Breeding on a Budget

BLOODSTOCK SPECIAL BREEDING ON A BUDGET

FIRST, a disclaimer. We really did undertake – and several studs and stallion masters will be able to verify this – as much due diligence as was practical in compiling the tables in the pages which follow.

They took literally days to do, given the need to check fees, studs, ages, covering numbers via Return of Mares, foal and yearlings averages via colleague Craig Thake’s stats, and additions, switches and scratches to boot.

We ended up with 239 stallions in Ireland and Britain available for £10,000/€12,500 or less in 2023 in nine tables, and the sincere hope is that, well, there is more than one actually. First, we hope we’ve not included any stallion sadly no longer with us, second we hope we’ve not missed any (though we might have done), and third we hope all the information is correct.

Please do get in touch on any of the above, for we keep any such correspondence for use the following year.

Martin Stevens, Aisling

Crowe and Kitty Trice are your guides to the myriad options available this year, and we hope you find their words and the data helpful in finalising mating plans and, indeed, thinking about 2024 and beyond.

Waldgeist and Harry Angel are two notables eligible for the supplement for the first time, and you would imagine those Ballylinch and Darley sires might turn a few more heads at €12,500 and £10,000, down from €15,000 and £12,500.

Waldgeist’s studmate

Make Believe has been out of what we use as the breeding on the budget parameters for a couple of years but is available at a reasonable-looking €10,000 this year, from €17,500 in 2022.

Cotai Glory is more a catch-him-while-you-can but for the opposite reason as the Tally-Ho titan is standing at a career-high €12,500 this year, off the back of such as Group 1 juvenile winner The Platinum Queen.

The National Stud and Bjorn Nielsen have pitched the popular Stradivarius in at £10,000 for his debut year, and hopefully it’s a successful one.

Good luck to all breeders!

P.S. We secretly enjoyed, sort of, doing the tables, as they feature several sires that just don’t crop up at any other time. We really hope they’re all doing well.

ANDREW SCUTTS, BLOODSTOCK MANAGING EDITOR

Bargain

Martin Stevens examines the progeny of inexpensive

ANMAAT

5yo b g Awtaad-African Moonlight (Halling)

Bred by Ringfort Stud

Owen Burrows’ charge was unbeaten last year, scoring in the John Smith’s Cup, Rose of Lancaster Stakes and Prix Dollar, and surely has Group 1 prizes at his feet this season.

Shadwell’s 140,000gns Tattersalls December Foal Sale purchase was bred by Ringfort Stud by sending its Halling mare African Moonlight to Derrinstown Stud-based Irish 2,000 Guineas hero Awtaad when he was standing his first season at a fee of €15,000.

Awtaad, who also delivered last year’s Prix Chaudenay winner Al Qareem, exciting Kempton novice stakes winner Naomi Lapaglia and bestselling broodmare prospects Bellosa, Create Belief and Mohjatty, is available this year at the knockdown price of €5,000.

BRADSELL

3yo b c Tasleet-Russian Punch (Archipenko)

Bred by Deborah O’Brien Small breeder Deborah O’Brien hit the big time when Bradsell, whom she produced by sending her Listed-winning Archipenko mare Russian Punch to Tasleet when he was standing his first season at Nunnery Stud at a fee of just £6,000, won a York novice stakes by nine lengths and beat a stellar field to land the Coventry Stakes.

Tasleet’s debut juveniles were quick out of the blocks, with son Installation topping the Goffs UK Breeze-Up Sale at £230,000 and later breaking his maiden at Hamilton in promising style for Richard Fahey, and the likes of Carmela, Claretina and Omniqueen all getting off the mark by the time Royal Ascot rolled around.

The son of Showcasing’s second crop of yearlings also sold well, making €110,000, £90,000, 78,000gns, etc, so it seems generous of Shadwell to hold his fee at £6,000 in 2023.

CRYPTO FORCE

3yo b c Time Test-Luna Mare (Galileo)

Bred by Andrew Tinkler

The second crop of dual Group 2 winner and Group 1-placed National Stud stallion Time Test, conceived at a fee of

CACHET

4yo b f Aclaim-Poyle Sophie (Teofilo)

Bred by Hyde Park Stud Cachet has a quite extraordinary bargain background for a 1,000 Guineas winner, with breeder Hyde Park Stud paying a mere 3,000gns for her dam –the placed Teofilo mare Poyle

Sophie – with the Classic winner in-utero, in Newmarket in 2018.

The filly, who was bought by Highclere Agency for 60,000gns at the Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up Sale, was also Group 1-placed at two and finished a head second in the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches.

She hails from the first crop of Prix de la Foret victor Aclaim, and was bred when the son of Acclamation stood at the National Stud at £12,500. The sire has moved to Manton Park this year and, despite getting a Classic scorer in his first crop, is now offered at the lower price of £10,000.

£8,500, might have come up with a proper top-notcher in the shape of Crypto Force, who beat future Vertem Futurity hero Auguste Rodin on his debut at the Curragh and later ran out an easy winner of the Beresford Stakes.

Time Test’s other early representatives include German-trained Goodwood Group 3 scorer Rocchigiani,

Trainer George Boughey with Classic winner Cachet at his stables in Newmarket

stallions who came to the fore on track in 2022 beauties

Teofilo half-sister to Listedplaced Samminder, to Mill Reef Stakes winner James Garfield when he was standing his first season at Rathbarry Stud at a fee of €7,000.

James Garfield also came up with Blenheim Stakes third Lady Bullet and promising Nottingham novice stakes winner Save The World from his debut two-year-olds, while his second-crop yearlings sold for prices of 55,000gns, 50,000gns, etc.

All things considered, the son of Exceed And Excel could represent value for breeders on a budget, standing at the rock-bottom fee of €4,000 at Rathbarry Stud this year.

SHANTISARA

5yo b m Coulsty-Kharana (Dalakhani)

Bred by Oliver Donlon

Few top-level winners could have been bred as inexpensively as Keeneland Grade 1 victress Shantisara, who also finished second in the Jenny Wiley Stakes last year.

The five-year-old hails from the first crop of Coulsty, who stood at just €5,000 in 2017, and is out of the unraced Dalakhani mare Kharana, bought for a paltry €1,000 from the Aga Khan Studs draft at the Goffs November BreedingStock Sale.

Coulsty, available to breeders for just €4,500 at Rathasker Stud this season, is also responsible for Princess Margaret Stakes winner Santosha, Italian Listed scorers Sopran Aragorn and Suicide Squad, and classy US performer Coulthard.

STAR GIRLS AALMAL

4yo b f Elzaam-Girl Of The Hour (Makfi)

Bred by Laurence Kennedy

Champers Elysees, Group 3 scorer Waitingfortheday and useful sorts such as Clem Fandango, Limiti Di Greccio, Playa Del Puente and Wren’s Breath.

Elzaam is arguably even better than he appears on paper, as so many of his inexpensively bred and bought runners are sold to race abroad after winning their maidens. Having covered 153 mares last year, he offers obvious value at just €4,000 at Ballyhane this year.

STREETS OF GOLD

3yo b c Havana Gold-Truly Honoured (Frankel)

Bred by Vimal and Gillian Khosla

Eve Johnson Houghton

unearthed an inexpensively purchased, prolific-winning and highearning twoyear-old by Havana Gold in 2021, in the shape of Chipotle, and she repeated the trick last year, sending out £27,000 Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale buy Streets Of Gold to win all five starts including a valuable York nursery and a brace of lucrative sale races.

