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Stallion diversity
Ten different stallions were responsible for siring the top ten highest-rated horses of 2021
PERUSING THE BREEDING of the horses in the upper levels of the rankings for threeyear-olds and older revealed a pleasing amount of diversity in the stallion ranks.
The ten highest-rated horses in the world were by ten different sires with the Green Desert line represented twice through his grandsons Sea The Stars and Kingman, who were responsible for the unbeaten three-year-old miler Baaeed and multiple Group 1 winner Palace Pier.
The pair were ranked the equal of each other on 125 with Baaeed beating Palace Pier by a neck in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes on Champions’ Day, receiving 3lb from his older rival.
The ten highest-rated horses rated on the WBRRs for 2021 were by Paynter, Frankel, Siyouni, Make Believe, Deep Impact, Adlerflug, Kingman, Medaglia D’Oro, Sea The Stars and Epiphaneia.
Apart from Deep Impact and Adlerflug, the remaining sires are still alive and covering away and in the main, Medaglia D’Oro excepted, are relatively young with potential oozing from their pores.
Make Believe, in particular, is of interest as Mishriff, who remains in training as a five-year-old, is from the first crop of the Classic winner when he was introduced to Ballylinch Stud at €20,000.
The stallion’s fee for this year was returned to €17,500, which is the highest it has been for the grandson of Dubawi since his second season.
The Qipco British Champion Stakes saw these two descendants of Green Desert battle it out for honours, Baaeed (near side) gaining the win from Palace Pier by a neck. At the end of the year, WBRR could not split them, and both colts were rated 125
Dubawi’s reputation as a progenitor of stallions has risen dramatically in recent years as a second wave of sons at stud have produced Night Of Thunder and New Bay, an exciting pair of Classic-winners by Dubawi who have made excellent starts to their stud careers, as well as the promising Time Test and Zarak whose first crops were standouts in 2021.
Prior to their arrival on the scene, and ahead of the stallion careers of Too Darn Hot, Ghaiyyath and Space Blues, their father’s reputation for producing sons who were fit to inherit his mantle was low.
Make Believe’s own sire Makfi, who won the 2,000 Guineas, failed to set the world alight in Europe but was given a second chance at stud in Japan, while Poet’s Voice before his untimely death produced only one Group 1 winner – Poet’s Word, who is now a NH stallion.
Adayar emulated his late grandsire Galileo with success in the King George, while St Mark’s Basilica, who has Galileo as his broodmare sire, gave Aidan O’Brien his first
Poule d’Essai des Poulains and Jockey-Club double during an unbeaten campaign in which he defeated Mishriff in the Eclipse at Sandown.
That was the only time any of the 127-rated trio took each other on and the three-year-old, who won the Eclipse with ease, was getting 10lb from his older rivals.
Siyouni’s ascension to the European elite is a fitting legacy for his own sire Pivotal, who died last year. Cheveley Park Stud’s brilliant stallion is rightly lauded for his
prowess as a broodmare sire, but it is also most pleasing that in Siyouni he has a son who can ensure that Pivotal remains a vibrant influence on the male side of pedigrees for many years to come.
Contrail, the stunning son of Deep Impact, won the Japanese Triple Crown at three and ended his racing career with victory in the Japan Cup in December. Rated 126, it is the third-highest rating accorded to any horse last year.
Contrail’s last career start was a 2l success over Authority (Orfevre) in the Japan Cup. The son of Deep Impact has been retired to stud at Shadai
JAPANESE INTERESTS, on a high from the Breeders’ Cup triumphs of Loves Only You and Marche Lorraine, invested heavily in the best of American broodmares and breeding prospects at Keeneland and Fasig-Tipton in November and it is easy to see why.
The success of Contrail highlights the potency of the Japanese approach of blending American female lines with Deep Impact and his sons, although Deep Impact himself is a product of their approach to standing US-bred stallions. Contrail is out of the American-bred mare Rhodochrosite by Unbridled’s Song out of the champion two-year-old Folklore, who is a half-sister to Delightful Quality, dam of Essential Quality, who finished third to Knicks Go in the Breeders’ Cup.
This ensured that descendants of the unraced Storm Cat mare Contrive were rated two of the best horses in the world last year – Essential Quality, who will stand for $75,000 at Darley in Kentucky, won the Belmont and the Travers Stakes and was rated 123, just 3lb less than Contrail.
What was particularly pleasing was the rating of 125 accorded to Torquator Tasso following his victory in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, which had left many vocal commentators questioning its validity on the basis that the winner was an unfancied German outsider.
His form stood up – he won the Group 1 Grosser Preis von Berlin and was second to In Swoop in the Deutsches Derby, that son of Adlerflug ran Sottsass ran a close second in the 2020 Arc.
At four, Torquator Tasso added a second Group 1 success in the Grosser Preis von Baden before beating a top-class field to win the Arc. Those vanquished at ParisLongchamp included Tarnawa, Hurricane Lane, Adayar, Sealiway, Snowfall and Chrono Genesis. Excitingly, he remains in training at five and is an outstanding prospect for Europe’s top middle-distance races once more this year.
Torquator Tasso is inbred 3x4 to the full-sisters Alya and the great Allegretta and it is intriguing for fans and pedigree enthusiasts alike to imagine what he could achieve as a stallion, given the proper support and backing.
Galileo’s line dominates
The most famous stallion from Torquator Tasso’s extended family is, of course, the incomparable breed-shaping Galileo and the DNA of that particular grandson of Allegretta was stoutly represented in the top ranks of the ratings.
His son Frankel, who succeeded him as champion sire last year, sired the jointhighest rated three-year-old in Adayar and the 123-rated Hurricane Lane, who won the Irish Derby and St Leger for Godolphin.
Galiway sired Sealiway, who won a second Group 1 when claiming the Champion Stakes for France, at Ascot in October, while Teofilo’s son Subjectivist won the Ascot Gold Cup (G1) to earn champion stayer status, alongside Australian star mare Verry Elleegant.
Both Sealiway and Subjectivist were also allocated 123 by the panel.
Dawn Approach, a grandson of Galileo, sired the 2,000 Guineas and St James’s Palace Stakes winner Poetic Flare, who ended his career rated 122 and is now beginning stallion duties in Japan.
Galileo is also the broodmare sire of St Mark’s Basilica, while the star-crossed Snowfall, a triple Group 1 winner, was the second highest-rated female on Turf with a rating of 120, behind only Verry Elleegant.
Adayar: the highest-rated three-year-old. His sire Frankel, Dubawi and Deep Impact were the sires with the most horses rated over 118 for 2021
