to City Of Troy in the Dewhurst Stakes (G1), leading home a one-two for Too Darn Hot in the Group 3 Somerville Stakes.
Interestingly, Carolina Reaper and Boiling Point, who was second in that Group 3, are out of Shamardal mares, while the Australian Group 3 third Arabian Summer has Shamardal’s close relation Street Cry as his broodmare sire. Worldwide the Too Darn Hot-Shamardal cross has three winners from six runners with two black-type performers.
Darnation has Galileo as her broodmare sire and, given the affinity between Dubawi and Galileo, the cross has 50 per cent winners-to-runners. With Too Darn Hot’s dam Dar Re Mi by Singspiel, the cross also produced 5x4 inbreeding to Sadler’s Wells.
Ten Sovereigns took the Coolmore stakes title
Coolmore launched three new stallions onto the market in 2020 – the Group 1 Middle Park and July Cup winner Ten Sovereigns, the 2,000 Guineas hero Magna Grecia, and Calyx, the first crop Coventry Stakes winner by Kingman.
Ten Sovereigns, a son of No Nay Never, heads the internal Coolmore battle on stakes winners, winners and prize-money but Calyx has the better winners-to-runners ratio.
Ten Sovereigns took a little bit of time to ignite, perhaps a surprise given his sire’s reputation for precocity, but not when Ten Sovereigns’ own race record is taken into account. The Group 3 Round Tower Stakes winner made his debut in late August of his juvenile season.
His best performer is the Group 3 Cornwallis Stakes and Listed Roses Stakes winner Inquisitively, who was third behind Big Evs at Royal Ascot. A half-brother to the Listed Boadicea Stakes third Pixeleen, he is out of the Mind Games mare Ballyalla.
The Listed Premio Coolmore winner Mysterious Shadow and Asean, successful in the Listed Curragh Stakes, complete his trio of stakes winners.
He has 11 black-type performers in total with two of them inbred to Danehill, the sire of Ten Sovereigns’ own broodmare sire Exceed And Excel, through their dam sires and they are from the same female line.
Asean is the first foal out of the winning Zoffany mare Eria, who is a daughter of Eirnin, a winning Galileo three-parts sister to the Listed Garnet Stakes winner Queen Titi, and her Fastnet Rock daughter Ask Me Nicely is the dam of Kalispera by Ten Sovereigns, and placed in three Group contests this season.
Calyx has 17 winners from just 46 representatives, which is the second fewest of thet op ten, but two of those winners are Group winners, Persian Dreamer's victory in the Group 2 Duchess Of Cambridge Stakes the first for this generation of sires.
Classic Flower won the Criterium de Maisons-Lafitte (G2) and was second in the Prix Six Perfections (G3) and third in the Prix Robert Papin (G2). Calyx is also the sire of Dewhurst third Eben Shaddad, who filled that position in the Group 3 Somerville Stakes, and the Norfolk Stakes (G2) second Malc is another son of Calyx, who comes from the same Juddmonte family as Native Trail.
Both Persian Dreamer and Eben Shaddad have Galileo as their broodmare sire and three of the four best members of Calyx’s first crop, on official ratings, are out of daughters of the Coolmore colossus.
It is a nick to watch as all give runners bred this way are winners with two stakes performers, and the cross generates 5x5 inbreeding to Mr. Prospector.
Calyx is a son of Kingman and the third member of Coolmore’s team of first-season sires for this season also represents the Invincible Spirit sire line. He is the 2,000 Guineas and Futurity Trophy winner Magna Grecia, the Invincible Spirit elder half-brother to champion three-year-old St Mark’s Basilica.
Magna Grecia’s first crop has yielded the Listed Prix Yacowlef winner Myconian and Thekingofmyheart, who was second in the Listed Junioren Preis. He has nine winners from 51 runners.
Stakes winners for Inns Of Court and Invincible Army
The less expensive sons of Invincible Spirit who have their first runners this year – Inns Of Court and Invincible Army – also sired a stakes winner apiece.