Streets Of Gold was bred by Gillian and Vimal Khosla by sending their unraced Frankel mare Truly Honoured, a threeparts sister to Classic winner

Treasure Beach, to Tweenhills sire Havana Gold when he commanded a fee of £15,000. The son of Teofilo, also the source of sire of the moment Havana Grey and high-class sprinters El Caballo and Tabdeed, is available at the Gloucestershire stud this year at a reduced rate of £10,000.

smart juveniles Romantic Time, Sunset Shiraz and Tardis, and the highly exciting handicapper Okeechobee.

The son of Dubawi has large crops due to represent him in the near future, having covered 125, 160 and 181 mares from 2020 until 2022, and his fee for 2023 has been held at £15,000, a snip above our budget bracket but with deals likely available.

MARIA BRANWELL

3yo b f James Garfield-Princess Pearl (Teofilo)

Bred by Barry Kennedy and Anna Murphy

Budding breeders Barry Kennedy and Anna Murphy got off to a flying start by producing Listed winner and Queen Mary Stakes third Maria Branwell when sending Princess Pearl, an unraced

Star Girls Aalmal (pictured above) must be the best filly in training not yet to have earned black type. The Henry de Bromhead-trained four-yearold, an €8,000 Goffs Autumn Yearling Sale purchase, finished fourth in both the Irish 1,000 Guineas and Jersey Stakes last year.

She is by Elzaam, a son of Redoute’s Choice who finished second in the Coventry Stakes and has carved out a name for himself as one of the best value sires in Ireland, having also got Group 1 heroine

‘Cachet hails from the first crop of Prix de la Foret victor Aclaim, and was bred when the son of Acclamation stood at the National Stud at £12,500. The sire has moved to Manton Park this year and, despite getting a Classic scorer in his first crop, is now offered at the lower price of £10,000’

Big names on the track now excelling away from limelight

LAND FORCE

No Nay Never

“I was very impressed with the yearlings I saw by Land Force, I bought a lovely filly for 120,000gns who looked a real no nonsense, tough filly with a great attitude. If he continues to breed such good-looking stock I’m sure he will make a successful stallion , particularly with his outstanding pedigree.”

“Having broken a number of Land Force yearlings over the last few months, I’ve been seriously impressed. As such, I’m going to send a mare this year as I believe Land Force has a serious chance. I picked Havana Grey last year, so let’s hope I’m right again.”

“

Alastair and I bought three yearlings by Land Force this year for up to 60,000gns, he is getting very strong and precocious looking stock and his pedigree has so much class. I tried to buy a foal by him in December because I feel he has such a great chance.”

THE Racing Post’s indispensable tables of sires by percentage of runners in Britain and Ireland with a Racing Post Rating of 80, 100 or 115 and higher make sobering reading for breeders on a budget.

By and large it’s the most expensive names that have the strongest concentration of quality in their crops, with the best strike-rates of performers rated 80 or more in 2022 belonging to Dubawi (2023 fee: £350,000), Wootton Bassett (€150,000), Galileo (deceased but private when alive), Shamardal (ditto) and Frankel (£275,000).

It’s not all bad news for breeders on a shoestring, though, as there are cheaper stallions who also deliver runners with an RPR of at least 80, around the mark needed to win a useful maiden, at a highly respectable rate.

Admittedly, many of those are past the peak of their commercial popularity, but fashion isn’t be the be-all and end-all for those who breed to race, or are prepared to cut back on production costs and put the savings towards sending the resultant foal into training, with the aim of getting a win into them and then selling.

That approach might be no bad thing in an era when horses in training sales are

thriving, thanks to strong demand from National Hunt and international buyers, especially for middle-distance and staying performers.

With that in mind, it’s intriguing to see that the two sires standing at £10,000/ €12,500 or less in Britain and Ireland who supplied the best strike-rates of horses with RPRs of 80 or more last year were both Derby winners who didn’t live up to expectations as Flat influences and have been transferred into dualpurpose roles.

Harzand, a son of Sea The Stars who also took the Irish Derby, had 12 runners rated 80-plus from 22 representatives (55 per cent), headed by smart handicappers Mostly Cloudy and Soapy Stevens. He has been sold to Kilbarry Lodge Stud this year, and has covered National Hunt books for some seasons, but at a fee of just €5,000 he could reward a Flat breeder thinking outside the box.

Golden Horn, from the same line being by Sea The Stars’ sire Cape Cross, has always fared well with offspring rated at least 80, and last year he had 46 from 95 runners (48 per cent); it’s the higher rated performers that have come to him less frequently. He, too, has been used as a National Hunt sire in recent years, and has just moved to Overbury Stud to serve that purpose more officially, but he could also still do a turn for a Flat breeder with a plan.

Ulysses is available at Cheveley Park Stud this year at

£10,000, a third of his opening fee, which might suggest he has disappointed with his first two crops, but that wouldn’t be fair at all. He got 33 performers with a mark of 80 or more from 75 runners last year (44 per cent), including Irish Derby runner-up Piz Badile, highclass miler Mighty Ulysses and Chesham Stakes winner and Vertem Futurity third Holloway Boy.

The brilliant son of Epsom Classic scorers Galileo and Light Shift also has any number of exciting lightly raced three-year-olds to his name, such as Karsavina, Rathgar and White Birch. Harry Angel’s commercial profile has experienced fluctuating fortunes, with his first crop of foals and yearlings not being met with widespread market approval, but he nevertheless got off to a fine start with his first two-year-old runners last year.

The top sprinter by Dark Angel, priced at just £10,000 at Dalham Hall Stud, fielded the second best strike-rate of 80plus rated juveniles of any freshman, behind only Sioux Nation, with 18 from 45, or 40 per cent. His best runners were Listed winner Proverb and stakes-placed Felix Natalis, Marshman and Vicious Harry.

These statistics bear out the impression that Cape Cross’s Irish 2,000 Guineas-winning son Awtaad represents excellent value at a fee of just €5,000 at Derrinstown Stud. He came up with 32 horses rated 80 or higher from 87 runners last year, at a clip of 37 per Continues page 6

Martin Stevens looks at the stallions whose progeny are shining

Jane Allison, Pre-trainer

Angus Gold, Shadwell

Ed Sackville, SackvilleDonald

The biggest names in the budget breeding business

HARRY ANGEL

Doing exceptionally well with his first crop. His son Al Dasim, Timeform 111, is the best three-year-old to have raced in Europe or Dubai in 2023 – even above Teofilo’s Naval Power.

£10,000 Oct 1, SLF

Dalham Hall Stud

TERRITORIES

Quality in quantity. Proven G1 sire from the family of Shamardal with a (rapidly rising) 18 winners this year – including a Deauville double last week.

£10,000 Oct 1, SLF

Dalham Hall Stud

Harry Angel (main), Mishriff (left), Harzand (above) and Ulysses

BLOODSTOCK SPECIAL BREEDING ON A BUDGET

cent, including Group 2 winners Al Qareem and Anmaat.

Decorated Knight is down to the same fee at the Irish National Stud this year, but produced figures in 2022 that suggest he could still be of use for supplying a fairly useful performer. Ten out of 27, or 37 per cent, of his runners achieved an RPR of at least 80, with smart fillies Ferrari Queen and Kind Gesture among the best.

Territories delivered 27 performers rated 80 or more from 75 runners last year, at a strike-rate of 36 per cent. The Dalham Hall Stud-based son of Invincible Spirit, who commands a reasonable fee of £10,000, has the knack of getting one out of the top drawer, as the likes of Aldaary, Hoo Ya Mal and Rougir have shown.

