Breeding on a Budget by RACING POST BLOODSTOCK

PULLOUT PREVIEW Thursday, February 11, 2021

BREEDING ON A BUDGET Your essential guide to finding value in the stallion ranks

Thursday, February 11, 2021 racingpost.com

BLOODSTOCK SPECIAL BREEDING ON A BUDGET

NTEREST in the following year’s stallion fees has probably never been so high as in 2020, when the Covid-19-ravaged year led many studs to cut prices. Percentage chops ranged from tiny to significant, though not all stallions had their 2021 level reduced, and it is probably fair to say many breeders might have been hoping for a bigger trim than the stallion in their sights was given. That is testament to how relatively well the market held up in the face of adversity, and a nod to the remarkable normality that prevailed. That said, there are a number of stallions who feature in this supplement who might not have done in better circumstances. The Directory forms the backbone of our annual Breeding on a Budget guide, and here you will find a large range of sires standing for £10,000/ €12,500 or less. How the new sires of any given year will fare, and shape up against established stallions, is always an interesting conundrum for breeders, with plenty prepared to gamble on a new boy. Among them in 2021 is 2019 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes hero King Of Change, and there will be change for a lot of breeders as he begins his new career at €7,000 at Derrinstown Stud. That victory at Ascot came in a deep field of 16, which contained among others The Revenant, Mohaather (who is far from eligible for this supplement as he starts his stud career at £20,000), Lord Glitters, Phoenix Of Spain (€12,500), Magna Grecia (€18,000) and Benbatl. It was a desperate shame that King Of Change was not able to make the racecourse as a four-year-old last year, and it will be fascinating to see how he gets on at stud, and how that €7,000 introductory fee goes down. Another cut short in his prime was Far Above, whose scintillating success in the Palace House Stakes last June suggested he could give Battaash a run for his money. Injury intervened, and he starts out at €6,000 with Compas Stallions at Starfield Stud. Way To Paris at just €3,500 at Coolagown Stud is another who catches the eye, while it will be interesting to see how Without Parole goes at £10,000 at Newsells Park, being the first Group 1-winning miler by Frankel to stand in Europe. ANDREW SCUTTS, BLOODSTOCK MANAGING EDITOR

Bargain Kimberley Priori with a close look at the progeny of Audarya 5yo b f Wootton Bassett - Green Bananas (Green Tune) Audarya is an especially fine example of a stunning result from an inexpensive stallion, being conceived off a meagre €4,000 fee. The stallion in question, Wootton Bassett, is standing this year at Coolmore for €100,000, his status having soared since those early days at stud, and his transfer from Haras d’Etreham to Coolmore last August being one of the top stories of the 2020 bloodstock year. The same month, this daughter of Green Bananas was leaping from a Newcastle handicap success to a shock Group 1 victory in the Prix Jean Romanet at Deauville. It was no disgrace to finish a close third behind Tarnawa in the Prix de l’Opera on her return – the winner would surely have gone close in the Arc later the same day had connections opted to go for that – and as if to underscore the point Audarya then flexed her muscles with victory against the best the United States could offer in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf, with Tarnawa taking out the Turf on the same card. The consistent mare, who was a shrewd €125,000 Arqana October yearling purchase by Stroud Coleman Bloodstock, stays in training this year and looks sure to give connections plenty more excitement.

Breathtaking Look 6yo b m Bated Breath - Love Your Looks (Iffraaj) Progression through handicap route to a gallant second in the Group 2 Hungerford Stakes, a Group 3 win in the Prix de Meautry and two placings at that level last year belies the £8,000 cover in 2014 that led to Breathtaking Look. Her twice Listed-placed dam Love Your Looks was a 15,000gns Tattersalls October Book 2 buyback in 2009, while her maiden foal realised 42,000gns at Book 3 of the same sale in 2016 to trainer Stuart Williams. Such was her productive 2020, and such is the appetite for proven performers and fast-ground specialists in Hong Kong, that Katsumi Yoshida of Northern Farm spent 400,000gns to secure her at last

‘After a productive two-year-old campaign, the daughter of Mark Of Esteem mare La Cuvee really came to the fore last year, thrusting her trainer Johnny Murtagh and her sire into the limelight’ Champers Elysees 4yo f Elzaam - La Cuvee (Mark Of Esteem) The daughter of Ballyhane resident Elzaam is a proper budget breeding poster girl, with her sire’s covering fee in 2016 having been just €3,500. After a productive twoyear-old campaign, the daughter of Mark Of Esteem mare La Cuvee really came to the fore last year, thrusting

her trainer Johnny Murtagh and her sire into the limelight, giving both an inaugural top-level victory when landing the Matron Stakes. She too was another to gain Group 1 brackets in 2020 off the springboard of handicaps, but it will be more Pattern race glory that is the aim this year. The filly was sold to leading Japanese owner Teruya Yoshida after

winning the Matron. She is from Elzaam’s fourth crop of racing age and was a €12,500 foal pinhook by the Gleesons of Aughamore Stud. She was sold on to Murtagh at the Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling sale for €28,000. Breeders can access Elzaam at Ballyhane Stud at an elevated 2021 fee of €5,000.

year’s Tattersalls December Mares sale. Sire Bated Breath also hit new heights in terms of his own commercial appeal in 2020, usurping his record yearling price on the closing day of Tattersalls October Book 2 at a cool 290,000gns. Bated Breath is a non-qualifier as far as stallions go in this supplement but at £12,500 for 2021 he is still arguably one of the best-value sires on the block.

Racing Post Thursday, February 11, 2021

beauties

inexpensive stallions who came to the fore on the track in 2020 She was beaten just a length at York, having started her 2020 campaign in the best possible fashion when running out a ready three-length winner of the Listed Land O’Burns Fillies’ Stakes at Ayr. She is one of a quartet of progeny with an RPR of 80 or higher for the now relocated Es Que Love, who moved from Rathasker to Haras de Saint Eloy in 2019, where his fee was lowered to €3,000.

Rose Of Kildare

Que Amoro 5yo b m Es Que Love Onomatomania (Mr Greeley) An honest signal of belief in a stallion’s trajectory is the stud’s support of him with their domestic band of mares – a signal regularly delivered by the Burns family of Rathasker Stud. Their own commercial transaction to supply a €21,000 unraced Mr Greeley mare to Es Que Love positively offset his €5,000 rate card six-fold by way of the 28,000gns Book 3 yearling signing by agenttrainer duo David Appleton and Michael Dods. Once a handicap campaigner, the signing in question, Que Amoro (top), was denied last year’s Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes only by the history-writing Battaash, with the now five-year-old’s Racing Post Rating soaring to a careerhigh 116 in the process.

4yo b f Make Believe - Cruck Realta (Sixties Icon) Make Believe is somewhat in the bracket of Bated Breath in being a stallion who does not fit the strict criteria for our budget breeding guide but is arguably a fairly inexpensive option at €15,000 for 2021. Rose Of Kildare hails from his first crop conceived at a ratecard covering fee of €20,000, along with Prix du Jockey Club winner Mishriff, Park Hill stakes-placed and Group 3 winner Believe In Love, and German champion two-year-old filly Ocean Fantasy. A remarkable €3,000 Tattersalls Ireland September yearling purchase by Mark and Charlie Johnston, her 2020 campaign yielded a victory in the Group 3 Musidora Stakes and third placings in three other Group contests. As a two-year-old she had bagged the Firth of Clyde Stakes and Oh So Sharp Stakes, both Group 3s. Her Listed-winning dam Cruck Realta took even lower rank in the sales ring, being a £1,000 buyback at Ascot December in 2011, but things have taken a distinct turn for the better in the past few years for breeder Wansdyke Farms, whose full-brother to Rose Of Kildare went the way of Blandford Bloodstock for the much more regal sum of 175,000gns at Tattersalls October Book 2 last year.

Rougir 3yo ch f Territories - Summer Moon (Elusive City) Other than sourcing stock at what you might call the value end of the market, another tenet of budget breeding is to campaign against expensivelybought contemporaries in stakes contests in a bid to underline your relative merits.

A debut first-crop winner for sire Territories, Rougir navigated her way through her Chantilly maiden to see off €250,000 Siyouni yearling filly Isle Of White, who was beaten a length in second. That was the start of her two-year-old campaign, and she ended it boasting Classic credentials. She finished a good third in the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac on Arc day and kept on strongly to win her first stakes race in the Group 3 Prix des Reservoirs. In her juvenile season she accrued £72,722 in win and place prize-money, with of course the promise of more to come, which all adds up to breeder Jan Krauze having done well to sign for her Listed-placed dam Summer Moon, carrying to Territories, for €23,000. A Darley homebred, Territories had retired to Dalham Hall Stud in 2017 at a fee of £12,000, with Summer Moon one of 147 mares among his debut book. Also responsible for Italian Listed winner Fulgentia, out of the Dr Fong mare Indian Spirit, and unbeaten juvenile Aldaary, who could head for the Greenham Stakes, Territories is available to breeders this year for £10,000 at Dalham Hall Stud.

Santosha 3yo b f Coultsy - Princess Zoffany (Zoffany) Winners like Santosha (left) bridge the gulf between budget stallions and the higher-priced freshmen within sire tables, the latters’ clout commanded by glossy distaff families, large subscriptions of mares and sale averages. Coulsty and his Group 3winning first crop daughter certainly belong in a list such as this, while her Zoffany dam’s own Tattersalls December Yearling Sale receipt for buttons at 5,000gns must have made her Group 3 Princess Margaret Stakes victory all the sweeter for those involved – for both trainer David Loughnane and jockey Thomas Greatrex, it was a first Group-race triumph. Santosha, along with 2020 Listed winners Sopran Aragorn and Suicide Squad, help make the case for Coulsty, a son of Kodiac who was trained by Richard Hannon to win five races during his career,

including the Group 3 Prix de Meautry, the Listed Leicestershire Stakes and the King Charles II Stakes. He was retired to stand his first season at Rathasker at €5,000 in 2017, and is priced at €4,000 for 2021.

The Lir Jet 3yo c Prince Of Lir - Paper Dreams (Green Desert) His track-record win on his debut at Yarmouth and victory in the stallion-making Group 2 Norfolk Stakes - emulating his sire’s success in 2016 - attest to the brilliant precocity dealt to this son of Prince Of Lir. Breeder Donal Boylan sourced his Green Desert dam from a seller, citing her own

Singspiel damsire as a reliable distaff source. The Lir Jet was one of 77 two-year-olds in Prince Of Lir’s debut crop, conceived at a fee of just €5,000. The colt was pinhooked by Joe Foley at €9,500 as a foal before being reoffered at the Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale, where he was sold on to breeze-up consignor Robson Aguiar, who paid £8,000 for him. With so much uncertainty surrounding last year’s twoyear-old sales, The Lir Jet, who had been entered in the Tattersalls Ascot Breeze-Up Sale, was offloaded privately to Nick Bell prior to his Yarmouth debut for the owner’s father Michael, and was subsequently

sold on to Qatar Racing prior to Royal Ascot, for what was obviously a handsome profit. The sale of The Lir Jet finally came full-circle to serve Boylan; the shrewd businessman enjoyed another memorable day last year, via a major pedigree mark-up for his Footstepsinthesand filly foal sister. She exited the Tattersalls December Foal Sale a 45,000gns graduate and looks set to join the 2022 breeze-up sale intake, with aforementioned consignor Aguiar buying back into this smart family. Prince Of Lir this year stands his second season at Ballyhane at a reduced fee of €3,500.