Inns Of Court stands at Tally-Ho Stud and has 22 winners from 75 runners with the Listed Blenheim Stakes winner Megarry the best of them. He is one of four blacktype performers for the Group 2 Prix du Gros Chene winner, who sired a 1-3 in that Fairyhouse contest.
Megarry has Acclamation as his broodmare sire and Acclamation’s own sire, Royal Applause, is the damsire of Inns Of Court’s daughter Gaenari, who has been second in the Listed Tipperary Stakes and the Prix de la Vallee Auge (L).
Yeomanstown Stud’s Invincible Army has the least representatives of Invincible Spirit’s first-crop stallion sons this year, but has sired 12 winners from 44 runners.
His highest-ranked offspring is the Listed Ingabelle Stakes winner and the Group 3 Silken Glider Stakes second Kitty Rose.
Soldier’s Call got the numbers on the board and the strike rate
Among the more expensive stallions at the upper end of the table, Soldier’s Call stands out. The Group 1-placed son of Showcasing retired to Ballyhane Stud at an advertised fee of €10,000, but only Blue Point and Ten Sovereigns have sired more winners than him and with 22 winners from 69 runners, his 33 per cent strike rate is better than that of those on similar fees.
Soldier’s Call is the sire of Dawn Charger, successful in the Group 3 Prix Eclipse and placed in the Criterium de Maisons-Lafitte and Prix d’Arenberg for Karl Burke.
His offspring also include the Group 3 Dick Poole Stakes second Dorothy Lawrence, who was also placed in two Listed races. World Of Darcy is another with a pair of Listed placings on his record, while King Collector was a Listed runner-up at the San Siro.
Phoenix has risen to prominence
The Irish National Stud’s Phoenix Of Spain is another stallion punching above his weight with the Irish 2,000 Guineas winner having a 39 per cent winners-to-runners ratio. His 16 winners are headed by the Group 2 Vintage Stakes winner Haatem, who was runner-up to City Of Troy in the Group 2 Superlative Stakes.
Phoenix Of Spain is also the sire of the 99-rated Spanish Phoenix who narrowly missed out on black-type when fourth three-parts of a length behind Array in the Group 2 Mill Reef Stakes.
Both Haatem and Spanish Phoenix have Green Desert line broodmare sires.
The Ger Lyons-trained Spanish Flame was fourth in the Group 2 Futurity Stakes to subsequent Group 1 National Stakes winner Henry Longfellow, with the second and third that day – Islandsinthestream and Portland – subsequently Group 1-placed themselves.
Don’t ignore City Light and Study Of Man
In France, City Light has yet to record a stakes winner, but Haras d’Etreham’s son of Siyouni has the best strike-rate of any of those with more than four runners.
The Group 3 winner and Group 1 Diamond Jubilee and Prix de la Forêt winner has 15 winners from 30 runners with the Group 3 Prix des Chenes third Rock The Kasbah, the sole black-type performer.
Deep Impact’s Prix du Jockey Clubwinning son Study Of Man, a grandson of the great Miesque, would not have been expected to excel as a sire of two-year-olds but has eight winners from 20 first crop runners, headed by the Group 2 Beresford Stakes winner Deepone.
Trained by Paddy Twomey for Vimal and Gillian Khosla, breeders of Group 1 winners Together Forever (dam of unbeaten Dewhurst winner City Of Troy), Forever Together and Lord Shanakill, Deepone represents a variation of the cross that produced Auguste Rodin and Snowfall amongst others and is a contender for Classic honours next season.
Given that Study Of Man raced once over a mile at two and was second in both the Prix Ganay and Prix d’Ispahan at four, there is surely more to come from the Lanwades Stud sire next season and beyond.
Not too bad a bunch
Havana Grey, Sioux Nation, Saxon Warrior and Cracksman head a fine list of second-season sires
HAVANA GREY AND SIOUX NATION were top of the class in 2022 and, 12 months on, they sit atop the European table of secondseason sires.