Darley stalwart Raven’s Pass always puts up a bold show in this table, and did so again last year, with 13 performers given a mark of at least 80 from 37 runners, for a strike-rate of 35 per cent. The son of Elusive Quality has been the source of four Group/ Grade 1 winners throughout his long career, and is developing into an important broodmare sire, so his €7,500 covering fee at Kildangan Stud is an offer not to be sneezed at.

The Gurkha’s Coolmoreconceived crops yielded

German champion Best Of Lips, Italian Group 3 winner Bahja Del Sol and Irish 2,000 Guineas third Imperial Fighter, and although he fell out of favour commercially, his record of 22 performers with an RPR of 80 or higher (35 per cent) shows he is no back number. The son of Galileo deserves some support at his rock-bottom fee of €3,500 at Roveagh Lodge Stud.

Make Believe’s progeny roll of honour is headed by globetrotting Group 1 winner Mishriff and high-class fillies Believe In Love and Rose Of Kildare, and it gained a new stakes scorer in Self Belief last year, when he turned out 25 runners rated 80 or more from 73 representatives (34 per cent). In spite of that, the son of Makfi has had his fee cut to €10,000 at Ballylinch Stud for 2023.

Dream Ahead is another sire who has proved more than capable of getting a topnotcher, through Group 1 winners Al Wukair, Donjuan Triumphant, Dream Of Dreams and Glass Slippers, and he showed some consistency last year with 11 performers rated 80-plus from 33 starters (33 per cent). The son of Diktat is standing at his lowest fee of £7,500 at Bearstone Stud.

Group 1 sires Sir Percy and Al Kazeem are standing at fees listed as private this year, but

Leading budget sires by percentage of runners with an RPR of 80 or more in 2022

*Sires standing in GB & Ire for £10,000/€12,500 or less in 2023

with good deals surely on offer, and their figures give good reason to pick up the phone. The former, a Derby winner by Mark Of Esteem, had 17 horses rated 80 or more from 53 runners in 2022 (32 per cent), while the latter, an elite winner by Dubawi, delivered ten

Group 1 Sprinter

T ASLEET

Showcasing - Bird Key (Cadeaux Genereux)

runners who achieved that mark from 32 starters in that timeframe (31 per cent).

Belardo, Expert Eye, Free Eagle and Vadamos complete the list of sires standing at budget fees with at least 30 per cent of their runners reaching an RPR of 80 last season.

The table, available on the Racing Post’s new-look website, is worth consulting regularly to find out which stallions are outperforming expectations and could represent serious value for producing a capable athlete, if not always a smashhit foal or yearling.

BRADSELL

“ BRADSELL is as good a two-year-old as I have ever ridden. ”

Hollie Doyle, jockey

SECOND CROP OF YEARLINGS OUTSOLD HIS FIRST

Prices included €110,000 , £90,000 , 78,000gns etc.

PICTURED | BRADSELL powers home in a red-hot Gr.2 Coventry Stakes beating subsequent Group winners Blackbeard, Persian Force and Royal Scotsman

The biggest names in the budget breeding business

R AVEN’S PASS

There ARE other stallions who do even better than his 8% Stakes winners to runners... but they’re not in this special section!

€7,500 Oct 1, SLF

Kildangan Stud

PROFITABLE

Sire of 50 juvenile winners in the past two seasons – more than Starspangledbanner, Acclamation, Dandy Man, New Bay and his own sire. They include winners of the G2 Queen Mary and G2 Prix du Calvados.

€9,000 Oct 1, SLF

Kildangan Stud

‘Territories, who commands a reasonable fee of £10,000, has the knack of getting one out of the top drawer, as the likes of Aldaary have shown’

Stradivarius and Persian Force are huge additions

THE DIRECTORY

NEW SIRES OF 2023

The two most expensive sires in this category represent opposite ends of the racing spectrum, but in spite of their very different track careers they share one important characteristic – tenacity.

Stradivarius, who stands for £10,000 at the National Stud, actually began his career as a juvenile and won a mile maiden at Newcastle late in the year, the first of 20 career successes that stretched over a remarkable seven seasons.

One of 19 individual Group 1 winners by Sea The Stars, he was successful in a Europeanrecord 18 Group races, with seven of those coming at the highest level. His unbeaten season in 2018, which encompassed victories in the Gold Cup, Goodwood Cup and Yorkshire Cup, initiated a sequence of three champion older stayers’ crowns, and Stradivarius occupies a place in the annals of the turf as the only horse to win four Goodwood Cups.

He has an ancestor in common with last season’s European champion two-yearold Little Big Bear, as both horses boast the Prix du Jockey Club winner Bering, runner-up to Dancing Brave in the Arc, as their broodmare sire and they also hail from families developed by the Wildensteins.

Stradivarius is a half-brother to Group 3 winner Persian Storm and their Listed-placed dam Private Life is a half-sister to the dam of Melbourne Cup winner Protectionist and is a granddaughter of King George heroine Pawneese.

In contrast to Stradivarius, the career of Persian Force burned briefly but brightly, and the colt, who earned his breeder Tom Lacy accolades at the recent ITBA awards, stands alongside his sire Mehmas for €10,000 at Tally-Ho Stud.

Persian Force, who demonstrated tenacity in abundance during his sole campaign, began his career on the opening day of the turf season at Doncaster with victory in the Brocklesby. That was the first success of a season that would see him run eight times, win three of those starts and only once finish outside of the first three. That fourth place came in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf on his final start.

His form is remarkably similar to that of his sire; both horses won the July Stakes and were second in the Coventry and third in the Middle Park. Persian Force was also second in the Phoenix Stakes and third in the Prix Morny.

He is a full-brother to the Richmond Stakes third Gubbass and they are the first two foals out of Vida Amorosa, an unraced daughter of Lope De Vega. She is a half-sister to the dam of Group 3 Prix de Meautry winner and Prix Maurice de Gheest third Garrus, and another branch of the family tree includes the excellent sire and broodmare sire Danehill Dancer.

The very handsome Royal Ascot winner Space Traveller is new to the line-up of stallions at Ballyhane Stud, where his fee is €6,500. By Bated Breath, he has Galileo and Kingmambo as the sires of his dam and granddam respectively, giving the Group 2-winning miler the genetic make-up to succeed at stud.

Successful over five furlongs at two and second in the Group 3 Prix Eclipse, Space Traveller won the 7f Jersey Stakes at three and went on to win the Group 2 Boomerang Mile, sponsored by owner Clipper Logistics, on Irish Champions Weekend.

At five and six, he was placed three times in Grade 1

company, with his final start yielding second place in the Frank E Kilroe Mile at Santa Anita. Space Traveller is a halfbrother to the Group 3 Dick Poole Stakes third Pellucid and his second dam, Snow Crystal, is a half-sister to Fillies’ Mile winner Crystal Music and the Group 3-winning trio of Dubai Success, State Crystal and Solar Crystal. Prix du Moulin winner and promising young sire Zelzal is also on the page. Caturra is the first son of Mehmas to stand in Britain, with the Flying Childers winner having retired to Overbury Stud at a fee of £6,500. Displaying the hallmarks of his sire – precocity and tenacity – Caturra ran eight times at two, winning three, with the Listed Rose Bowl Stakes his first black-type success.

Finding his metier at around five furlongs, he began his second season as runner-up in the Group 3 Prix Sigy and was third in the King George at Goodwood and the Listed Scurry Stakes. Caturra is out of the Sleeping Indian mare Shoshoni Wind, who was placed in the Listed Empress Stakes as a two-year-old and is also the dam of Qatar Derby third Sir Arthur Dayne. Under his fourth dam Pato are Group 1 winners Classic Cliche, My Emma, Al Riffa, Satono Crown and Lightening Pearl.