KODI BEAR

2nd LEADING FIRST SEASON SIRE in GB & IRE by Wins and Prize Money (to 31.12.20)

5 Stakes Performers incl: COBH, MEASURE OF MAGIC, MYSTERY ANGEL, etc. In 2020 yearlings sold for: £110,000, £70,000, 55,000 gns, £50,000 etc. By Champion Sire Kodiac ‘At just €6,000 he could become a real ally to commercial breeders in coming years’ James Thomas, Racing Post, 26.12.20

T: 00353 25 36362 • E: info@rathbarrystud.com www.rathbarrystud.com

Thursday, February 11, 2021 racingpost.com

BLOODSTOCK SPECIAL BREEDING ON A BUDGET

Affordable sires whose stock is riding high

KUROSHIO #SpeedDating

e 0 Fe 0 ,0 €6 S TA L L I O N S

HIGH-CLASS JUVENILE AND SPRINTER BY

EXCEED AND EXCEL 18% Black-Type horses to named foals 54% winners to runners worldwide

250 mares in 2019 and 2020 Micheál Orlandi, Compas Stallions  + 353 (0)83 809 2299  compasstallions.com Standing at Starfield Stud, Ballynagall, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath, Ireland N91 K8Y9

Kitty Trice analyses the stallions whose progeny are excelling

ollowing a year filled with disruption and economic uncertainty as a result of Covid-19, getting value for money will be even more important to breeders than usual. Using the statistics on the Racing Post website can help. These include ordering of sires by the percentage of their progeny in Britain and Ireland who have achieved a Racing Post Rating on the Flat of at least 80, 100 and 115, with the qualifying minimum number of runners set at 15. For a simple guide to the quality a sire is imparting to his stock, these lists are hard to beat. While familiar elite names like Galileo, Frankel and Dubawi are among the leading players for 2020, because these tables take into account affordability and opportunity, stallions that fall into the budget category can be quickly identified as well. Leading the way is Darley’s second-season sire Territories (£10,000), a son of the increasingly influential Invincible Spirit and winner of the Group 1 Prix Jean Prat. The nine-year-old got off to a fine start with his first two-yearold crop – among them were Prix des Reservoirs winner and Prix Marcel Boussac third Rougir, who features amid our opening spread – and registered a 38 per cent strike-

rate in 2020 when it came to the percentage of runners who collected an RPR of 80 or more. The Group 1 winner is responsible for the winners of 27 races and a handful of stakes performers in addition to Rougir, including Listed scorer Fulgentia and Round Tower Stakes second Teresa Mendoza, and further improvement can be expected this term given Territories himself produced his careerbest RPRs at three. The 2,000 Guineas runner-up’s two-yearolds of 2021 are the result of a book of 100 mares, which included 11 black-type producers and three blacktype winners. Nunnery Stud’s Muhaarar (£10,000) produced a strikerate of 36 per cent for runners achieving an RPR of 80 or above last year, a commendable figure given his 107 runners. The son of Oasis Dream has so far provided two Group winners from his first two crops, with Group 3 Horris Hill winner Mujbar looking an exciting three-year-old prospect for Charlie Hills. The top-class sprinter – who landed four Group 1 contests in a row at three having won the Gimcrack at two – has yet to sire a superstar but there is plenty of promise from his 2019 book. Of the 123 mares sent to him, 43 were black-type producers, 29 were black-type winners, and 15 were Group winners, while the harem featured the dams of Anapurna, Big Orange, Benbatl and Nayef Road.

Another first-season sire to have made an impact last year, Kodi Bear’s (€6,000) first-crop runners were topped by Stonehenge Stakes winner and Royal Lodge third Cobh. Fifteen of his 44 runners reached an RPR of 80 for a strike-rate of 34 per cent. A Group 2 winner on the track and runner-up in the Dewhurst, the Rathbarry sire is yet another son of the mighty Kodiac to begin making an impact in his second career. There is also plenty to suggest his progeny can step up from two to three too, with the stakes-placed Mystery Angel recording her peak RPR on her final start in late October. Another Darley sire of note on the metrics is Kildangan’s Raven’s Pass (€7,500), a multiple top-level winner for John Gosden in his racing days. The 16-year-old son of Elusive Quality enjoyed something of a renaissance when Tower Of London landed the Grade 1 Sprinters Stakes in 2019, and Matterhorn also obliged at the top level last year in the third round of the Maktoum Challenge at Meydan. The Breeders’ Cup hero’s fee has dropped from €10,000 and, off the back of last year’s Group 2 Kilboy Estate Stakes scorer Lemista – who also won Group 3 and Listed events – plus high-class handicapper Venturous’ multiple winning exploits, it could look an Continues page 6

Racing Post Thursday, February 11, 2021

Pictures: EDWARD WHITAKER (RACINGPOST.COM/PHOTOS)

Muhaarar (main), Raven’s Pass (top) and Kodi Bear

Raven’s Pass

Buratino

Prof itable

Value. It’s invaluable.

Call +353 (0)45 527600 and we’ll make

sure you get the best of the deal.

Thursday, February 11, 2021 racingpost.com

BLOODSTOCK SPECIAL BREEDING ON A BUDGET

BLOODSTOCK SPECIAL BREEDING ON A BUDGET From page 4

Charming Thought

Outstrip

Harry Angel

Territories

Postponed

High ratings. Low rates.

appealing price in a few short months. Tamayuz (€8,000) is another Shadwell stallion who could appeal to breeders on a budget, with 19 of his 61 runners registering an RPR of 80 or better in Britain and Ireland in 2020, for a strikerate of 31 per cent. The dual Group 1-winning miler has long since proven himself capable of siring top-class performers – Lockinge Stakes scorer Mustashry plus EP Taylor Stakes and Middleton winner Blond Me are fine examples – but the 16-year-old Derrinstown resident also covered a book in 2019 that included the dams of Blond Me, Royal Lodge scorer Steeler and multiple Listed victor and Prix Maurice de Gheest third Tupi. At this year’s fee – down from a peak of €15,000 in 2015 – the son of Nayef seems good value given his overall profile at stud. Coolmore stalwart Footstepsinthesand (€12,500) is something of a star-studded name in the section, having been responsible for Matron Stakes scorer Chachamaidee among six individual Group 1 winners. The 19-year-old last year sired 41 runners with an RPR of 80-plus at a healthy strike-rate of 30 per cent. The son of Giant’s Causeway has hovered around the €10,000-15,000 mark since 2009 and is still capable of siring high-class horses, with Queen Anne third Marie’s Diamond representing him in 2020, and the two-year-old maiden scorer Gorytus finishing a respectable fourth in the Vintage Stakes. High-class sprinter Pastoral Pursuits (£2,000) is another veteran of the stallion scene to have given many years of excellent service to connections. The brother to Goodricke has punched above his weight with 33 stakes performers to his name, including last year’s Group 3 Renaissance Stakes victor and Commonwealth Cup third Ventura Rebel. The son of Bahamian Bounty, now 20, remains at a low fee at Norton Grove Stud,

Runners

Territories

+44 (0)1638 730070 and we’ll make sure you get the best of the deal.

Muhaarar

of the Princess Margaret Stakes – among his headline performers for an overall strike-rate of 27 per cent from a just-qualifying 15 runners. The ten-year-old son of Kodiac, who won a Deauville Group 3 and two Listed events during a busy racing career, is also responsible for two Listed scorers in Sopran Aragorn and Suicide Squad and, while he covered only five mares in 2019, Santosha’s success should provide him with a platform. The consistent Mayson (£4,000) had a deserved Group 1 breakthrough when Oxted continued his remarkable rise to win the July Cup last year. At 13, the son of Invincible Spirit has had a solid, if unspectacular, career at stud, with Dance Diva and Global Applause – both of whom were Group-placed – among seven Listed winners. The winner of the July Cup himself and runner-up in the Abbaye, Mayson has had his 2021 fee slightly reduced, but 27 per cent of runners with an RPR of 80 or more last year, led by Oxted, is not to be sniffed at.

No. RPR≥80

40 107

% 38

39 36

Stud Dalham Hall Nunnery

2021 fee £10,000 £10,000

Kodi Bear

Rathbarry

€6,000

Raven’s Pass

Kildangan

€7,500

Tamayuz

19 31

Derrinstown

€8,000

137

41 30

Coolmore

€12,500

Footstepsinthesand

Darley

arguably a bargain one considering his 29 per cent strike-rate in 2020. Holy Roman Emperor (€12,500) was well represented last year by Classic-winning son Romanised, who has taken up stud duties at Haras de Bouquetot. The 17-year-old has supplied top-level winners around the world, and last year’s strike-rate of 27 per cent for runners with RPRs of 80 or more reads well. The son of Danehill’s fee is unchanged from 2020, when he was also responsible for Brownstown Stakes scorer Valeria Messalina, Listed winner Numerian and Criterium International third Jadoomi, a promising colt for Simon and Ed Crisford. His yearlings sold for up to 235,000gns, in what amounted to further evidence of breeders’ faith in his abilities, and he remains a solid option for any breeder looking for a high-class sire at an affordable fee. At the other end of the experience spectrum is Rathasker Stud’s Coulsty (€4,000), who can count the promising Santosha – winner

Leading budget sires by percentage of runners with a RPR of 80 or more in 2020 Stallion

Call

Further proof

Pastoral Pursuits

Norton Grove

Coulsty

Rathasker

€4,000

Holy Roman Emperor

Coolmore

€12,500

Mayson

£2,000

124

Cheveley Park

£4,000

Rock Of Gibraltar

Coolmore

€5,000

Clodovil

12 24

Rathasker

€5,000

*Stallions standing in GB & Ire in 2021 for £10,000/€12,500 or less

Racing Post Thursday, February 11, 2021

Footstepsinthesand is still a potent force

He has also a multitude of Group-placed progeny, including Prix Morny third True Mason, Flying Childers third May Girl and Chipchase second Laugh A Minute. Rock Of Gibraltar (€5,000) has been a mainstay of

Coolmore for several years and the son of Danehill operated at a 26 per cent strike-rate on this chart in 2020. Responsible for 75 Group winners, including Group 1 winners and proven sires Mount Nelson and the late

Bow Creek

Society Rock, the venerable sire had 13 of his 50 runners last term reach an RPR of 80 or above. Another worth trumpeting is Rathasker’s Clodovil (€5,000), who enjoyed an excellent 2020 courtesy of Tiger Tanaka’s

triumph in the Prix Marcel Boussac and Steel Bull landing the Molecomb Stakes in decisive fashion. Now 21, Clodovil reached a respectable strike-rate of 24 per cent runners to have reached an RPR of at least 80,

and can also count Strensall Stakes scorer Certain Lad among his armoury for the upcoming season. Standing for a reduced fee this year, there is every chance the son of Danehill can build on the momentum.

Think big. Pay petite Cloth Of Stars

Call

+33 (0)2 33 36 21 20 and we’ll make sure you get the best of the deal. Hunter’s Light

Chachamaidee – sired by Footstepsinthesand – lands the Lennox Stakes at Goodwood in 2012

Ultra

Thursday, February 11, 2021 racingpost.com

BLOODSTOCK SPECIAL BREEDING ON A BUDGET

KING OF CHANGE

KEW GARDENS

SOUTHERN HILLS

PORTAMENTO

SON OF REST

year with River Boyne’s return to his birthplace of Tara Stud to take up covering duty. River Boyne, out of a Mark Of Esteem half-sister to stakes winners Irish Fighter and Ventiquattrofogli, was a useful two-year-old for Gordon Elliott before being sent to the US, where he won a clutch of Graded stakes including one at the highest level. That came when he demoted Grade 1 winners Got Stormy and Next Shares into the places in the Frank E Kilroe Mile at five. Another elite winner available for the first time this year is Coolagown Stud’s interesting dual-purpose proposition Way To Paris. The Champs Elysees halfbrother to Italian Group 1 scorer Distant Way took the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud last year, is also a dual Group 2 scorer and beat the last two Arc winners Sottsass and Waldgeist in his long, consistent and distinguished racing career. His fee is €3,500. Coolmore’s budget option for 2021, Arizona, did not quite achieve a Group 1 victory but he does have a precious Royal Ascot two-year-old success to his name, having defeated Threat and Guildsman to take the Coventry Stakes. The No Nay Never brother to Grade 2 winner Nay Lady Nay later finished placed behind Pinatubo in the National Stakes and Dewhurst, and wasn’t beaten far into fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf. A €260,000 yearling pricetag speaks to his good looks and he is priced at €7,000. Being by No Nay Never, Arizona is an exponent of the celebrated Scat Daddy sireline, which is well represented in this division of the market. Sergei Prokofiev, a $1.1 million yearling by Scat Daddy, won the Rochestown Stakes and Cornwallis Stakes and ran third in the Coventry Stakes at two. He is standing at Whitsbury Manor Stud – which has a good record of launching commercial stallions, regularly supporting its recruits with its

own broodmare band – at a competitive fee of £6,500. Fledgling venture LM Stallions’ roster of new names at March Hare Stud also includes a son of Scat Daddy in Legends Of War, a 900,000gns breeze-up purchase who ran second in the Gimcrack Stakes at two and took a Grade 3 at Kentucky Downs at three after his export to the US. His fee is £5,000. March Hare Stud’s line-up of newcomers is completed by Tip Two Win, a Listed-winning two-year-old and 2,000 Guineas runner-up by Dark Angel (fee: £3,500); Southern Hills, a Windsor Castle Stakes winner by Gleneagles (£3,000); and Diplomat, a dual Group 2 winner and Auteuil hurdle scorer by Teofilo from the family of Cheltenham Gold Cup victor Don Cossack (£2,000). The new stallion of 2021 who can lay claim to being the best-bred of his peer group is Yeomanstown Stud’s signing Shaman. He is by Shamardal out of

TIP TWO WIN

Beautifully bred horses by premier league sires THE DIRECTORY Martin Stevens with his guide to a selection of British and Irish stallions standing for £10,000/€12,500 or less New SIRES OF 2021 IT’S surprising what you can find among the less expensive recruits to the stallion ranks in Britain and Ireland in 2021. There are at least half a dozen Group/Grade 1 winners, several Royal Ascot stakes scorers and some beautifully bred horses by premier league sires all priced at £10,000/€12,500 and under. A couple of new sires who tick the boxes of top-level triumph and blue-chip pedigree are Without Parole and King Of Change. Without Parole remained unbeaten by winning the St James’s Palace Stakes in convincing fashion and although he didn’t recapture that form at three, he went close in Grade 1 company on multiple occasions at four and five after being switched to the US – including when third in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, Shoemaker Mile and Shadwell Turf Mile. He is a Frankel half-brother to Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile hero Tamarkuz out of a halfsister to Stay Thirsty, a multiple Grade 1 winner and sire of Grade 1 winners, and is set to receive good support from his owner-breeders John and Tanya Gunther in his second career at Newsells Park Stud, where he stands at €10,000. King Of Change was likewise brilliant over a mile on his day. He finished runnerup to Magna Grecia in the 2,000 Guineas and later in his three-year-old season easily accounted for a strong field assembled for the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes that included The Revenant, Veracious, Mohaather, Phoenix Of Spain, Magna Grecia and Benbatl.