Whitsbury Manor Stud’s exciting young sire is establishing a sprinting branch of the Galileo line and he heads the list on prizemoney and stakes winners, with the added distinction of siring that vital Group 1 winner in his second crop.
Sioux Nation’s sire Scat Daddy never raced outside of North America, but is a powerful influence in Europe first through No Nay Never, and now his final crop Phoenix Stakes winner, who tops the standings on individual Group winners.
The unbeaten Vandeek blazed a trail across the summer and early autumn with the 625,000gns Tattersalls Craven BreezeUp Sale topper outperforming his sire Havana Grey by winning not one but two juvenile Group 1s.
Vandeek first advertised his potential with his breeze and confirmed that promise when making a winning debut at Nottingham that more than suggested bigger prizes were within his grasp.
He came good on that in his next start winning the Group 2 Richmond Stakes comfortably and then managing to concede weight and narrowly repel the challenge of Ramatuelle in the Prix Morny (G1). His Middle Park Stakes (G1) victory over Task Force and River Tiber was visually his most impressive performance of the season and only City Of Troy is rated higher than
Vandeek among this season’s juvenile colts. Bred by Maywood Stud, he is out of the Exceed And Excel mare Mosa Mine. The cross of Havana Grey with Darley’s excellent dual hemisphere sire has also produced the Listed City Plate winner and multiple Listed-placed Holguin from Havana Grey’s first crop, and his second-crop Listed winner Royal Grey.
There are only five runners bred on this cross which creates 5x3 inbreeding to Danehill, who is the broodmare sire of Teofilo, grandsire of Havana Grey. The cross is heavy on Danzig blood as Havana Grey is inbred to Green Desert as well as carrying a line back to Danehill.
Havana Grey’s first two crops have yielded seven individual Group winners and eight Listed winners. Danehill-line sires Holy Roman Emperor, Dansili and Foxwedge also feature as broodmare sires of his stakes winners.
His two-year-olds of 2023 are bolstered by the Group 2 July Stakes winner Jasour, Elite Status, successful in the Prix du Cabourg and Listed National Stakes, and the Listed Prix de la Valle d’Auge winner Graceful Thunder
All these winners have been bred at fees that are much less than the £55,000 Havana Grey will cost next season. His first crop were conceived when his fee was advertised at £8,000, while it was just £6,500 for his second.
Sioux Nation was never a contender for Classic honours; the Group 1 Phoenix Stakes, Group 2 Norfolk Stakes winner and grandson of a Sprint Cup third, was destined to be fast but his first crop produced the 1,000 Guineas third Matilda Picotte.
A talented juvenile winning the Listed Bosra Sham Stakes and finishing second in a pair of Group 2 contests – the Lowther and Balanchine Stakes – she led the chasing pack behind Mawj and Tahiyra at Newmarket.
Seven furlongs proved to be the ideal distance for the filly, who won the Group 2 Challenge Stakes and the Group 3 Sceptre Stakes and is the highest-rated colt or filly from the first two crops of Coolmore’s very popular young sire.
With ten individual Group winners from his first two crops, Sioux Nation was once again one of the most popular sires in Britain and Ireland this year covering 289 mares at Coolmore’s Castlehyde Stud.
Only the NH-oriented Crystal Ocean was busier in the covering shed than Sioux Nation.
Matilda Picotte has a fascinating pedigree as her broodmare sire is the Group 1 Phoenix and National Stakes winner One Cool Cat, who is a son of Storm Cat. Sioux Nation is inbred to Storm Cat’s sire Storm Bird and therefore Matilda Picotte is inbred 5x3 to Storm Cat and 5x4 to Storm Bird. She’s also inbred 4x4x5 to Mr Prospector.
This season, Sioux Nation, who has Oasis Dream as his broodmare sire, has sired six individual Group winners with the multiple Group 3 winner Brave Emperor flying the flag around Europe.