Starfield Stud welcomes Dubawi’s Group 3 Goldene Peitsche-winning son Dubawi Legend to its stallion roster this year. The six-furlong winner was a talented juvenile, splitting Native Trail and Bayside Boy in the Dewhurst having previously been third in the Group 3 Acomb Stakes.

Last season he was third to Minzaal and Go Bears Go in the Group 3 Hackwood Stakes prior to his Baden-Baden breakthrough.

Bred by Rabbah, he is a halfbrother to the Listed Aphrodite Stakes winner and Park Hill Stakes second Golden Pass, by Golden Horn. Their dam Lovely Pass won the UAE 1,000 Guineas and was second in the UAE Oaks and is a daughter of Raven’s Pass and the Falmouth

Stakes and Pipalong Stakes winner Macadamia, who also foaled a winner of the Pipalong Stakes in Spirit Raiser. Dubawi Legend starts at €6,500.

National Hunt stallions who have raced in that sphere are quite a common occurrence in France but much less familiar in Britain and Ireland. Alne

Park Stud’s new sire Midnights Legacy, however, has a solid career on the Flat and over hurdles behind him and, as his name suggests, was left entire by owner-breeders David and Kathleen Holmes, who stood his sire Midnight Legend, as he was from the last crop of the son of Night Shift and sire of Sizing John.

Standing for £3,000, the sixyear-old is a full-brother to the Listed-winning juvenile hurdler Midnights’ Gift and a half-brother to another Listed winner over hurdles in Giving Glances. Their dam Giving is a Generous half-sister to the dam of Alan King’s Champion Hurdle and Triumph Hurdle hero Katchit.

Knockhouse Stud’s new sire Waldkonig boasts one of the best pedigrees of any stallion retiring to stud this year. The Group 3 Gordon Richards Stakes winner, who starts out at €2,500, is a Kingman halfbrother to Waldgeist, whose four Group 1 victories included the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

He is also a half-brother to the Group 2 Prix de Malleret winner Waldlied and out of the Group 3 Prix Penelope winner Waldlerche. She is a half-sister

to St Leger winner Masked Marvel, whose own career as a National Hunt sire is taking flight. Another of her halfsisters is the second dam of Vauban, who was a Listed winner on the Flat in France before his triumphant juvenile hurdling season which saw him win three Grade 1s, including the Triumph Hurdle.

Dual Group 3 winner Ilaraab was a notable pinhook, growing from €31,000 foal to 200,000gns yearling, and was bred when Wootton Bassett’s fee was just €6,000.

Inbred 4x3 to Nureyev, he won eight of his 14 starts for William Haggas, including the St Simon Stakes and Aston Park Stakes. His dam Belova is an unraced Soviet Star halfsister to the Geoffrey Freer Stakes winner Census and out of a half-sister to the Group 1 winner Leadership.

Ilaraab stands at the Old Road Stud for €2,500.

The impeccably bred but unraced Foment, a Frankel full-brother to St Leger winner Logician, who covered 183 mares in his first season at Shade Oak Stud, launches at Universal Stud, outside Newry in County Down, on to the stallion scene.

A half-brother to Grade 3 winner and Grade 1-placed Suffused, he is out of the Listedplaced Scuffle, a Daylami halfsister to Bated Breath and Cityscape from one of the finest families in the stud book.

Wells Farhh Go, whose name gives away his sire, was

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

✪ STAR VALUE ✪

Persian Force Standing alongside sire Mehmas, his race record is uncannily similar to that of his excellent young sire and, at one-sixth the price, he looks good value for money

Space Traveller High-class performer from two until six, this impressive son of Bated Breath has a powerful walk and, in Galileo and Kingmambo, two exceptional pedigree influences Stradivarius Winner of 18 Group races, the son of Sea The Stars has an outstandingly athletic walk, while the breeders’ bonuses on offer are an added incentive to use the brilliant Gold Cup winner

too late an arrival at Norton Grove Stud for inclusion in 2023 stallion literature, but at £2,500 the eight-year-old is well worth a look for any breeder mulling their options.

A Group 3 winner at two in the Acomb Stakes – he was unbeaten in two starts as a juvenile – and versatile enough to win at the same level over 13 furlongs in the Bahrain Trophy the following year, when he also won the Listed Fred Archer Stakes, he was a fine servant for the Tim Easterby yard. Hopefully he can do a similar job for his North Yorkshire stud.

AISLING CROWE

Guide

SPACE TRAVELLER PERSIAN FORCE DUBAWI LEGEND MIDNIGHTS LEGACY WALDKONIG ILARAAB

‘Knockhouse Stud’s new sire Waldkonig boasts one of the best pedigrees of any stallion retiring to stud this year’

MAYSON

The Leading UK-based sire of sprinters in 2022 (by winners in Europe*)

Yearlings have fetched up to 150,000gns

Fee: £6,000

TWILIGHT SON

The Leading UK-based 3rd Crop sire in 2022 (by % BT wnrs/rnrs*)

2022 yearlings fetched up to 110,000gns

Fee: £7,000

‘Supremacy’s page offers the speed so desirable in the current marketplace’

FIRST FOALS OF 2023

Supremacy recorded some noted firsts for Mehmas; his first Group 1 winner and his first stallion son at stud, when he retired to Yeomanstown ahead of the 2022 breeding season. By the champion firstand second-season sire, who made an explosive start to his breeding career, Supremacy was a top-class juvenile. He emulated Mehmas when victorious in the Richmond Stakes and then went a step further by winning the Middle Park Stakes.

Standing his second season at Yeomanstown at €10,000 with 187 mares in his first book, Supremacy’s page offers the speed so desirable in the current marketplace. His dam Triggers Broom is an Arcano half-sister to the Hong Kong Group 1 winner Xtension and to Beatrix Potter, dam of champion sprinter Harry Angel. That son of Supremacy’s studmate Dark Angel sired two Listed winners and two Group-placed horses,

including Gimcrack Stakes runner-up Marshman, in his first crop.

Lope Y Fernandez, who commanded a price tag of €900,000 at the Arqana August Yearling Sale, represents one of the best sirelines around as a son of Lope De Vega and grandson of Shamardal.

Successful in the Group 3 Round Tower Stakes at two, the Ballydoyle colt was placed behind that season’s champion two-year-old Pinatubo, himself a son of Shamardal, in the Chesham Stakes and Vintage Stakes. He mixed it with the best at three and four from six furlongs to a mile, with top-three finishes in five Group 1 contests, including the Irish 2,000 Guineas, Breeders’ Cup Mile and Queen Anne Stakes. His dam is a daughter of the influential broodmare sire Dansili and has also foaled Dark Vision, the Group 2 Vintage Stakes and Oettingen Rennen winner. Lope Y Fernandez is available this year at £8,500 at the National Stud.

Newsells Park’s A’Ali was a rocket at two, winning the Prix Robert Papin, Flying Childers and Norfolk Stakes for Simon Crisford, but the son of Society Rock, who made an impact in his sadly short-lived stallion career, maintained his form at three when he won the Group 2 Sapphire Stakes and Group 3 Sprint Stakes and was fourth in the Nunthorpe to Battaash.

His best performances came over five or five and a half furlongs, with all his victories coming at those distances, and he has the physique to match his race record. The strong and muscular grandson of Rock Of Gibraltar was a £135,000 buy for Stroud Coleman from Star Bloodstock at the Goffs UK Breeze-Up Sale.