He is a welcome stallion son of Farhh, Darley’s son of Pivotal who has compiled a creditable progeny record in the face of subfertility, and is a half-brother to Celebration Mile winner Century Dream out of a winning daughter of Echo Of Light and Group 3 scorer Neptune’s Bride. A €7,000 fee looks a snip for him. On the subject of Farhh, the resourceful pair of Micheal Orlandi and Jack Cantillon have teamed up to stand another of his high-class sons, Far Above, at Starfield Stud from this year. Far Above, out of a winning Shamardal mare related to the Group 1-performing granddam, daughter and son trio of Bahr, Nahrain and Benbatl, was blossoming into a formidable sprint talent when his career was cut short by a small but awkward sesamoid injury sustained in his comfortable Palace House Stakes victory last June. His introductory fee is a fair €6,000. For just €6,500 you can have access to a bona fide multiple Group 1-winning sprinter in Ballyhane Stud new boy Sands Of Mali – a wide-margin winner of the Gimcrack Stakes at two and the Prix Sigy, Sandy Lane Stakes and British Champions Sprint at three. The good-looking bay took the scalp of Harry Angel in his finest hour on British Champions Day and offers something a little different from a breeding perspective, being by Panis, a smart sprinter-miler by Miswaki, out of a daughter of Indian Rocket. The pedigree is free of Danzig and Sadler’s Wells. Sands Of Mali’s august Ballyhane studmate Dandy Man is represented by his first son to become a stallion this

the Listed-winning Green Desert mare Only Green, a half-sister to Prix de la Foret and Prix Maurice de Gheest heroine Occupandiste, in turn the dam of Mondialiste and granddam of Intello. This is Elle Seule’s branch of the Fall Aspen dynasty, also containing champions Elnadim, Mehthaaf and Ribchester. It costs only €6,000 to gain access to those genes by sending a mare to Shaman, who upheld family honour by winning the Prix d’Harcourt and Prix La Force and finishing second in the Poule d’Essai des Poulains and Prix Jacques le Marois. If it’s a Shamardal son you want, there are two more debutants at chicken feed fees in 2021 – Almanaara, a multiplewinning half-brother to Dark Angel standing at Mickley Stud at £3,000, and useful sprintermiler Portamento, out of dual US Grade 1 winner Octave, available at Hedgeholme Stud at £1,500. Two more speedy sorts

STAR VALUE King Of Change Welcome stallion son of Farhh was a brilliant miler on his day Far Above Could have gone far on the track; now backed by inventive owners Sands Of Mali Truly top-class sprinter offers something different on pedigree worthy of mention in this category are Molecomb Stakes winner and Middle Park Stakes third Rumble Inthejungle, a son of up and coming Bungle Inthejungle standing at Norman Court Stud at a fee of £3,500, and Ayr Gold Cup scorer and Flying Five runnerup Son Of Rest, a son of the venerable Pivotal ensconced at Meelin Stud at a fee of €3,000. The likes of Kew Gardens, Old Persian, Galileo Chrome and Hunting Horn, all entering the jumps stallion ranks in 2021, have plenty to recommend them too.

New stallions standing in Britain and Ireland for £10,000/€12,500 or less Name Almanaara Arizona

Age

Sire

Stud

Shamardal

Mickley, UK

£3,000

Fee

€7,000

No Nay Never

Coolmore, Ire

Diplomat

Teofilo

March Hare, UK

£2,000

Far Above

Farhh

Starfield, Ire

€6,000 €1,500

Flash Gordon

Kodiac

Meelin, Ire

Galileo Chrome

Australia

Starfield, Ire

Hunting Horn

Camelot

Castlefield, Ire

€2,500

Kew Gardens

Galileo

Coolmore NH, Ire

€5,000

King Of Change

Farhh

Derrinstown, Ire

€7,000

Legends Of War

Scat Daddy

March Hare, UK

£5,000

poa

Old Persian

Dubawi

Glenview, Ire

€2,500

Portamento

Shamardal

Hedgeholme, UK

£1,500

River Boyne

Dandy Man

Tara, Ire

€5,000

Royal Lytham

Gleneagles

Clongiffen, Ire

€4,000

Rumble Inthejungle 5

Bungle Inthejungle

Norman Court, UK

£3,500

Sands Of Mali

Panis

Ballyhane, Ire

€6,500

Sergei Prokofiev

Scat Daddy

Whitsbury Manor, UK

£6,500

Shaman

Shamardal

Yeomanstown, Ire

€6,000

Son Of Rest

Pivotal

Meelin, Ire

€3,000

Southern Hills

Gleneagles

March Hare, UK

£3,000 £3,500

Tip Two Win

Dark Angel

March Hare, UK

Way To Paris

Champs Elysees

Coolagown, Ire

Without Parole

Frankel

Newsells Park, UK

€3,500 £10,000

From top: Galileo Chrome, Old Persian and Sands Of Mali

Racing Post Thursday, February 11, 2021

EDWARD WHITAKER (RACINGPOST.COM/PHOTOS)

E QTIDAAR Invincible Spirit - Madany (Acclamation)

Top-class sprinter

Emphatic winner of the stallion-making Group 1 Commonwealth Cup

Bred in the purple

By a leading sire of sires and a half-brother to Group winners MASSAAT & MUJBAR

First foals 2021

“He’s a good, correct colt with great scope - we’re delighted with him.” Dwayne Woods of Brook Stud on his foal out of Respectable Fee:

£5,000

Jan 1st, SLF

M UHAARAR Oasis Dream - Tahrir (Linamix)

Proven source of two-year-old talent 2020 yielded 20 individual juvenile winners, headed by Classic contenders BARADAR & MUJBAR More than his own sire Oasis Dream, Bated Breath, Cable Bay, Gleneagles, Night Of Thunder and Golden Horn

Strong support Invincible Army: smart on the track and his fee has this year been cut from €10,000 to €7,500

Invincible trio sure to be popular again FIRST FOALS OF 2021 INVINCIBLE SPIRIT was hardly out of the headlines in 2019, when he supplied his first British Classic winner as Magna Grecia took the 2,000 Guineas and his outstanding son Kingman established himself as an exciting stallion. Stud owners were consequently keen to snap up sons of Invincible Spirit for the 2020 breeding season, and there are three available in the £10,000/€12,500 fee bracket in their second year in the breeding shed in 2021. Inns Of Court was the busiest of the three, covering a typically large book for a TallyHo Stud debut stallion. Some 218 mares visited him at a fee of €7,500. The Godolphin-campaigned seven-year-old won a backend maiden at two, was a dual Group 3 scorer and short-head second in the Prix Jacques le Marois at three and a highclass sprinter at four and five, when he took the Prix de RisOrangis and Prix du GrosChene and was a narrowly

beaten second in the Prix de la Foret. Tally-Ho are doing their best to ensure Inns Of Court, who is out of a placed Seeking The Gold half-sister to multiple Japanese Grade 1 winner Fierement, is well supported again this year by reducing his fee to €5,000. Another Invincible Spirit son, Invincible Army, also proved popular at Yeomanstown Stud, with an introductory book of 139 mares. Out of Falmouth Stakes heroine Rajeem and related to champion two-year-old filly Hoh Magic, he won the Sirenia Stakes and finished runner-up in the Molecomb, Gimcrack and Mill Reef Stakes at two. His later form ties in with the best sprinters of his generation, including when beating Eqtidaar to win the Pavilion Stakes and being edged out by a nose when second in the Sandy Lane Stakes at three, and landing the Duke of York Stakes and

Chipchase Stakes by wide margins at four. Invincible Army has been the subject of a fee cut this year too, going from €10,000 to €7,500. Eqtidaar, a beautifully bred Invincible Spirit half-brother to 2,000 Guineas runner-up Massaat and exciting Horris Hill Stakes winner Mujbar, stands at Nunnery Stud at £5,000 – down from £6,500 in 2020, when he covered 74 mares. The Shadwell homebred was an impressive maiden winner at two and beat a whole host of leading sprinters when he struck in the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot, including Sands Of Mali, Invincible Army, Unfortunately, Equilateral, Sioux Nation and Speak In Colours. While we’re on the Invincible Spirit sire-line, an intriguing second-season option is Claremount Studbased Richmond Stakes winner Barraquero. By Invincible Spirit’s champion Continues page 10

More than 100 juveniles set to run in 2021, including stock out of Confidential Lady, Ghanaati, Liber Nauticus, Ronaldsay, Taghrooda, Tarfasha, Zee Zee Top etc

Fee:

£10,000

Jan 1st, SLF

T ASLEET Showcasing - Bird Key (Cadeaux Genereux)

Group 1 sprinter from the family of

BATTAASH

A model of consistency

Stakes winner at 2, 3 and 4

First foals made up to

10x his year one fee To discuss best terms, contact Tom Pennington on +44 (0)7736 019914 tpennington@shadwellstud.co.uk or Ellen Bishop on +44 (0)7826 205155 ebishop@shadwellstud.co.uk www.shadwellstud.com

Fee:

£5,000

Jan 1st, SLF

Thursday, February 11, 2021 racingpost.com

BLOODSTOCK SPECIAL BREEDING ON A BUDGET

‘Two sophomores on either side of the Irish Sea who offer speed and precocity are Land Force and Soldier’s Call’ From page 9

first-season sire son Zebedee, he is advertised as standing at €2,500 but there are 30 free nominations to him available on application in 2021. The identity of Phoenix Of Spain’s sire is also key to his stallion appeal. Winner of the Acomb Stakes and a head runner-up in the Vertem Futurity at two, and triumphant by three lengths from Too Darn Hot in the Irish 2,000 Guineas at three, he is by Ballylinch Stud’s rising world power Lope De Vega. Phoenix Of Spain, a halfbrother to three stakes performers out of a placed Key Of Luck half-sister to dual Group 2 winner Special Kaldoun, covered 148 mares at a fee of €15,000 at the Irish National Stud last year. His fee has been trimmed to €12,500 for his second season. What many commercial breeders at this end of the stallion market want is speed and precocity and two sophomores on either side of the Irish Sea who offer that, and are by fashionable sires to boot, are Land Force and Soldier’s Call. Land Force was a three-time winner at two, including in the Rochestown Stakes and Richmond Stakes, and was also beaten only half a length into third in the Norfolk Stakes. He is by the young sire sensation No Nay Never and, most eye-catchingly, hails

from one of the best families in the stud book. He is a halfbrother to the dual US Grade 1 winner Photo Call, out of Group 3-winning sprinter Theann – herself by Rock Of Gibraltar out of the top sprinter Cassandra Go, making her a half-sister to Classic heroine Halfway To Heaven, later dam of Magical and Rhododendron. Land Force is on offer for £5,000 at Highclere Stud, with new 50/50 terms that enable breeders to pay 50 per cent of the fee on October 1, with the remaining 50 per cent payable only when the progeny reaches a certain price at public auction as a foal or yearling. There is also a ‘Euros4Euros’ deal for European-based breeders. Soldier’s Call, meanwhile, notched victories in the Windsor Castle Stakes, Prix d’Arenberg and Flying Childers Stakes at two, when he was also beaten into third by the widths of cigarette papers in the Prix de l’Abbaye. He trained on at three to finish second in the Nunthorpe and third in the King’s Stand Stakes. A son of the popular Showcasing, his pedigree is speed, speed, speed. His mother Dijarvo won a Listed race over the minimum trip at two, and her third dam was the Queen Mary Stakes and Flying Childers winner Abeer. In safe hands at Ballyhane, and in receipt of good support