His first crop also includes the Group 3 Ballyogan Stakes winner Ocean Quest, who was fourth in the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup, the Group 3 Ballycorus Stakes winner Ocean Jewel and the Listed winner and Italian 1,000 Guineas second Estrosa.
The Group winners from his second crop are Indian Run, who won the Listed Acomb Stakes, and Round Tower Stakes (G3) winner Letsbefrankaboutit.
Inbreeding to Green Desert has proven successful for breeders using Sioux Nation and even close inbreeding to Oasis Dream has worked, too. Ocean Quest is out of an Aqlaam mare, while the Group 2 Airlie Stud Stakes second Gunzburg has Showcasing as her broodmare sire.
Ocean Quest has Green Desert himself as her broodmare sire, while the American stakes winner and Grade 2 Penn Mile Stakes second Behind Enemy Lines is out of a mare by Invincible Spirit.
Brave Emperor and Indian Run have sons of Danehill as their broodmare sires.
A Warrior class
Saxon Warrior stands at Coolmore’s Fethard headquarters and was the second busiest
Flat sire in Ireland after Sioux Nation, covering 264 mares this year. That number was no doubt influenced by his first-crop Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner Victoria Road.
That first crop developed well as threeyear-olds, something that was anticipated given their Futurity Trophy-winning sire added the 2,000 Guineas at three and engaged in thrilling duels with Roaring Lion in the Eclipse and Irish Champion Stakes, with the star-crossed son of Kitten’s Joy prevailing narrowly in both.
With Victoria Road absent for much of the season, it was left to others to pick up the mantle for their sire and the burden was taken up by a talented filly.
Lumiere Rock won the Group 3 Silken Glider Stakes last season and doubled her Group tally in the Blandford Stakes (G2) on Irish Champions Weekend. She was also third to Blue Rose Cen in the Group 1 Prix de l’Opera and runner-up behind Warm Heart in the Ribblesdale Stakes (G2).
Greenland, out of the Canford Cliffs mare Aktoria, won the Group 3 Prix Greffuhle and was third to Big Rock in the Prix la Force and they joined juvenile Group 3 winner Moon Bay to make it four individual Group winners from his first crop.
His three-year-olds included the French Listed winners Thornbrook and Zulu Warrior, while his second crop has produced the Listed Grand Criterium de Bordeaux winner Sans Voix and Group 2 Gran Criterium second Borna.
Victoria Road is out of an Invincible Spirit mare, while daughters of Gold Away, Canford Cliffs and Giant’s Causeway have foaled his other Group winners. Danehill Dancer, Smart Strike and King’s Best are the dam sires of other stakes performers by Saxon Warrior.
Angel flying high
Harry Angel has proven to be a hit in Australia and sired his first Group 1 winner Down Under, but his first-crop European star Marshman, who was second in the Gimcrack at two, won the Group 3 Prix Sigy. Al Dasim is also a first-crop Group 3 winner courtesy of his victory in the Nad Al Sheba Turf Sprint.
Vicious Harry, who was his sire’s first winner, and a consistently placed runner at stakes level as a juvenile, finally landed a Listed win in the Prix de Bonneval in October this year. Cadeau Belle and Iconic Moment were also Listed winners this season from the champion sprinter’s first crop.
The best performer from his second crop is Roger Teal’s Flying Childers Stakes (G2) third and Cornwallis Stakes (G2) second Roasario.
Marshman has Galileo as his broodmare sire while Cadeau Belle is out of a mare by Galileo’s first Derby winner, New Approach.
Roaring Lion loss
The Tweenhills Stud pair of Zoustar and Roaring Lion both sired two-year-old Group 1 winners in their first crops.
Zoustar’s Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes winner Lezoo added the Listed Hopeful Stakes to her resume in 2023, while he also sired the Group 3 Sirenia Stakes winner Starlust and Listed St Hugh’s Stakes winner Miaharris from his second crop.
His late studmate Roaring Lion left just a single crop but that includes the Group 1 winner Dubai Mile, the Group 3 Sovereign Stakes winner Embesto, the Listed Pretty Polly Stakes winner Running Lion and Middle Earth, who was successful in the Noel Murless Stakes (L).