Having covered 116 mares last season, this year’s fee for a stallion who is also the grandson of Derby hero Motivator has been set at £5,000. His dam is a half-sister to the Group 3 winner and twice Group 1-placed Enforcer. Society Rock’s Group 1 Prix

Continues page 10

ULYSSES

The Leading UK-based 2nd Crop Sire in 2022 (by % BT wnrs/rnrs*)

2022 yearlings fetched 170,000gns, 150,000gns, £150,000, €105,000, etc

Fee: £10,000

All fees October 1st SLF

Multiple Group winning sprinter ROHAAN He also finished 3rd in the Gr.1 Sprint Cup.

Leading sprinter TWILIGHT CALLS, runner up in both the Gr.1 King’s Stand Stakes and Gr.2 Temple Stakes.

2yo HOLLOWAY BOY, a Royal Ascot Listed winner and Group placed 4 times, including the Gr.1 Futurity Trophy.

Stradivarius: legend on the track and the only horse to have struck four times in the Goodwood Cup

Morny winner Unfortunately made a bright start to his stud career with his first crop of two-year-olds yielding almost 50 per cent runners to winners, which should offer encouragement to breeders.

Alkumait’s pedigree, already an attractive page to start with, received a Group 1 boost last season with the victory of his two-year-old Frankel halfbrother Chaldean in the Dewhurst Stakes. Chaldean was also successful in the Champagne Stakes and Acomb Stakes.

Bred by Whitsbury Manor Stud, by their resident topclass sire Showcasing, Alkumait himself was a talented performer at two, when he won the Mill Reef Stakes for Marcus Tregoning and Shadwell. In addition to being a sibling to Chaldean, he is a full-brother to Get Ahead, who was placed in a pair of Listed races over five furlongs last season for Clive Cox. His half-brothers also include the Listed Committed Stakes winner The Broghie Man, and his dam Suelita’s five black-type performers from six runners also feature Listed third Gloves Lynch. Alkumait’s fee for 2023 at Castlefield Stud is €5,000 and his now yearling half-sister by Kingman made 1,000,000gns at the Tattersalls December Foal Sale.

Coventry Stakes winner

Nando Parrado had his first foal on the ground recently and the Irish National Stud’s son of Kodiac was a high-class juvenile, proving his somewhat surprising Royal Ascot success was no flash in the pan. He was second to Campanelle in the Prix Morny and filled the same position behind Sealiway in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere.

Purchased for 165,000gns as a foal by Paul McCartan, he has a fascinating pedigree. His dam Chibola was a Group 3 winner and Group 1-placed in her native Argentina and is a full-sister to the Group 1 Gran Premio Estrellas Junior Sprint winner Chollo. They are by Roy, a son of Fappiano, who was champion sire in Chile and Argentina. Their dam Choice is a winning half-sister

to Cheyenne, who was a champion in Argentina, and the page is replete with South American Group winners.

Closely related to the Listed second Muntadab, by Invincible Spirit, and a halfbrother to the Listed Meydan Cup second Dubai Horizon, Nando Parrado’s fee at the Irish National Stud remains at €6,000.

Mickley Stud has kept the fee for Ubettabelieveit at £5,000 for his second season. The Flying Childers winner by Kodiac was a classy juvenile at five furlongs, winning the Listed National Stakes.

Arguably his best performance came in defeat when he was third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint

Bred by Ringfort Stud, he is a half-brother to the Group 3 winners Harlem Shake and Tropical Paradise and to the Listed winner Shenanigans, and is one of seven winners so far out of Ladylishandra, by Mujadil.

✪ STAR VALUE ✪

A’Ali Made the list in 2022 and is an even more impressive specimen this year. Speed, power and precocity wrapped in a very attractive package

Logician Classic winner by a brilliant sire and from a very deep line; has the right credentials to make an impact at stud

Supremacy Group 1 winner at two by Mehmas and available for just €10,000; has everything the market demands and more

95% Fertility - 100 mares bred in 2022

Roseman brought €650,000 from Roger Varian at the Goffs Orby Sale and the son of Kingman has a brilliant pedigree. Bred by Knocktoran Stud, Roseman is out of Go Lovely Rose, a Pivotal fullsister to the Coronation Stakes and Prix Jacques le Marois winner Immortal Verse, who is the dam of Cheveley Park Stakes and Prix Jean Prat winner Tenebrism and last season’s Group 2 Balanchine Stakes winner Statuette. Second dam Side Of Paradise is a Listed winner and Sadler’s Wells sister to Last Tycoon.

On the track, Roseman won the Listed Ben Marshall Stakes and was second to The Revenant in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes and fourth in the Queen Anne. His fee has been trimmed to £5,000 for this season by March Hare Stud.

Last year’s intake of National Hunt stallions was a high-class one indeed, with Group 1 and Classic winners Logician, In Swoop, Santiago, Mogul, Fifty Stars and Mirage Dancer all joining the ranks of Irish and British sires in 2022.

The Coolmore pair of In Swoop and Santiago were among the busiest new stallions last year, covering in excess of 200 mares apiece.

In Swoop is by the brilliant Adlerflug, and gave the muchmissed stallion a 1-2 in the Deutsches Derby, where he led home the future Arc hero Torquator Tasso.

Runner-up to Sottsass in the Arc, In Swoop was also second behind Mogul in the Grand Prix de Paris and hails from a Classic family. He is a full-

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

Champion European Sprinter and multiple Gr

Sire £7,500

European Champion 2yo by Lope De Vega £6,500 Oct 1st SLF

Champion Sprinter and Royal Ascot 2yo winner £3,000 Oct 1st SLF

Champion Sprinter and Gr 2 winning 2yo £2,000

to British Breeders for 2023

‘Logician, who stands at Shade Oak Stud, offers British breeders the potential of a bright future’

brother to Grosser Preis von Bayern winner Ito out of Iota, a daughter of Tiger Hill who was successful in the Preis der Diana and the Schwarzgold-Rennen.

Standing at Robert McCarthy’s The Beeches Stud, In Swoop is available for €4,000 this year.

That is the same fee as 2020 Irish Derby and Queen’s Vase winner Santiago is available for at Coolmore’s Castlehyde Stud.

The son of Authorized comes from the best family in the stud book – he descends from Allez Les Trois, who is a daughter of the great Allegretta and a half-sister to the blue hen Urban Sea. Santiago is a half-brother to the Prix Vermeille and Yorkshire Oaks third La Joconde and their dam, Wadyhatta, is a winning daughter of Cape Cross and the Listed-placed Thamarat, a half-sister to Tamayuz.

An unbeaten three-year-old season, which culminated in St Leger glory, is accomplishment enough for a stallion but add in his pedigree and Logician, who stands at Shade Oak Stud for £4,000, offers British breeders the potential of a bright future.

The Juddmonte homebred is a son of champion sire Frankel and from a family that is a prolific producer of stallions. A half-brother to Grade 3 winner and Grade 1 EP Taylor Stakes second Suffused, he is out of Scuffle, who was third in the Listed Snowdrop Stakes and is a Daylami half-sister to Bated Breath and Cityscape. He too was busy in his first season, covering 183 mares.

Another Juddmonte-bred Group 1 winner by Frankel was also heavily supported by breeders in his first season.

Mirage Dancer, who stands at Castlefield Stud, hails from

Juddmonte’s most iconic family. He is a son of Grade 1 Beverly D and Matriarch Stakes winner Heat Haze, a Green Desert half-sister to Group/Grade 1 winners Intercontinental, Cacique, Champs Elysees and Banks Hill, and she is a half-sister to Dansili. Mirage Dancer stands for €3,500 this year.