‘There is nothing to stop a host of top-class middle-distance horses and stayers who are being marketed in their second seasons as jumps stallions – Capri (right), Flag Of Honour, Success Days and most of all joint-world champion Crystal Ocean – from throwing a talented Flat performer’

STAR VALUE Invincible Army Solid support in first year for this sprinter out of the very top drawer Land Force Some tempting breeder incentives for using this talented two-year-old Phoenix Of Spain Precious stallion son of Lope De Vega trounced Too Darn Hot in a Classic from the stud and his racing owner Clipper Logistics, he is standing at a fee of €7,500 down from €10,000 in 2020. The likes of Sogann, an unraced Frankel half-brother to Dabirsim standing at Norton Grove Stud, The Irish Rover, a Group 1-placed son of No Nay Never residing at Sweep Lane Stud, and Wusool, a Group 3-winning son of Speightstown and Torrestrella at Lilling Hall Stud, stand at small fees but have their strengths. And, of course, there is nothing to stop a host of topclass middle-distance horses and stayers who are being marketed in their second seasons as jumps stallions – Capri, Flag Of Honour, Success Days and most of all joint-world champion Crystal Ocean – from throwing a talented Flat performer, perhaps for breeders in that discipline without a pressing commercial imperative, though.

FIRST TWO-YEAR-OLDS OF 2021 PAGE 12

BOBBY’S KITTEN

First-crop foal stallions standing in Britain and Ireland for £10,000/€12,500 or less Name Austrian School

Age 6

Sire Teofilo

Stud Clongiffen, Ire

Fee €3,000

No. covered in 2020 26

Barraquero

Zebedee

Claremount, Ire

€2,500

Capri

Galileo

Coolmore NH, Ire

€4,000

158

Crystal Ocean

Sea The Stars

Coolmore NH, Ire

€8,000

280

Eqtidaar

Invincible Spirit

Nunnery, UK

£5,000

Flag Of Honour

Galileo

National, UK

£3,000

Inns Of Court

Invincible Spirit

Tally-Ho, Ire

€5,000

218

Invincible Army

Invincible Spirit

Yeomanstown, Ire

€7,500

139

Land Force

No Nay Never

Highclere, UK

£5,000

155

Nocturnal Fox

Farhh

Windmill View, Ire

€1,000

Phoenix Of Spain

Lope De Vega

Irish National, Ire

€12,500

148

Sogann

Frankel

Norton Grove, UK

£2,000

Soldier’s Call

Showcasing

Ballyhane, Ire

€7,500

164

€2,000

POA

£2,000

Success Days

Jeremy

Kilbarry Lodge, Ire

The Irish Rover

No Nay Never

Sweep Lane, Ire

Wusool

Speightstown

Lilling Hall, UK

Bay 2011 by Kitten’s Joy ex Celestial Woods (by Forestry)

A LEADING EUROPEAN FIRST CROP SIRE IN 2020 Sire of 12 individual winners of 18 races over 5f to 8f: MONAASIB – won 2 races, 2nd Group 2 Beresford Stakes and £84,958 MIAMI JOY – won 3 races over 7f and 8f • MIRAGE MAC – won 3 races over 7f and 8f MYSTIC MALEFICENT – won 2 races & the top 2yo in Hungary SANDS OF TIME – a debut winner over 5f • EL PRADO’S JOY – a debut winner over 5f RUN FORREST RUN – winner over 6f • BAIGAZY – a debut winner over 6f ILLUSTRATOR – winner over 7f • SILVESTRIS – winner over 7f ALVARINO – winner over 7f • DERON KIT – winner over 8f

EXCELLENT OUTCROSS OPPORTUNITY FOR EUROPEAN BREEDERS

LANWADES

The independent option TM

2021 fee:

£7,000 (1st Oct S.L.F.)

info@lanwades.com • www.lanwades.com • Tel: +44 (0)1638 750222

Racing Post Thursday, February 11, 2021

PATRICK McCANN (RACINGPOST.COM/PHOTOS)

FIRST YEARLINGS OF 2021 BUDGET breeders have been given quite a gift with Coolmore pricing US Navy Flag at €12,500 this year, a fee that sees him just scrape into our bracket. One of 23 Group/Grade 1 winners by the internationally renowned War Front, he is out of dual champion racemare Misty For Me, a Galileo sister to Prix Marcel Boussac heroine and 1,000 Guineas second Ballydoyle. That makes this beautifully bred young stallion a brother to multiple Group 1 winner Roly Poly. US Navy Flag also boasts outstanding form claims. A rare winner of both the Middle Park and Dewhurst at two, he finished second in the Irish 2,000 Guineas and won the July Cup by clear water at three. It was unsurprising, then, when his first foals were in such strong demand last year, achieving an average price of 41,000gns - by far the best figure for any of the budget sires in Britain and Ireland who retired in 2019. Half the price he was only two years ago, and with so much in his favour, US Navy Flag looks one of the bargains of the breeding season. Two more names on Coolmore’s roster feature among the many sharp and speedy sires who have their first yearlings in 2021 and are available at lower fees. Sioux Nation won the Norfolk Stakes and Phoenix Stakes at two and took the Lacken Stakes and ran third in

the Flying Five at three. He is by sire sensation Scat Daddy out of a winning daughter of Oasis Dream and classy sprinter Catch The Blues, and has covered large books of 241 and 158 mares in his first two seasons. His fee has been snipped into €10,000 from €12,500, which looks fair in light of his first-crop foal average of just over 28,000gns. Incidentally, acolytes of the Scat Daddy line also have Starfield Stud’s €5,000 option Smooth Daddy, a US Grade 3 winner distantly related to Sioux Nation, at their disposal. Back to Coolmore: Gustav Klimt scored in the Superlative Stakes at two and after finishing placed in the Irish 2,000 Guineas, St James’s Palace Stakes and Prix Jean Prat he marked himself down as arguably his sire Galileo’s fastest performer with a close third in the Haydock Sprint Cup. Not only is he by the world’s best sire, but he is also a sibling to stakes winners Blissful, Cuff, Nayarra and Wonderfully, as well as St James’s Palace Stakes third Mars, and is out of a Listedwinning Danehill sister to the prolific sires Invincible Spirit and Kodiac. So, all in all, breeders who use Gustav Klimt at an advertised fee of just €4,000 this year will be getting a lot of bang for their buck. Another uncannily fast sprinter from the Galileo sireline is Whitsbury Manor Stud resident Havana Grey, whose fee has been set at £6,000 for his third season.

The son of Havana Gold and the multiple-winning Dark Angel mare Blanc De Chine struck in the Molecomb Stakes and finished runner-up in the Prix Morny and Flying Childers Stakes in a busy season at two, and won the Sapphire Stakes and Flying Five at three. He has books of 145 and 130 mares under his belt and his first foals sold for an average of just over 24,000gns, so he has plenty to offer the budget breeder. Havana Grey’s conqueror in the Prix Morny, Unfortunately, also scored in the Prix Robert Papin at two and signed off his career with a victory in the Renaissance Stakes at three. A welcome stallion son of the short-lived but successful Society Rock, he is a halfbrother to the admirable Group 2-winning sprint filly Look Busy. Unfortunately covered 52 mares in his first season at Cheveley Park Stud and 50 in his second year at his new home across the Irish Sea at Oak Lodge Stud, where he will cover this year at a fee of €4,500. He deserves a little more support. Commercial breeders really are spoilt for choice of smart sprinters in this range of stallions, with James Garfield, Kessaar, Rajasinghe, Tasleet and Washington DC also available. James Garfield, a son of Exceed And Excel from that ubiquitous family of Invincible Spirit and Kodiac, won the Mill Reef Stakes at two and the Greenham Stakes at three Continues page 12

JAMES GARFIELD Record Breaking Gr.2 Winning 2-Y-O Gr.3 Winning and Gr.1 Placed 3-Y-O Defeated 33 Individual Gr. Winners incl. 6 Individual Gr.1 Winners Out of a Stakes winning Royal Ascot 2-Y-O, from the immediate stallion producing family of PINATUBO, INVINCIBLE SPIRIT and KODIAC By Champion 2-Y-O Sire EXCEED AND EXCEL FIRST YEARLINGS

2021

T: 00353 25 36362 • E: info@rathbarrystud.com www.rathbarrystud.com

Thursday, February 11, 2021 racingpost.com

BLOODSTOCK SPECIAL BREEDING ON A BUDGET From page 11

(taking the scalp of Expert Eye), and later that season was only just touched off into second by Polydream in the Prix Maurice de Gheest. His first two books have numbered 68 and 31 mares and he is another who arguably deserves more patronage. Kessaar, who stands alongside his sire Kodiac at his birthplace of Tally-Ho Stud, won the Sirenia Stakes and Mill Reef Stakes at two, his only season to race. A relation to US champion racemares Inside Information and Smuggler, his first two books numbered 99 and 42 foals. He is on offer at €5,000 this year. Rajasinghe was one of the surprise packages of last year’s sales season, with his debut foals, bred off an opening fee of just £5,000, selling for a superb average of 29,500gns. With only 33 mares in his first book and 25 in his second, those results might have caused breeders to kick themselves for not having used him more. The Coventry Stakeswinning son of Choisir is priced even more cheaply at the National Stud this year, at £3,000. That could be a steal for a horse who the early evidence suggests is throwing good-looking stock. The debut foals of Nunnery Stud resident Tasleet, available for £5,000, were also popular in 2020. They achieved an average price just shy of 20,000gns at auction. The son of Showcasing and close relation to Battaash was a Listed winner and Group 2placed at two, took the Greenham Stakes at three and developed into one of the best sprinters of his generation. He later won the Duke of York Stakes by two and a half lengths and ran second in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes, Haydock Sprint Cup and British Champions Sprint. His sizeable first crop of yearlings is the result of 107 mares being sent to him, and he received 51 mares last year. Bearstone Stud-based Washington DC, a son of the recently deceased Zoffany, covered 67 mares in his first book and 39 in his second, and his introductory sales foals managed a very respectable average price of 20,257gns. He won the Windsor Castle Stakes and ran second in the Phoenix Stakes at two, reached the places in the Prix de l’Abbaye and Commonwealth Cup at three, and scored in the Phoenix Sprint Stakes at four. He could offer value at his £4,500 fee. It’s not all about speed at this end of the market for Flat breeders, though, and a couple of milers make appeal at budget prices. Lightning Spear won in every season from two to seven, with his standout efforts

Plenty of focus sure to be on U S Navy Flag

STAR VALUE US Navy Flag Shock to see this well-bred winner of big Group 1s in the budget bracket Rajasinghe Sneakily good prices for the first foals by this under-used son of Choisir Massaat Bargain basement option ticks boxes of pedigree and performance being back-to-back Celebration Mile victories and a clear-cut defeat of Expert Eye in the Sussex Stakes in his final season. He was also twice a runner-up in the Lockinge, including when only a short head behind Rhododendron. He is by the influential Pivotal out of a Listed-winning Royal Academy mare, and if the breeding industry was more respectful of consistency and durability he would have covered more than 97 mares in his first two books and be standing for more than £5,000 at Tweenhills. Massaat is a son of Teofilo from a flourishing female family – his half-brothers include Commonwealth Cup hero Eqtidaar and promising three-year-old Mujbar – and he did his bit for the pedigree by taking second in the Dewhurst at two and the 2,000 Guineas at three and later winning the Hungerford Stakes. He seems to have captured breeders’ imaginations, with healthy books of 84 and 83 mares in his first two years at

FIRST TWO-YEAROLDS OF 2021

First-crop yearling stallions standing in Britain and Ireland for £10,000/€12,500 or less Name Age Sire Stud Fee