Interestingly Dubai Mile and Middle Earth are inbred to Sadler’s Wells, with High Chaparral and Galileo respectively as their broodmare sires. Embesto is out of an Iffraaj mare, which crosses Sadler’s Wells with his three-parts brother Nureyev.
Scat Daddy’s torch carried for the future
The more affordable, and French-based sons of Scat Daddy have also enjoyed a fruitful season with Seabhac, whose stud career began with the late Larissa Kneip, siring two Group winners.
The Grade 3 Pilgrim Stakes winner is out of Curlin Hawk, a Curlin half-sister to the Preakness Stakes (G1) and the Belmont Stakes (G1) winner and sire Afleet Alex.
Standing at just €3,000 and with just 54 runners across his two crops of racing age, Seabhac has sired this year’s Group 2 MehlMuhlens Rennen winner Angers and Rue Boissonade, successful in the Group 2 Prix de Malleret.
Seahenge won the Group 2 Champagne Stakes and was third to US Navy Flag and Mendelssohn in the Dewhurst Stakes.
He retired to Haras de la Haie Neuve at €5,000 and his younger brother Max Player won the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup. His first European crop contains the Listed Prix de l’Arve winner Winter Pudding, while in Argentina, where Scat Daddy first shot to prominence, he is the sire of the Grade 1 winner Romance Sea.
Bradsell continued his Royal affair for Tasleet
Tasleet’s star continues to be Bradsell with his first-crop Coventry Stakes (G2) winner returning in triumph to Royal Ascot to win the King’s Stand Stakes and becoming his sire’s first Group 1 winner.
The sire added a second stakes winner this year with American Sonja winning the Listed Prix Volterra.
Cracksman on Impact
On prize-money, Cracksman is the leading second-season sire due to the earnings of his outstanding, unbeaten son Ace Impact.
The brilliant winner of the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, Prix du Jockey-Club (G1) and Prix Guillaume d’Ornano (G2) is rated just a pound lower than Equinox and was the best three-year-old in Europe this season.
Ace Impact wasn’t the only stakes winner for the son of Frankel this year. Cracksman is also the sire of the Deutsches Derby (G1) third Weracruz, who won the Listed Grosser Preis der Sparkasse in Hannover.
He sired two further three-year-old Listed winners in France – the Aga Khan’s Shembala, who won the Prix Joubert and was third to subsequent Group 1 winner Double Major in the Group 2 Prix Chaudenay, and the Listed Prix Caravelle winner Cracksmania.
We can’t leave out Justify
Technically Justify shouldn’t be on this list as he stands in America, but the Triple Crown winner has made a major impact in Europe and in City Of Troy and Opera Singer is the sire of the highest-rated juvenile colt and filly in training in this continent.
The unbeaten Dewhurst Stakes (G1) winner and the Prix Marcel Boussac (G1) winner are from his second crop and two of the four European Group winners Justify sired in 2023.
Ramatuelle, the Prix Robert Papin (G2) and Prix du Bois (G3) winner who was second in the Prix Morny to Vandeek, is also from his second crop, while Group 3 Snow Fairy Stakes winner Red Riding Hood is a three-year-old.
His Listed Michael John Kennedy Memorial Stakes winner and Group 3 Royal Whip second Unless is also from the first crop, as is Listed-placed Shamwari. The Royal Lodge third Capulet, Zetland Stakes second Gasper De Lemos and Listed Prix de Liancourt third Secretive are from his second.
So far he has sired 19 winners from 36 runners in Europe with five stakes winners for a stakes winners-to-runners ratio of just under 14 per cent.
It’s head and shoulders above any European-based sire in this cohort although none of them would have covered the calibre of mare that Justify did.
Opera Singer has Sadler’s Wells as her broodmare sire and, bar Ramatuelle, Shamwari and Secretive, his other European stakes performers are out of mares by Galileo.