AISLING CROWE

FIRST YEARLINGS OF 2023

The next step for champion sire Frankel is to produce successful stallion sons and in Without Parole, one of 26 individual Group 1 winners by the outstanding performer, he has an exciting prospect of doing just that.

Cracksman’s start with his first two-year-olds in 2022 would encourage anyone looking at Without Parole, who stands at Newsells Park Stud for £7,000.

Bred by Tanya and John Gunther, the St James’s Palace Stakes winner has a strong pedigree. He is a half-brother to Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Tamarkuz and to the Listed winner and Group 3-placed She’s Got You, out of Without You Babe. She is an unraced Lemon Drop Kid halfsister to the Grade 1 Travers Stakes and Cigar Mile winner Stay Thirsty, who is the sire of Grade 1 winners Mind Control, Golden Leaf and Jack Of Hearts.

She is also a half-sister to the Grade 3 winner and multiple Grade 1-placed sire Andromeda’s Hero and the Grade 1-placed Superfly. Without Parole’s third dam, Make Change, was placed in the first four in ten Grade 1 contests.

Without Parole won his only

start at two and was successful in the Listed Heron Stakes at Sandown, prior to his Royal Ascot triumph. At four he was third in the Breeders’ Cup Mile and as a five-year-old he filled the same position in the Shadwell Turf Mile and Shoemaker Mile.

His first crop averaged 26,733gns and reached a high of €70,000.

Whitsbury Manor Stud is riding the crest of a wave and the tide doesn’t look likely to turn any time soon if the reception afforded the first foals by Sergei Prokofiev is a reliable barometer of trends.

His first crop made their own splash in the winter; bred on a fee of £6,500, they averaged more than three times that at 26,834gns and achieved a top price of 95,000gns. Sergei Prokofiev is from the final crop of Scat Daddy, a red-hot sireline with No Nay Never recording six individual two-year-old Group winners last season, three of them at the highest level, and Justify making a scintillating start with his first runners.

Sergei Prokofiev was an attractive yearling, bringing a successful bid of $1.1 million from MV Magnier, and he developed into a classy juvenile. He was third to Calyx and Advertise in the Coventry Stakes and won the Group 3 Cornwallis Stakes and the Listed Rochestown Stakes, both over five furlongs.

At three he claimed the Listed Cork Sprint Stakes and was fourth to Mabs Cross in the Group 3 Palace House Stakes.

He is out of Orchard Beach, by Tapit and inbred to Unbridled, and the dam of last season’s Woodbine Oaks third Sahlabiya. She is also a halfsister to the Grade 3

Hollywood Juvenile Championship winner Necessary Evil, and the family is that of US champion twoyear-old filly Over All.

Sergei Prokofiev stands for

£6,000 this season.

In an interesting development, King Of Change has joined paternal halfbrother Far Above at Starfield Stud and the sons of Lockinge

and Champion Stakes winner Farhh made pleasing debuts on the sales scene with their foals.

The lightly raced King Of

Continues page 12

Logician: the 2019 winner of the St Leger is available for £4,000

BLOODSTOCK SPECIAL BREEDING ON A BUDGET

Change never finished worse than second in his six career starts, and one of those runner-up positions was behind Magna Grecia in the 2,000 Guineas. He backed up that Group 1 performance with victory in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes and in between those two runs he won the Listed Fortune Stakes at Sandown.

His half-brother, the Group 2 winner Century Dream, was third in the QEII and they are two of the four winners so far foaled by Salacia, a daughter of Echo Of Light and the Group 3 Prix Fille de l’Air winner Neptune’s Bride. She is a Bering half-sister to the Group 2 International Stakes winner Sea Dart out of the Group 3 winner Wedding By The Sea, a daughter of Blushing Groom.

King Of Change’s first crop of foals achieved an average price of 18,995gns, which is three times his advertised covering fee for 2021, with the top price coming in at €50,000. His fee for his first season in his new home has been set at €6,000.

He was the first Group 1 winner by Farhh, who is also the sire of the 2022 Sun Chariot Stakes winner Fonteyn, and they are two of the 11 stakes horses sired so far from small numbers by the son of Pivotal.

Another of those is the Group 3 Palace House Stakes winner Far Above, who has received strong support in his first two seasons at the Westmeath farm, where he covered in excess of 250 mares.

Lightly raced, he was successful in three of his four starts at three including the Listed Prix Kistena and then won the Palace House on his only run at four.

The classy sprinter has an excellent back pedigree. His dam Dorraar is a winning daughter of Shamardal and she is out of a Dorrati, a Dubai Millennium half-sister to the Group 1 Prix de l’Opera and Grade 1 Flower Bowl Invitational Stakes winner Nahrain, who in turn is the dam of Benbatl, by Dubawi, and whose Group 1 victories included the Caulfield Stakes. Another of her half-sisters is the dam of Railway Stakes and Phoenix Sprint Stakes winner Go Bears Go, who was second in the Group 1 Phoenix Stakes. His third dam Bahr is by Derby and King George hero Generous and won the Ribblesdale and Musidora Stakes and was runner-up in the Oaks and third in both the Irish Oaks and Flower Bowl Invitational Stakes.

Far Above has remained steady at €5,000 for the past couple of years and his first crop returned an average more than three times that fee at last year’s foal sales. That figure was 15,654gns, with the most expensive foal by him coming in at 52,000gns.

Ballyhane Stud’s Group 1

British Champions Sprint Stakes winner Sands Of Mali repaid breeders who put their

✪ STAR VALUE ✪

King Of Change Brief career but mixed it with the best milers around; a Group 1 winner for €6,000 presents a value option

Sergei Prokofiev From the final crop of Scat Daddy, he was a $1.1m yearling and foals are inheriting his attractive looks and powerful physique Without Parole Son of champion sire Frankel impressed at the sales; as a Group 1-winning miler from a high-class pedigree, offers excellent value at current fee

faith in him very handsomely. His foal sale average of 18,390gns was more than three times his advertised covering fee of €6,500, and he attained a top price of €60,000.

A shrewd yearling purchase by Con Marnane, the breezeup graduate was a tough and talented juvenile, winning the Gimcrack Stakes, and trained on to become a top-class sprinter at three. Victorious in the Group 3 Prix Sigy and the Group 2 Sandy Lane Stakes on his first two runs of the year, he was just beaten into second by Eqtidaar in the Commonwealth Cup and ended the season with his finest hour – his Group 1 triumph at Ascot.

Sands Of Mali has a fascinating pedigree and one that offers breeders choice and variety away from the usual options. The French-bred is a son of the Group 3-winning miler Panis, who shares his

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

Starfield, Ire €5,000 15,654gns 117 Flash Gordon 7 Kodiac Meelin, Ire €500 - Galileo Chrome 6 Australia Starfield, Ire €3,000 - 79 Hunting Horn 8 Camelot Castlefield, Ire €2,000 - 11

Kew Gardens 8 Galileo Coolmore NH, Ire €3,500 - 117

King Of Change 7 Farhh Starfield, Ire €6,000 18,995gns 48

Legends Of War 7 Scat Daddy March Hare, UK £4,000 4,000gns -

Mr Scaramanga 8 Sir Percy March Hare, UK £1,000 - -

Old Persian 8 Dubawi Glenview, Ire private - 160

River Boyne 8 Dandy Man Tara, Ire €5,000 9,832gns 40

Royal Lytham 6 Gleneagles Irish Emerald, Ire €2,500 - -

Rumble Inthejungle 7 Bungle Inthejungle Norman Court, UK £3,500 1,000gns 14

Sands Of Mali 8 Panis Ballyhane, Ire €5,000 18,390gns 74

Sergei Prokofiev 7 Scat Daddy Whitsbury Manor, UK £6,000 26,834gns 150

Shaman 7 Shamardal Yeomanstown, Ire €5,000 11,727gns 64

Southern Hills 6 Gleneagles March Hare, UK £2,000 - -

Tip Two Win 8 Dark Angel March Hare, UK £2,500 - -

Way To Paris 10 Champs Elysees Coolagown, Ire €3,500 - 98

Without Parole 8 Frankel Newsells Park, UK £7,000 26,733gns 75

sire Miswaki with Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Black Tie Affair and the immortal Urban Sea.