Foal avg in 2020

No. covered in 2020

Frontiersman

Dubawi

Overbury, UK

£1,000

102

Gustav Klimt

Galileo

Coolmore, Ire

€4,000

12,969gns

Harbour Law

Lawman

Batsford, UK

£2,500

Havana Grey

Havana Gold

Whitsbury Manor, UK

£6,000

24,029gns

130

Idaho

Galileo

Coolmore NH, Ire

€3,500

10,575gns

204

James Garfield

Exceed And Excel Rathbarry, Ire

€4,000

9,750gns

Kessaar

Kodiac

Tally-Ho, Ire

€5,000

17,520gns

Pivotal

Tweenhills, UK

£5,000

9,167gns

Teofilo

Mickley, UK

£4,000

11,350gns

Lightning Spear Massaat

Master Carpenter 10

Mastercraftsman March Hare, UK

£1,000

Order Of St George 9

Galileo

Coolmore NH, Ire

€6,500

24,856gns

247

Poet’s Word

Poet’s Voice

Boardsmill, Ire

€5,000

221

Rajasinghe

Choisir

National, UK

£3,000

29,500gns

Sioux Nation

Scat Daddy

Coolmore, Ire

€10,000

28,143gns

158

Smooth Daddy

Scat Daddy

Starfield, Ire

€5,000

9,000gns

Tasleet

Showcasing

Nunnery, UK

£5,000

19,959gns

Unfortunately

Society Rock

Oak Lodge, Ire

€4,500

12,563gns

US Navy Flag

War Front

Coolmore, Ire

€12,500

41,000gns

143

Washington DC

Zoffany

Bearstone, UK

£4,500

20,257gns

Mickley Stud, and deserves further support at a reduced fee of £4,000 this year. Order Of St George and Poet’s Word are pointed towards the jumps market but

Flat breeders wanting to produce a top-class middledistance athlete or stayer – there must be some left! – could do worse than use them.

From left: Havana Grey, Lightning Spear and Tasleet

THE Flat-oriented members of this group, who were enrolled on to stallion rosters in 2018, will come under the microscope in the year ahead as they are represented by their debut two-year-old runners. As ever, there are the precocious types who we have every right to expect to be quick out of the blocks with their progeny, and the slowermaturing, more middledistance bred sires who will be longer-term prospects. Fitzdares have chalked up Profitable as their 3-1 favourite to supply the most individual winners in Britain and Ireland up to the end of the year, and it is not difficult to see why. The Kildangan Stud resident is by a former champion firstseason sire in Invincible Spirit and hails from a pacey and prolific female family. He developed into a five-furlong phenomenon in his racecourse pomp, taking the King’s Stand Stakes and Temple Stakes among four black-type successes. Profitable, priced competitively at €10,000 this year, has 124 two-year-olds to go to war with, and his European yearling average was a very healthy 41,247gns. If his progeny are anything like him, they should mature well too. Another strong fancy for the honour of becoming the leading freshman sire by volume of winners is Cotai Glory at 5-1.

Racing Post Thursday, February 11, 2021

PATRICK McCANN (RACINGPOST.COM/PHOTOS)

Profitable and Cotai likely to chalk up plenty of winners The son of Exceed And Excel, a dual Group 3-winning sprinter who finished a neck second to Profitable in the King’s Stand, has 124 two-yearolds and a creditable opening yearling average of 22,013gns. Most eye-catchingly for his chances of making it, he hails from the same Tally-Ho Stud academy as recent top firstseason sires Mehmas, Society Rock, Sir Prancealot, Zebedee and Red Clubs. He is a fair bet for breeders too, priced at €5,000 for the coming breeding season. Aclaim is next best among the budget sires in Fitzdares’ market, available at 8-1. The National Stud flagbearer is by Acclamation – sire of last

STAR VALUE Galileo Gold Absurd fee for a Classic winner from a fine family; could surprise a few Ulysses Bit of a buzz about this top-notch product of Galileo and Light Shift Postponed Star son of Dubawi makes plenty of appeal at a four-figure fee

year’s wunderkind Mehmas – from the family of Classic winners Montjeu, Again and Galileo Gold (more of whom in a minute), and won on his debut in December at two before developing into a classy sprinter/miler with victories in the Challenge Stakes, Park Stakes and Prix de la Foret to his name. Aclaim has 109 two-yearolds on his side and his yearlings sold for an average of 25,289gns. He should make a bright start this year but is entitled to some patience, as he was so progressive himself and has that Classic pedigree. Galileo Gold is available at Tally-Ho Stud for just €5,000 on the eve of his first two-year-olds gracing a racecourse, which reads like a misprint when you think he won the Vintage Stakes at two and no less than the 2,000 Guineas and St James’s Palace Stakes at three. He has been held back a little by an unfashionable sire in Paco Boy and the fact he was not sold at just 7,500gns as a foal, but he was truly top-class and has that bluechip distaff pedigree in his

favour, so could perhaps surprise a few people with some of his 102 debut juveniles in 2021. There is no such thing as a guarantee of a sire having a productive first season with runners, but Ardad’s race record and pedigree comes close to giving one. The son of Kodiac is from a family jam-packed with fast horses, including Anita’s Prince, Kier Park, Maarek, Swiss Spirit and Yafta, and he won the Windsor Castle Stakes and Flying Childers Stakes for John Gosden. Ardad has 87 two-year-olds on his team, and those who passed through a sale ring last year made a healthy 15,020gns on average. He is reasonably priced at £4,000 for 2021. Another who looks set for a big freshman season is Yeomanstown Stud’s US import El Kabeir, a son of late two-year-old sire supreme Scat Daddy who was a Grade 2-winning juvenile at Churchill Downs himself. He has 110 two-year-olds to go to war with and his Continues page 14

THE 10 FURLONG WORLD CHAMPION €5,000

FASCINATING ROCK. STAKES

Earls Rock wins the Baffle Stakes at Santa Anita to maintain his unbeaten record in the USA.

Earls Rock

BALLYLINCH STUD

T h o m a s t ow n , C o . K i l k e n n y, I re l a n d + 3 5 3 ( 0 ) 5 6 7 7 2 4 2 1 7 • w w w. b a l l y l i n c h s t u d . c o m

Thursday, February 11, 2021 racingpost.com

BLOODSTOCK SPECIAL BREEDING ON A BUDGET From page 13

yearlings achieved a very decent 24,619gns average price, so seems a fair bet at a €6,000 fee. There is in fact only one Group 1-winning two-year-old among this year’s budgetpriced first-season sires and that is National Defense, who stands alongside his sire Invincible Spirit at the Irish National Stud at just €5,000. He delivered a dazzling four and a half-length victory in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere at two and was a close second to the top-class Al Wukair in the Prix Djebel at three in a brief career due to injury. National Defense has only 43 two-year-olds, so may not end the year with the same high volume of winners as some of his peers, but it would be no shock to see the former €280,000 yearling from the famed Anna Paola dynasty deliver his fair share of quality runners. Among the later-developing horses with their first twoyear-olds in 2021 is Ulysses, who is only a 10-1 shot with Fitzdares to field the most winners in this peer group despite the fact he is the product of two Epsom Classic winners in Galileo and Light Shift and ran only once at two, when he was unplaced. The far from generous odds are likely because there was quite a buzz surrounding the sire at last autumn’s yearling sales, when his debut offerings sold for an average of 54,423gns, with a top price of 320,000gns. It would still be a surprise to see this Eclipse and Juddmonte International winner sire a glut of two-yearold winners from his first crop numbering 85 foals, but he nevertheless makes a wonderful longer-term prospect and the market suggests he is throwing goodlooking stock. And, best of all, his fee is down to £10,000 at Cheveley Park Stud this year, from an opening mark of £30,000. How far lower do prices for middle-distance sires need to go before breeders rediscover their love for them? And all the

while the cost of using sprinters and sharp two-year-olds with less distinguished pedigrees, whose progeny arguably have less international resale value, seems to go up and up. Similar comments apply to Decorated Knight, Highland Reel and Postponed: all outstanding middle-distance horses by elite sires, and all available at bargain basement fees this year – before they have even had any runners. Decorated Knight, priced at €7,500 at the Irish National Stud, finished second on his sole start at two and rose through the ranks to become a triple Group 1 winner over nine to ten and a half furlongs at five. The son of Galileo from the immediate family of Giant’s Causeway was in

possession of a potent turn of foot, a priceless trait in a stallion prospect. He has 40 two-year-olds and those that went through a sale-ring as a yearling achieved an average of 20,253gns. Eye-catchingly, his book size has increased in each season since he retired to stud, so he has bigger crops to come. What’s not to like about Highland Reel? He is well bred, as a son of Galileo from the family of champions Elvstroem, Haradasun and Starspangledbanner; he has two-year-old form in the book, having won the Vintage Stakes; and he blossomed into a tough and top-class ten to 12-furlong performer, winning seven Group/Grade 1 races on three continents.

Much to like about this high-profile pair: Ulysses (noseband) and Highland Reel

A Capital Choice! Champion 3yo sprinter & ZOFFANY’S only son at stud

Why travel? Walk in! Tel: 07974 948755 or 01630 647197

www.bearstonestud.co.uk

Fee: £4,500 Oct 1st SLF

Highland Reel has 116 two-year-olds on the ground and his yearlings sold for a highly respectable average of 30,726gns. All that and he is priced at just €10,000 at Coolmore. Because Postponed developed into an exceptional older middle-distance talent, winning the King George, Dubai Sheema Classic, Coronation Cup and Juddmonte International, it is easy to forget he was forward enough to score easily in a seven-furlong maiden in the August of his two-year-old season. A Dubawi half-brother to Group 1 winner God Given, out of an unraced daughter of champion two-year-old Bianca Nera, he gives a few clues that his progeny might be a little

Rated 121 by Timeform

FIRST YEARLINGS 2021

Racing Post Thursday, February 11, 2021

Pictures: EDWARD WHITAKER (RACINGPOST.COM/PHOTOS)

“Price is what you pay; value is what you get” Warren Buffet – CEO of Berkshire Hathaway

Mayson

Sire of the Gr.1 winning sprinter OXTED (A Leading Sprinter in Europe on official 2020 rankings)

*******************************

12% of his 3yo+ runners are rated 100 or higher

***************************

Averaging 5 Black Type 2yos per crop

************************

One of the best value stallions in the UK

********************** Fee: £4,000 (1st Oct. SLF) sharper than we would have expected. He has 72 two-year-olds and a yearling average of 30,875gns, which reads well in the context of his reduced fee of £7,500 at Dalham Hall Stud this year. Another son of Dubawi whose credentials suggest he could offer a pleasing balance of precocity and progression is the National Stud’s Time Test. The handsome bay, out of Criterium de Saint-Cloud heroine Passage Of Time, was an impressive summer maiden winner at two and later struck in the Joel Stakes and York

‘He has two-year-old form in the book, having won the Vintage Stakes, and he blossomed into a tough and top-class ten to 12-furlong performer, winning seven Group/Grade 1 races’ Stakes. He was also threetimes Group 1-placed, including in the Eclipse. Time Test has 69 two-yearolds and his yearling average was a commendable 33,171gns, all of which makes him easy to like at his price of £8,500.

Berkshire, Dartmouth, Jack Hobbs, My Dream Boat and Wings Of Eagles are among the excellent performers who are marketed to jumps breeders and have their first two-year-old offspring. Continues page 16

Ardad Berkshire

7 10

Kodiac

Overbury, UK

Mount Nelson

Kedrah House, Ire

£4,000

Yearling avg in 2020 25,289gns

No. covered in 2020 74

15,020gns

poa

201

Cotai Glory

Exceed And Excel Tally-Ho, Ire

€5,000

22,013gns

100

Dartmouth

Dubawi

Shade Oak, UK

£2,500

9,600gns

Decorated Knight

Galileo

Irish National, Ire

€7,500

20,253gns

122

El Kabeir

Scat Daddy

Yeomanstown, Ire

€6,000

24,619gns

Forever Now

Galileo

Norton Grove, UK

£1,000

Galileo Gold

Paco Boy

Tally-Ho, Ire

€5,000

20,608gns

Highland Reel

Galileo

Coolmore, Ire

€10,000

30,726gns

139

Jack Hobbs

Halling

Overbury, UK

£3,000

8,725gns

134

Dansili

Meiklehaugh, UK

poa

10 21

Mahsoob

Dual Gr.1 winning sprinter by KYLLACHY *******************************

Sire of 25 individual first crop winners to date

*************************

First-crop two-year-old stallions standing in Britain and Ireland for £10,000/€12,500 or less Name Age Sire Stud Fee Aclaim 8 Acclamation National, UK £9,500

Twilight Son

My Dream Boat

Lord Shanakill

Starfield, Ire

€2,500

8,200gns

National Defense

Invincible Spirit

Irish National, Ire

€5,000

13,846gns

Pillar Coral

Zamindar

Kilbarry Lodge, Ire

poa

16,333gns

111

Postponed

Dubawi

Dalham Hall, UK

Profitable

Invincible Spirit

Kildangan, Ire

Time Test

Dubawi

National, UK

Ulysses

Galileo

Cheveley Park, UK

Wings Of Eagles

Pour Moi

Coolmore NH, Ire

€5,000

£7,500

30,875gns

121

€10,000

41,247gns

156

£8,500

33,171gns

125

£10,000

54,423gns

119

24,350gns

241

His first crop includes a Group and Listed winner

**********************

2020 yearlings made up to 70,000gns

********************* Fee: £5,000 (1st Oct. SLF)

Cheveley Park Stud Tel: +44 (0)1638 730316 • enquiries@cheveleypark.co.uk www.cheveleypark.co.uk • L@CPStudOfficial

Thursday, February 11, 2021 racingpost.com

BLOODSTOCK SPECIAL BREEDING ON A BUDGET

Mehmas the perfect example to follow From page 14

FIRST THREE-YEAROLDS OF 2021 LAST year’s runaway leading first-season sire Mehmas illustrates the value available at the more affordable end of the stallion market. The Tally-Ho Stud resident, who fielded a record-smashing 56 individual winners in his debut two-year-old crop, was priced between €7,500 and €12,500 in his first four years but is now out of budget breeders’ grasp at €25,000. No need to despair, though, as plenty of the other freshman sires of 2020 fared well enough to justify their use and are still inexpensively priced. Belardo actually matched Mehmas’s feat of supplying four black-type winners, including Isabella Giles in the Rockfel Stakes and Elysium in the Park Stakes. They featured among 13 winners for the champion twoyear-old and Lockingewinning son of Lope De Vega, whose fee at Kildangan Stud has been held at €10,000. Coulsty was perhaps the surprise package among the group. He supplied nine

winners from just 23 runners for an excellent strike-rate of 39 per cent and three of those Santosha, Sopran Aragorn and Suicide Squad - were stakes scorers. Perhaps a little underappreciated by breeders up until now, he should have done enough to encourage far stronger patronage this year – especially as his fee at Rathasker Stud remains a very reasonable €4,000. He was one of four sons of Kodiac retired to stud in Britain and Ireland in 2017, and all fared respectably with their first runners last term. Adaay gave best only to Mehmas in terms of number of winners, on 24, and is still priced at £5,000 at Whitsbury Manor Stud, while Prince Of Lir’s haul of 13 winners included Norfolk Stakes scorer The Lir Jet, and he is down to €3,500 at Ballyhane Stud. Kodi Bear, meanwhile, came up with 18 winners including an eye-catching five British and Irish black-type performers, yet remains at €6,000 at Rathbarry Stud. Kodiac’s half-brother Invincible Spirit is responsible for another of last year’s

promising first-season sires, Territories. Among his 19 winners were Prix des Reservoirs scorer and Prix Marcel Boussac third Rougir, and his fee has been trimmed to £10,000 at Dalham Hall Stud. Twilight Son, the multiple Group 1-winning sprinter who retired to Cheveley Park Stud alongside his sire Kyllachy and grandsire Pivotal, was on the mark with 22 winners including the leading Italian juvenile filly Aria Importante. He still holds considerable potential and looks value at £5,000, half his original covering fee. Coolmore-based The Gurkha and Tara Stud’s Estidhkaar, both on offer for €5,000 in the coming breeding season, also put a first-crop stakes winner on the board. Best Of Lips, one of 15 two-year-old winners for The Gurkha, struck at Group 3 level in Germany, while Belcarra, one of 13 who scored last year for Estidhkaar, was on the mark in a German Listed event. Double-figure tallies of winners in 2020 also belonged to Awtaad, Buratino and

Covered his strongest book of mares in 2020 “Due Diligence is definitely one of the best value proven sires in Britain”. Clive Cox, trainer of Streamline & Diligent Harry.

DUE DILIGENCE

STAR VALUE Belardo Fab four stakes winners in first crop but no fee increase; looks generous Coulsty Surprise package defied small numbers to supply three stakes winners Harzand Dual Derby winner has some promising lightly-raced types on his team Vadamos (all on 14), Bobby’s Kitten (11) and Markaz (ten). Among those later-maturing horses of this vintage who have yet to show their hand are Fascinating Rock and Harzand. Fascinating Rock, advertised at €5,000 at Ballylinch Stud, has a handful of winners under his belt – but many more will surely follow for this son of Fastnet Rock who landed the Champion Stakes and Tattersalls Gold Cup at four and five. A tally of eight first-crop two-year-old winners for Harzand, including a few impressive lightly-raced maiden scorers in French Fusion and Port Sunlight, was probably in line with expectations for a dual Derby winner by Sea The Stars and he looks worthy of continued support at €8,000 at Gilltown Stud. Affinisea and Ol’ Man River are among the well bred and strongly supported jumps sires whose first crop have just turned three, so we can look forward to seeing their debut store progeny at the sales. Continues page 18

First-crop three-year-old stallions standing in Britain and Ireland for £10,000/€12,500 or less Name Age Sire Stud Fee Adaay 9 Kodiac Whitsbury Manor, UK £5,000

No. covered in 2020 52

Affinisea

Sea The Stars

Whytemount, Ire

poa

Awtaad

Cape Cross

Derrinstown, Ire

€10,000

Belardo

Lope De Vega

Kildangan, Ire

€10,000

116

Bobby’s Kitten Buratino Cannock Chase Charming Thought Coulsty Estidhkaar Fascinating Rock

209

Kitten’s Joy

Lanwades, UK

£7,000

Exceed And Excel

Kildangan, Ire

€5,000

Lemon Drop Kid

Vauterhill, UK

£1,000

Oasis Dream

Dalham Hall, UK

£4,000

Kodiac

Rathasker, Ire

€4,000

Dark Angel

Tara, Ire

€5,000

9 10 9 10

Fastnet Rock

Ballylinch, Ire

€5,000

Harzand

Sea The Stars

Derrinstown, Ire

€8,000

142

Kodi Bear

Kodiac

Rathbarry, Ire

€6,000

Marcel

Lawman

Anngrove, Ire

poa

Markaz

Dark Angel

Derrinstown, Ire

Mizzou

Galileo

Ol’ Man River

Enquiries: Phil Haworth or Ed Harper Whitsbury Manor Stud Tel: 01725 518254 Mob: 07778 603691 www.whitsburymanorstud.co.uk

Estidhkaar: the dual Group 2 winner is on offer at €5,000

€3,000

Old Road, Ire

poa

Montjeu

Arctic Tack, Ire

poa

Parish Hall

Teofilo

Redmondstown, Ire

poa

Pearl Secret

Compton Place

Chapel, UK

£4,000

Prince Of Lir

Kodiac

Ballyhane, Ire

€3,500

Proconsul

Galileo

Annshoon, Ire

poa

Territories

Invincible Spirit

Dalham Hall, UK

£10,000

153

The Gurkha

Galileo

Coolmore, Ire

€5,000

The Last Lion

Choisir

Hedgeholme, UK

£4,000

Twilight Son

Kyllachy

Cheveley Park, UK

£5,000

Monsun

Coolmore NH, Ire

€6,000

160

Vadamos

Racing Post Thursday, February 11, 2021

Success Boxes now prominent online

12m views on Online Results each month Small cost Long Term Impact

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Thursday, February 11, 2021 racingpost.com

BLOODSTOCK SPECIAL BREEDING ON A BUDGET From page 16

MORE ESTABLISHED SIRES THE stallions in this section retired to stud between 2014 and 2016, which doesn’t sound all that long ago. And yet, as the lack of affordably-priced names in the accompanying table shows, the ruthlessness of the market has meant their number has already dwindled quite considerably. Among those in the youngest cohort, those with their first four-year-old runners in 2021, it is perhaps Cable Bay and Due Diligence who have done most to suggest they can establish reputations as solid commercial choices for breeders on a budget. Cable Bay, a Group 2winning and Group 1-placed son of Invincible Spirit, has delivered 11 black-type performers in his first two crops headed by the likeable sprint filly Liberty Beach, progressive Tomfre and promising Laneqash. He covered 100 mares last year, so should have plenty of representation in the future, and his £8,000 fee at Highclere Stud comprises the same 50-50 terms and Euros4Euros deal that applied to Land Force. Due Diligence, a high-class sprinter by War Front, has also fared well with his early

Cable Bay and Due Diligence can enhance some reputations of more established sires runners. The headline acts among his first two crops are the Group 3 winners Sir Boris and Streamline. He too received good support from breeders in 2020, also covering a book of 100 mares at Whitsbury Manor Stud, and the operation has clipped his fee into a tempting £6,000. Outstrip, the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf-winning son of Exceed And Excel who stands at Dalham Hall Stud and was one of the original Darley Club stallions, has done his many supporters proud with a bold early show with his runners.

They were headed by Group 2 winner Gold Trip, also third in the Grand Prix de Paris and a close fourth in the Arc, and fellow stakes scorers Outburst and Flippa The Strippa. He was sent 71 mares last year and a reduced fee of £4,000 should ensure he is busy again in 2021. It is fair to say the start that Muhaarar has made to his stallion career has been a little disappointing, considering his own brilliance on the track and the fact he covered strong books of mares at a fee of £30,000.

Mickley Stud Tern Hill, Market Drayton, Shropshire, TF9 3QW Stud Office: +44 (0)1630 638 840 Mobile: +44 (0)7973 315 722 E-mail: mickleystud@btconnect.com

MASSAAT

2021 Fee: £4,000 1st Oct SLF

Bay 2013, 16.1hh Sire: Teofilo Dam: Madany (Acclamation) Top Class Gr.1 Performer from 2 to 4 years By TEOFILO, sire of 6 Gr.1 winners in 2020 WON Gr.2 HUNGERFORD STAKES 2nd Gr.1 2000- GUINEAS STAKES Half-Brother to a Gr.1 Winning Sprinter Rated 122 by Timeform Annual First yearlings 2021

HEERAAT

2021 Fee: £2,500 1st Oct SLF

Bay 2013, 16.1hh Sire: Dark Angel Dam: Thawrah (Green Desert) Group-winning sprinter, won 5 races 11 length winner of his maiden at 2 Successful at 2, 3 & 4 years Timeform-rated 118 SIRED Royal Ascot winner Motakhayyel SIRED Listed Winner Freed From Desire

But he does have nine stakes performers on his record, including a number of exciting three-year-olds such as Baradar and Mujbar, has lots more well-bred runners to come through the system, and his revised £10,000 fee at Nunnery Stud should bring him into breeders’ calculations. Cappella Sansevero, Intrinsic and Music Master are among the other sprinters by good sires who have their first four-year-olds and could do breeders a good turn. Free Eagle was always going to be a stallion who rewarded connections’ patience, as a top-class middle-distance horse by High Chaparral, and he is doing just that. The highlight of his first crop was Derby runner-up Khalifa Sat and there should be more stars in his second vintage, as several of them scored impressively on their debut in recent months including Affwonn and Soaring Sky. Free Eagle covered 105 mares in 2020 but his fee has still been cut to a generouslooking €8,000 at the Irish National Stud for 2021. Hillstar, Kingston Hill, Pether’s Moon, Sea Moon, Snow Sky and Telescope are all middle-distance A-listers whose first four-year-olds will be more focussed towards the National Hunt and could make a splash in point-to-points, bumpers and novice hurdles this year. On to those stallions whose oldest crop have just turned five, and Rathasker Stud holds a particularly strong hand here with Bungle Inthejungle and Gregorian. Bungle Inthejungle, a precocious son of Exceed And Excel, is earning serious respect as a good source of two-year-olds and sprinters thanks to his three Pattern winners Living In The Past, Rumble Inthejungle and Winter Power. Six of his yearlings sold for 30,000gns or more last year, including a colt who made £100,000, so at his 2021 fee of €8,000 he offers breeders the chance of hitting the jackpot. Gregorian, by Rathasker stalwart Clodovil, was a

versatile performer in his own career, finishing placed in Group 1 company over six furlongs and a mile. He is quietly compiling a respectable progeny record, with daughters Plainchant and Queen Jo Jo landing Pattern contests in 2020 and son Gregorian Chant getting 2021 off to a fine start for him with a stakes score at Santa Anita. Gregorian looks really competitively priced at €5,000 this year and deserves his fair share of custom. Another inexpensive stallion in Ireland who rightly has plenty of admirers is Starfield Stud resident Kuroshio, whose first northern-hemisphere crop of just 22 foals conceived at Overbury Stud – now aged five – yielded Group 3 winner Kurious and three other stakes performers besides. The son of Exceed And Excel and close relation to Anthony Van Dyck was retrieved from Australia to stand under the Compas Stallions banner in Ireland in 2019, so his first larger European crop are yearlings of 2021. Breeders seem to have really got behind Kuroshio in recent years, and he covered 132 mares last season. He looks well priced at €6,000. The likes of Albaasil, Coach House and Heeraat might not deliver mare owners huge profits but for those who breed to race they could get you a winner. Among the National Huntoriented stallions with their first five-year-olds, Jet Away has made a notably bold start but we are bound to hear more from the likes of Leading Light, Libertarian, Ocovango,