His dam Kadiania is a daughter of Indian Rocket, who won the Mill Reef Stakes and was second in the July

Cup. By Indian Ridge, he is also the broodmare sire of Maarek and Goken, who has made a promising start to his stallion career in France with the Group 3 winners Fang, Go Athletico and Livachope.

Scat Daddy’s legacy grows

ever stronger and his conduit in Europe is No Nay Never, whose tally of Group 1 winners more than doubled last year thanks to an excellent juvenile crop that contained no fewer than three individual Group/Grade 1 winners from six two-year-old

top-level winners in total. His Coventry Stakes-winning son Arizona stands at Coolmore’s Castlehyde Stud for just €5,000 and he was a high-class juvenile performer. In addition to his Royal Ascot triumph he was second to Pinatubo in the Dewhurst Stakes and third to the champion two-year-old in the National Stakes.

Bred when No Nay Never stood for €17,500, he was a good-looking yearling and knocked down to MV Magnier for €260,000 at the Arqana August Sale. His pedigree has lots to recommend him too. His full-sister Nay Lady Nay won the Grade 2 Mrs Revere Stakes and was third in the Grade 1 Flower Bowl Stakes. They are out of Lady Ederle, an English Channel half-sister to the Group 3 winner Fathayer and to the dam of champion two-year-old and Prix Morny winner Dabirsim. Their dam, Bright Generation, by Rainbow Quest, won the Oaks d’Italia when it was a Group 1 and was also second in the Moyglare Stud Stakes.

Bright Generation is a halfsister to Centinela, second dam of the brilliant Sea Of Class and two other Group 1 winners – Charity Line and Final Score – and two further Group winners.

Arizona is another of this cohort to have made a positive first impression in the sales ring, with his foals averaging 18,349gns, which is three times his advertised fee of €7,000. The most expensive of his first foals came in at €60,000.

‘Far Above has remained steady at €5,000 for the past couple of years and his first crop returned an average more than three times that fee at last year’s foal sales’

Far Above, pictured at Starfield Stud, has covered in excess of 250 mares

Calyx will have his credentials tested with first juveniles

FIRST TWO-YEAROLDS OF 2023

A Coventry Stakes winner from the first crop of the ever popular Kingman, Calyx’s credentials will be put to the test this term with his first juveniles.

The Juddmonte-bred sevenyear-old’s fee has been reduced from €22,500 in 2020 to €10,000 this year, but there are reasons to believe he can come up with the goods.

First, he comes from a typically strong family as a son of Helleborine, a Group 3winning juvenile by Observatory and a full-sister to Sprint Cup heroine African Rose and Needleleaf, the dam of champion two-year-old and Irish 2,000 Guineas winner Native Trail.

Calyx was also rapid on the track, showing a blistering turn of foot at Royal Ascot that speed-oriented breeders could not have missed, and the Coolmore sire looks decent value at his new price point.

Coolmore’s National Hunt roster includes Prince of Wales’s Stakes winner Crystal Ocean, though he is expected

to have some representation on the Flat despite being advertised as a jumps sire.

The son of Sea The Stars was a brilliantly consistent performer for Sir Michael Stoute, and his inclusion in the National Hunt stallion sphere was met with some despair, although there’s nothing to stop canny Flat breeders from using him at €8,000.

Indeed, some have obviously done just that, with two firstcrop yearlings selling at Tattersalls Book 1 for 135,000gns and 115,000gns.

Nunnery Stud’s Eqtidaar, as the winner of the Commonwealth Cup and by renowned sire of sires Invincible Spirit, has much to recommend him – and all for the sum of just £5,000.

A high-class sprinter for Stoute, Massaat and Mujbar’s half-brother’s first yearlings proved popular when selling for up to 12 times his covering fee.

There is an Invincible Spirit theme to this year’s firstseason sires and the Group 2-winning sprinter and Prix de la Foret second Inns Of Court

should not lack for support given his base at Tally-Ho Stud, whose recent red-hot launches include the everpopular Mehmas.

Such a steep trajectory would be hard to emulate but the dual Group 1 runner-up’s first yearlings sold very well, with prices including 175,000gns, €170,000 and €135,000. He remains competitively priced at €5,000 at a stud that is a dab hand when it comes to getting young sires’ second careers up and running.

Just in case you couldn’t get enough of Invincible Spirit, the Irish National Stud great has yet another son to represent him in these ranks in Invincible Army. A high-class and multiple Group winner for the James Tate stable, the eight-year-old has held steady at a fee of €7,500 having stood at an initial €10,000 in 2020.

Based at another astute operation, Yeomanstown, it seemed as though breeders and buyers were both taken with the Rabbah Bloodstockbred sire, with 57 yearlings Continues page 14

PATRICK McCANN (RACINGPOST.COM/PHOTOS)

selling at public auction for an average of €57,680 and a top price of 140,000gns.

As a sprinter by a proven sire of sires with a tough attitude and consistent race record, he has to remain of interest with his first runners this season.

Land Force, as a grandson of the great Cassandra Go, whose daughter Tickled Pink produced Breeders’ Cupwinning juvenile Victoria Road and granddaughter

Rhododendron is responsible for the hugely exciting Vertem Futurity winner Auguste

Rodin, has plenty of pedigree appeal to go with the all-round popularity of his first yearlings at the sales last term.

Highclere Stud’s Richmond

Stakes-winning son of No Nay

Never stood his first season at £6,500 but has held steady at £5,000 since 2021, a fee that could well look a bargain if his juveniles run as well as his yearlings sold.

From 70 lots offered, they averaged just over £36,000, with a top price of £180,000 and a further four six-figure lots. His sire could not be any hotter and, as a typically precocious son of No Nay

Never, Land Force could easily add further lustre to the indemand Scat Daddy sireline.

Another son of No Nay

Never with his first juveniles is Sweep Lane Stud’s Phoenix Stakes third The Irish Rover (€2,500).

The Irish National Stud’s Phoenix Of Spain, an Acomb Stakes and Irish 2,000 Guineas-winning son of the great Lope De Vega, holds plenty of appeal at a fee of €12,000.

His own race record suggests he is more than capable of getting high-class juveniles while also providing scope for his offspring to train on. His first crop of yearlings were well received too, selling for up to €200,000 and to the likes of Roger Varian, Johnny Murtagh, Charlie Hills and Wesley Ward.

Soldier’s Call is a fascinating recruit for Ballyhane Stud as a quality sprint son of Showcasing who struck in the Flying Childers and Windsor Castle Stakes at

✪ STAR VALUE

Invincible Army High-class sprint son of Invincible Spirit who has right connections to launch his second career

Soldier’s Call Precocious and talented son of Showcasing with plenty of ammunition

Waldgeist Group 1-winning two-year-old from an exceptional family at an affordable fee

two – from three black-type victories in all – while he was also a neck third to Mabs Cross in that year’s Abbaye.