STAR VALUE Due Diligence Well supported by breeders last year and fee given a trim for 2021 Gregorian Enjoyed a strong 2020 and quietly compiling a fine progeny record Cityscape Surprise package with small fee has better bred runners in the pipeline

From top: Free Eagle, Sea Moon, Leading Light and Planteur

Quest For Peace, Sun Central, Top Trip and Valirann in due course. The few standout budget choices among those stallions who retired to stud in 2014, and therefore have an oldest crop aged six, are headed by the Gloucestershire-based pair Havana Gold and Cityscape. Tweenhills flagbearer Havana Gold, a Group 1winning son of Teofilo, has notched 15 black-type performers headed by Flying Five hero Havana Grey and Group 3 scorers Tabdeed and Treasuring. He could be set for a big year as the progeny conceived in the afterglow of his successful freshman season have just turned two. They were bred off a fee of £15,000 and yet he is already down to £7,500, so could represent good value. Cityscape, a Group 1winning Selkirk half-brother to Bated Breath, was something of a surprise package among this generation after classy performers Dan’s Dream, Give And Take, Ka Ying Star, The Broghie Man and Urban Icon Continues page 20

Racing Post Thursday, February 11, 2021

More established stallions standing in Britain and Ireland for £10,000/€12,500 or less First crop 4yos in 2021

More established stallions standing in Britain and Ireland for £10,000/€12,500 or less First crop 5yos in 2021

Name Age Sire Stud Fee Altruistic 10 Galileo Rosshill, Ire €500

Name Age Sire Stud Fee Albaasil 13 Dansili Moor End, UK poa

Cable Bay

Cappella Sansevero

No. covered in 2020 12

Invincible Spirit

Highclere, UK

£8,000

100

Showcasing

Starfield, Ire

€4,000

No. covered in 2020 na

Bungle Inthejungle

Exceed And Excel

Rathasker, Ire

€8,000

Coach House

Oasis Dream

Chapel, UK

£2,500

29 42

Due Diligence

War Front

Whitsbury Manor, UK

£6,000

100

Gregorian

Clodovil

Rathasker, Ire

€5,000

Free Eagle

High Chaparral

Irish National, Ire

€8,000

105

Heeraat

Dark Angel

Mickley, UK

£2,500

Hillstar

Danehill Dancer

Garryrichard, Ire

poa

119

Kuroshio

Exceed And Excel

Starfield, Ire

€6,000

132

Intrinsic

Oasis Dream

Hedgeholme, UK

£1,750

Jet Away

Cape Cross

Arctic Tack, Ire

poa

288

Kingston Hill

Mastercraftsman

Coolmore, Ire

€4,000

184

Leading Light

Montjeu

Coolmore NH, Ire

€3,000

Lucky Speed

Silvano

Sunnyhill, Ire

poa

Libertarian

New Approach

Knock House, Ire

poa

Oasis Dream

Nunnery, UK

£10,000

Ocovango

Monsun

Coolmore NH, Ire

€5,000

132

poa

Muhaarar

Music Master

Piccolo

Throckmorton Court, UK

£2,500

Quest For Peace

Galileo

Knockmullen House, Ire

Outstrip

Exceed And Excel

Dalham Hall, UK

£4,000

Sun Central

Galileo

Elusive Bloodstock

Pether’s Moon

Dylan Thomas

Yorton Farm, UK

£2,000

Top Trip

Dubai Destination

Sea Moon

Beat Hollow

Burgage, Ire

poa

Valirann

Nayef

Snow Sky

Nayef

Ballycurragh, Ire

poa

Telescope

Galileo

Shade Oak, UK

£3,000

124

Kingston Hill: A-lister over middle distances

£1,000

Vauterhill, UK

poa

Whytemount, Ire

poa

109

Name Age Sire Stud Fee Aiken 13 Selkirk Anngrove, Ire poa

No. covered in 2020 na

First crop 6yos in 2021

Al Kazeem

Dubawi

Oakgrove, UK

poa

Cityscape

Selkirk

Overbury, UK

£4,000

Feel Like Dancing

Galileo

Whytemount, Ire

poa

Havana Gold

Teofilo

Tweenhills, UK

£7,500

Masterstroke

Monsun

Yorton Farm, UK

£3,000

Maxios

Monsun

Coolmore NH, Ire

€7,000

298

Planteur

Danehill Dancer

Chapel, UK

£3,000

Shantaram

Galileo

Coolagown, Ire

poa

Swiss Spirit

Invincible Spirit

Batsford, UK

£2,500

Tough As Nails

Dark Angel

Blackrath, Ire

€1,500

Universal

Dubawi

Groomsbridge, UK

poa

OAK LODGE & SPRINGFIELD HOUSE STUD

UNFORTUNATELY The FasTesT Winner oF The Group 1 prix Morny in The lasT DecaDe a cheveley park stud stallion

FirsT crop yearlinGs in 2021 “Great value for a Group 1 winning 2yo. We will use him again this year.” Hugh Hyland- Oghill House Stud, bred to Unfortunately in 2020

“It’s simple, they’re nice horses and Unfortunately was a very fast horse.”

A GROUP 1 WINNING 2YO

Roger O’Callaghan – Tallyho Stud, purchased foals in 2020 from his first crop

Standing at: Springfield House Stud, Knock, Roscrea, Co. tipperary, R32 H425, ireland Linda Coffey: 086 3310968 Reddy Coffey: 087 9666301 Email: info@springfieldhousestud.com www.oaklodgestud.com

Thursday, February 11, 2021 racingpost.com

BLOODSTOCK SPECIAL BREEDING ON A BUDGET emerged from his modestly bred early crops. As was the case with Havana Gold, Overbury Stud resident Cityscape also has better bred runners in the pipeline and he consequently looks very fairly priced at £4,000 in 2021. Another stallion in this category who should have earned breeders’ respect is Al Kazeem at his birthplace of Oakgrove Stud. The champion son of Dubawi might be subertile but he is making himself heard with his small crops, each of which has yielded a stakes winner. Aspetar, a six-year-old conceived during his sire’s aborted first season at the Royal Studs, has won a German Group 1 as well as the York Stakes, while four-yearold Usak scored in Listed company at Toulouse last year and three-year-olds Harper and Saint Lawrence landed stakes successes in 2020. Al Kazeem, who is well capable of getting mares in foal now that his covering activity is closely managed, stands at a private fee this year. He is well worth looking into. Jumps sires Masterstroke, Maxios, Planteur and Shantaram all have their first six-year-olds this year and have already tasted success to varying degrees.

EDWARD WHITAKER (RACINGPOST.COM/PHOTOS)

From page 18

The sire who looks an open goal

HEDGEHOLME STUD INTRODUCING NEW RECRUIT THE LAST LION (Choisir x Mala Mala) STANDING HIS SECOND SEASON FOR £4,000 (1ST OCTOBER SLF) IN 2021 RACING ONLY AS A TWO-YEAR-OLD IN 2016, HE WAS ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL JUVENILES OF HIS GENERATION IN BRITAIN

WON GROUP 1 JUDDMONTE MIDDLE PARK STAKES (6F) BEATING BLUE POINT (IRE) AND MEHMAS (IRE) 4 WINS 4 SECONDS 2 THIRDS FROM 10 STARTS ON THE TRACK

hedgeholme@gmail.com

SIRE OF 5 INDIVIDUAL WINNERS IN HIS FIRST SEASON IN 2020

Hedgeholme Stud Winston Darlington DL2 3RS

07990 518751

ESTABLISHED SIRES WE KNOW all about these older, or more established, stallions by now but a few, like Coolmore’s affordable options Footstepsinthesand and Holy Roman Emperor, are still able to spring the odd surprise. Footstepsinthesand caused quite a stir when he accounted for two of the best sprint twoyear-olds, Mums Tipple and Threat, a couple of seasons ago and his admirable son Marie’s Diamond finished third in the Queen Anne Stakes last year. Having been raised from his long-standing fee of €10,000 to €15,000 in 2020, he is back down to €12,500 for 2020. Holy Roman Emperor (above), whose progeny roll of honour includes 13 Group/ Grade 1 winners headed by 1,000 Guineas heroine Homecoming Queen and Hong Kong stars Beauty Only and Designs On Rome, was back in the headlines in recent seasons thanks to his Classicwinning son Romanised. The son of Danehill features in our idea of a budget price range for the first time since 2012, having been clipped from €15,000 to €12,500 this year. That could be something of an open goal for breeders on a shoestring. Another Coolmore stalwart, one entering the twilight of his career, is the brilliant miler Rock Of Gibraltar. He has supplied top-level winners the world over, brought his influence to bear through stallion sons Mount Nelson and Society Rock, and features as damsire of last year’s 2,000

Guineas victor Kameko. We cannot be far from the day when a Rock Of Gibraltar foal is considered a collector’s item and the horse’s fee is down to a career-low €5,000 in 2021. Raven’s Pass is also standing at his lowest ever fee in 2021, marked down to €7,500 at Kildangan Stud. Granted, his tally of three Group 1 winners (Matterhorn, Royal Marine and Tower Of London) is a little disappointing in light of his own outstanding talent on the track, even allowing for the fact he has smaller crops due to low libido. However, the smaller delegation means his percentages hold up very well and his representatives in 2020 included Curragh Group 2 winner Lemista and ninelength Yarmouth novice stakes scorer Forest Falcon. He was also on the mark as the damsire of Classic winner Mishriff. Another who has smaller crops but is a proven source of top-class performers is Derrinstown Stud stalwart Tamayuz, source of the Group 1 winners Blond Me, G Force, Mustashry and Precieuse. The son of Nayef also has an unbeaten stakes-winning twoyear-old on his hands in Zeyaadah, so it is surprising to see his fee down to €8,000 from €10,000 in 2021. Camacho has also undergone a significant fee reduction in 2021, with Yeomanstown Stud slashing him from €10,000 to €5,000. The Danehill half-brother to

Showcasing has demonstrated he is able to get a good one through the likes of Poule d’Essai des Pouliches heroine Teppal and Group 2 winners Green Door and Signora Cabello. The Irish National Stud has two bargain choices in this category of longer established stallions in Dragon Pulse and its new recruit Equiano. Dragon Pulse, a Group 2winning son of Kyllachy, has 14 black-type horses to his credit including Italian Group 3 winner Aethos. He costs next to nothing as his fee has been slashed to €2,000 this year. For just €1,000 more you can gain access to Equiano, the dual King’s Stand Stakes hero by Acclamation whose progeny are headlined by Group 1-winning sprinters Belvoir Bay and The Tin Man. One son, Dakota Gold, notched no fewer than four stakes successes in 2020 and the sire got 2021 off to a good start when another son, Equilateral, took a competitive handicap at Meydan in January. Elusive Pimpernel, also at the Irish National Stud, has covered large books in recent years as jumps breeders latched on to him, but with a covering fee of just €2,500 he can still do owners of Flat mares a favour. Another inexpensive sire who should be factored into commercial breeders’ mating plans is Ballyhane Stud’s Elzaam, who is available for just €5,000. Continues page 22

Racing Post Thursday, February 11, 2021

Established stallions standing in Britain and Ireland for £10,000/€12,500 or less Name

Age

Sire

Stud

Fee

No. covered

Name

Age

Sire

Stud

Fee

No. covered

Arctic Cosmos

North Light

Old Road, Ire

poa

Milan

Sadler’s Wells

Coolmore NH, Ire

€8,000

Ask

Sadler’s Wells

Dunraven, UK

poa

Mores Wells

Sadler’s Wells

Old Road, Ire

poa

Axxos

Monsun

Elusive Bloodstock, UK

£1,500

Norse Dancer

Halling

Nunstainton, UK

poa

Blue Bresil

Smadoun

Glenview, Ire

€7,500

190

Orientor

Inchinor

Sidehouse Farm, UK

poa

Bullet Train

Sadler’s Wells

Woodfield Farm, Ire

poa

Passing Glance

Polar Falcon

Batsford, UK

£3,000

Camacho

Danehill

Yeomanstown, Ire

€5,000

Pastoral Pursuits

Bahamian Bounty

Norton Grove, UK

£2,000

Carlotamix

Linamix

Coolagown, Ire

poa

Phoenix Reach

Alhaarth

Winterbeck Manor, UK

£2,000

Clodovil

Danehill

Rathasker, Ire

€5,000

Policy Maker

Sadler’s Wells

Blackrath, Ire

poa

Cockney Rebel

Val Royal

Batsford, UK

£1,000

Primary

Giant’s Causeway

Tullyraine House, Ire

poa

Court Cave

Sadler’s Wells

Boardsmill, Ire

poa

Raven’s Pass

Elusive Quality

Kildangan, Ire

€7,500

Curtain Time

Sadler’s Wells

Woodfield Farm, Ire

poa

Recharge

Cape Cross

Shade Oak, Ire

£1,500

Diamond Boy

Mansonnien

Kilbarry Lodge, Ire

poa

Rock Of Gibraltar

Danehill

Coolmore, Ire

€5,000

Doyen

Sadler’s Wells

Sunnyhill, Ire

poa

Rule Of Law

Kingmambo

Kedrah House, Ire

Dragon Dancer

Sadler’s Wells

Nunstainton, UK

£1,500

Saddex

Sadler’s Wells

Blackrath, Ire

Dragon Pulse

Kyllachy

Irish National, Ire

€2,000

Sans Frontieres

Galileo

Vauterhill, UK

Eastern Anthem

Singspiel

Withyslade, UK

poa

Scalo

Lando

Yorton Farm, UK

Eliot

Tiger Hill

Blackrath, Ire

poa

Schiaparelli

Monsun

Overbury, UK

£2,000

Elzaam

Redoute’s Choice

Ballyhane, Ire

€5,000

Scorpion

Montjeu

Shade Oak, UK

£3,000

Elusive Pimpernel

Elusive Quality

Irish National, Ire

€2,500

165

September Storm

Monsun

Knockhouse, Ire

poa

Equiano

Acclamation

Irish National, Ire

€3,000

Shirocco

Monsun

Glenview, Ire

€4,000

182

Falco

Pivotal

Elusive Bloodstock, UK

£3,500

Sholokhov

Sadler’s Wells

Glenview, Ire

€6,000

Famous Name

Dansili

Anngrove, Ire

€1,000

Sir Percy

Mark Of Esteem

Lanwades, UK

£7,000

Footstepsinthesand

Giant’s Causeway

Coolmore, Ire

€12,500

Sixties Icon

Galileo

Norman Court, UK

£1,000

Frammassone

Fraam

Peel Hall, UK

£2,000

Soldier Of Fortune

Galileo

Coolmore NH, Ire

€8,000

224

Gamut

Spectrum

Rosshill, Ire

€2,000

Steele Tango

Okawango

Lodge Farm, UK

£500

Gentlewave

Monsun

Yorton Farm, UK

£3,250

Tagula

Taufan

Rathbarry, Ire

Getaway

Monsun

Coolmore NH, Ire

€9,000

242

Tamayuz

Nayef

Derrinstown, Ire

Gladiatorus

Silic

Windmill View, Ire

€1,000

Tau Ceti

Hernando

Rosshill, Ire

poa

Haafhd

Alhaarth

Batsford, UK

£2,000

Urban Poet

Dynaformer

Gurteen, Ire

poa

Haatef

Danzig

Derrinstown, Ire

€2,000

Vendangeur

Galileo

Anngrove, Ire

poa

Hellvelyn

Ishiguru

Chapel, UK

£2,500

Walk In The Park

Montjeu

Coolmore NH, Ire

poa

235

Holy Roman Emperor

Danehill

Coolmore, Ire

€12,500

120

Watar

Marju

Moortown, Ire

poa

Indian Haven

Indian Ridge

Withyslade, UK

poa

Well Chosen

Sadler’s Wells

Kedrah House, Ire

poa

Jukebox Jury

Montjeu

Burgage, Ire

poa

145

Westerner

Danehill

Coolmore NH, Ire

€5,000

129

Kalanisi

Doyoun

Boardsmill, Ire

poa

Where Or When

Danehill Dancer

Ballycrystal, Ire

poa

Kamsin

Samum

Annshoon, Ire

€3,500

Workforce

King’s Best

Knockhouse, Ire

poa

Linda’s Lad

Sadler’s Wells

Yorton Farm, UK

£2,500

Yeats

Sadler’s Wells

Coolmore NH, Ire

€5,000

123

Mahler

Galileo

Coolmore NH, Ire

€5,000

133

Yorgunnabelucky

Giant’s Causeway

Mickley, UK

£2,000

Malinas

Lomitas

Glenview, Ire

€3,000

Youmzain

Sinndar

Glenview, Ire

€2,000

Mayson

Invincible Spirit

Cheveley Park, UK

£4,000

Zambezi Sun

Dansili

Coolagown, Ire

poa

€2,000

poa

£2,000

poa

€8,000

From left: Haafhd, Jukebox Jury, Sixties Icon and Workforce

US SIRED 2YO’S OF 2021 CAN BE NOMINATED TO THE EBF: th

15 FEBRUARY $3,000 or 30th JUNE $6,000 FOR FURTHER DETAILS, CONTACT:

T: +44 1638 667960 E: info@ebfhorseracing.co.uk www.ebfstallions.com

DEADLINE

15 30 F E B JUNE

Thursday, February 11, 2021 racingpost.com

BLOODSTOCK SPECIAL BREEDING ON A BUDGET From page 20

The son of Redoute’s Choice hit the big time in 2020 thanks to his Group 1-winning daughter Champers Elysees, a €28,000 yearling purchase by Johnny Murtagh who presumably earned connections a huge payday when resold to Teruya Yoshida in a private deal. Elzaam also has a number of exciting two-year-olds on his hands, including Irish EBF Auction Race Final winner Ecliptical and easy Tipperary maiden scorer Mateo Cruz. There are plenty of viable options for budget breeders on the other side of the Irish Sea, too. Mayson, for example, has produced 22 black-type runners and supplied his first Group 1 winner last year when son Oxted emulated his own July Cup success. Another son, Ainsdale, is a progressive sprinter to look out for in 2021 too. The son of Invincible Spirit is another whose fee has been cut to an all-time low in these pandemic times, and he looks a steal at €4,000 at Cheveley Park Stud. Unbeaten Group 1-winning two-year-old and Derby winner Sir Percy continues to put in good work across Newmarket at Lanwades Stud. His progeny record is, like

his racing career, distinguished by its versatility, and to prove the point his leading representatives in 2020 were the staying three-year-old Berkshire Rocco, a neck second in the St Leger, and the sharp juvenile Percy’s Lad, a length runner-up in the Horris Hill Stakes. The son of Mark Of Esteem remains at a €7,000 fee for the seventh consecutive covering season. Sixties Icon, who landed the St Leger in the same year that Sir Percy won the Derby, has also put together a varied list of leading runners that includes sprinters like

STAR VALUE Elzaam Sire of Champers Elysees and promising two-year-olds is no price Holy Roman Emperor Stallion of international repute is new to the budget bracket Mayson Oxted a fine advertisement for this prolific source of sprinters Sixties Icon A £1,000 fee is a giveaway for this beautifully bred proven sire Tamayuz Generous fee cut for proven sire still producing exciting youngsters

Sir Percy (6) wins the Derby in 2006 – he remains at €7,000 this year

Chilworth Icon, middledistance performers such as Nagano Gold and classy jumpers in the mould of Buildmeupbuttercup. The custodians of the son of Epsom Classic winners Galileo and Love Divine at Norman Court Stud are going all out to win custom this year, reducing his fee all the way down to £1,000. There is no end of less heralded stallions who are advanced in their second careers and stand for next to nothing but who could be of use to owner-breeders. Cockney Rebel, Haafhd, Indian Haven, Orientor, Pastoral Pursuits and Phoenix Reach are among some of those dotted around Britain. And don’t forget all those sires in both Britain and Ireland who are directed towards jumps breeders nowadays but supplied Group 1 winners in their past lives as Flat stallions. They include Doyen, Falco, Jukebox Jury, Passing Glance and Shirocco.

ValuE PhOeniX OF SpaiN

NatiOnaL DefeNse

The highest rated son of Lope De Vega at stud. Fee: €12,500

Champion 2YO by Invincible Spirit - first 2YOs 2021. Fee: €5,000

decorated knight

EQuiaNO

Irish Champions Stakes winner by Galileo - first 2YO 2021. Fee: €7,500

Acclamation’s highest rated son and multiple Group 1 producing sire. Fee: €3,000

Contact: Cathal Beale, Gary Swift +353 (0)86 6031979, Patrick Diamond +353 (0)85 1299236 Tel: +353 (0)45 521251 www.irishnationalstud.ie Terms & Conditions apply

Racing Post Thursday, February 11, 2021

EDWARD WHITAKER (RACINGPOST.COM/PHOTOS)

O A quick heads-up

about the five Overbury stallions... There’s much more about them all on ovstud.co.uk

Follow Overbury news on Twitter ~ see Overbury views on Instagram

ARDAD £4,000 Oct 1, SLF First juveniles now with many leading trainers. The talk is very good and he could be the one. CITYSCAPE £4,000 Oct 1, SLF His best son is rated 125 and his finest crop are yearlings of 2021: there are great days ahead. FRONTIERSMAN £1,000 Oct 1, SLF 63 mares in his first book ~ over 100 in his second. Dubawi’s word-of-mouth success story. JACK HOBBS £3,000 Oct 1, SLF Stunning Irish Derby hero (it’s his photo) with deep support from the Elite Mares Scheme. SCHIAPARELLI £2,000 Oct 1, SLF The Festival sire: his stock love to tough it out up the Cheltenham hill.

OVERBURY Stud SIMON SWEETING 07796 174926 (01386) 725552 simon@ovstud.co.uk

Thursday, February 11, 2021 racingpost.com

BLOODSTOCK SPECIAL BREEDING ON A BUDGET

Fast 2YOs, Classic 3YOs and top-class older horses by the best sires in the business! Proven Gr.1 sires and exciting young sire prospects to suit every breeder and pocket. ARIZONA (No Nay Never).............................................................................................................. €7,000 NEW Gr.2-winning 2YO at Royal Ascot, just like his sire

FOOTSTEPSINTHESAND (Giant’s Causeway).................................... €12,500 Proven Gr.1 sire, 7 European-bred Group/Stakes winners in 2020

GUSTAV KLIMT (Galileo)..................................................................................................... €4,000 Gr.2-winning 2YO from the family of Invincible Spirit & Kodiac

HIGHLAND REEL (Galileo)........................................................................................... €10,000 7-time Gr.1 winner, first yearlings sold for up to 320,000gns

HOLY ROMAN EMPEROR (Danehill)........................................................ €12,500 Sire of 13 Gr.1 winners, 2020 yearlings sold for up to 235,000gns

ROCK OF GIBRALTAR (Danehill)..........................................................................€5,000 Sire of 134 Group/Stakes winners including 16 Gr.1 winners

SIOUX NATION (Scat Daddy)......................................................................................... €10,000 Royal Ascot & Gr.1-winning 2YO - just like No Nay Never

THE GURKHA (Galileo).............................................................................................................€5,000 18 first crop winners including Gr.3 winner Best Of Lips

U S NAVY FLAG (War Front)......................................................................................... €12,500 European Champion 2YO & Champion 3YO Sprinter

Spoiled for choice? Call us on + 353 (0) 52 6131298 or email contact@coolmore.ie for expert advice and bespoke pedigree analysis.

P.S. Mention this ad for an additional discount