His high-class form continued when he was third to Blue Point and second to Battaash in the King’s Stand and Nunthorpe respectively at three.

First-crop two-year-old stallions standing in Britain and Ireland for £10,000/€12,500 or less

HORSES FOR COURSES

He was retired to Ballyhane at an introductory fee of €10,000 and has been steady at €7,500 since, while he is set to be represented by just over 120 first-crop two-year-olds. As yearlings they proved popular, with four six-figure lots among them. If his progeny run in his image and prove as high-class, then a fee of €7,500 could prove a steal.

Breeders could not go too far wrong with Waldgeist, with the Ballylinch Stud resident appearing to tick pretty much every box.

At €12,500 he has to rate tremendous value, given he is a son of the phenomenal Galileo from the great W family who was a Group 1-winning two-year-old and who won arguably one of the best Arcs of recent years.

While many people remember him for his Arc

✪

‘In case you couldn’t get enough of Invincible Spirit, the Irish National Stud great has yet another son to represent him in these ranks in Invincible Army’

defeat of Enable, he also struck in the Criterium de SaintCloud at two and gave Brametot a scare when just denied in the Prix du Jockey Club. He also won the Prix Ganay and Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud.

Given he has covered 161 stakes performers or producers in his first three seasons at stud, he has a quality battalion to go to war with. His first yearlings duly proved popular and sold for up to €200,000 and at an average of €66,000. Given the support behind him and his overall profile, he looks well worth a gamble among these first-season sires.

KITTY TRICE

FIRST THREE-YEAROLDS OF 2023

Juddmonte’s Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Expert Eye has had a good start with his first runners, with 27 individual scorers at the time of writing, and a number of those have come close to picking up black type, including Round Tower Stakes fourth Apricot Twist.

A first black-type winner can be only a matter of time for the son of Acclamation, who himself improved as a threeyear-old to ultimately land top-level honours at Churchill Downs on his final start in 2018.

He also struck in the Jersey and City of York Stakes, as well as placing in the Sussex and Prix du Moulin for Sir Michael Stoute, having been ultra impressive in victory in the Vintage Stakes at two.

Retired to Banstead Manor Stud for an opening fee of £20,000 for 2019, the eight-

First crop 2YOs with all the right trainers!

ANDREW BALDING

YANN BARBEROT

ED BETHELL

GIANLUCA BIETOLINI

MARCO BOTTI

GEORGE BOUGHEY

KARL BURKE

OWEN BURROWS

JACK CHANNON

JANE CHAPPLE-HYAM

TOM CLOVER

PATRICE COTTIER

GAVIN CROMWELL

TOM DASCOMBE

HARRY EUSTACE

JESSICA HARRINGTON

EVE JOHNSON HOUGHTON

IAIN JARDINE

PHILLIP MAKIN

JOHNNY MURTAGH

MARKUS NIGGE

year-old is now priced at £7,500 and looks particularly good value given the likely progression of his progeny.

He is also from a typically fine Juddmonte family, being out of a winning Dansili halfsister to 1,000 Guineas and Cheveley Park Stakes winner Special Duty, herself out of a sister to the top-class Sightseek.

Harry Angel, a bona fide top-class sprinter with wins in the July Cup and Sprint Cup, is another young sire who has plenty to look forward to, with his first three-year-olds of 2023 and standing at a clipped-in price of £10,000.

Dalham Hall Stud’s son of Dark Angel had, as of last month, 11 runners from his first crop of juveniles rated 90plus, from 46 in all, for a percentage of 24 per cent – a figure bettered only by Dubawi and Kingman and better than all other first-crop stallions.

Among his most notable offspring are Marshman, second to the unbeaten Noble Style in the Gimcrack Stakes, Prix d’Arenberg second Vicious Harry, and the stakes winners Proverb and Arkansaw Kid, the latter striking in Listed company in Australia.

Those all undoubtedly have more to offer for the world champion sprinter, while progressive sorts such as recent Meydan winner Al Dasim, the unbeaten Iconic Moment and the promising Azure Angel are all likely to keep their sire in the limelight.

From comparatively fewer numbers than some peers, Rathbarry Stud’s James Garfield has shown he is more than capable of siring winners

– and high-class ones at that.

The Mill Reef winner and Prix Maurice de Gheest second remains at a fee of €4,000 after his first crop of runners were headlined by Listed National Stakes winner and Queen Mary third Maria Branwell and the Listed-placed dual winner Lady Bullet.

A tough and talented performer in 14 starts over two seasons, the son of Exceed And Excel should attract plenty of breeders, and with more support should continue to be responsible for more thoroughly likeable performers.

Tally-Ho Stud’s Kessaar is another who has started his second career well, with 25 individual winners at a clip of 45 per cent.

A Mill Reef Stakes winner who was retired at the end of his juvenile career, the son of the red-hot sire of sires Kodiac initially stood at €8,000 in 2019 but has been steady at a more than reasonable €5,000 since 2021.

His first crop of runners included two black-type performers in Prix Six Perfections third Ipanema Princess and the multiple Listed-placed Bolt Action, who was a neck second to Shouldvebeenaring in the Champion Two Yrs Old Trophy at Ripon from eight starts at two.

With his yearlings last term making up to 155,000gns from a fee of €6,000, Kessaar looks to have caught the imagination of the market too.

Tweenhills’ Sussex Stakes winner Lightning Spear, an admirable and tough son of the great Pivotal on the track,

JOSEPH O'BRIEN

GEOFF OLDROYD

AMANDA PERRETT

NIGEL TINKLER

ROGER VARIAN

FABRICE VERMEULEN

STEPHANE WATTEL ETC.

And many of the top breeze-up consignors

WILLIE BROWNE

BUSHYPARK

CH THOROUGHBREDS

KILRONAN

ROGER MARLEY

CON MARNANE

EDDIE O'LEARY

TALLY HO

TOP LINE USA ETC.

Brilliant Coventry Stakes winner by KINGMAN

Clockwise from main: Invincible Army, Solider’s Call, Waldgeist and Expert Eye

All eyes likely to be on Tasleet after first crop of juveniles exceeded expectations

First-crop three-year-old stallions standing in Britain and Ireland for £10,000/€12,500 or less

operated at an excellent 63 per cent winners to runners strikerate with his first two-year-olds last year.

The champion older miler had reportedly suffered from sub-fertility issues early on, but if his first runners are anything to go by then he should be on anyone’s list if they are searching for genuine and gutsy winners.

Destiny’s Spirit improved as the season went on to record three wins for Dominic Ffrench Davis, while Inspirited pulled four and a quarter lengths clear on his final start at Brighton in September.

There is natural expectation that his stock will improve with time, as the sire did, and he stays solid at a fee of £5,000 for 2023.

Massaat retired to Mickley Stud as a winner of the Hungerford Stakes who placed in both the Guineas and Dewhurst for owner-breeder Shadwell and, as a Teofilo halfbrother to Commonwealth Cup winner and Nunnery Stud’s first-season sire Eqtidaar, he rates an attractive proposition for breeders at £4,000.

His seven individual winners to date include the classy Mascapone, third to the smart Naval Power in the Pat Eddery Stakes at Ascot; multiple scorer Evolicatt; Hectic, sixth in the Acomb Stakes to subsequent Dewhurst winner Chaldean; and Class 2 nursery winner Coco Jamboo.

The National Stud’s Rajasinghe produced an astonishing 80 per cent winners to runners from his first crop, by far and away the highest strike-rate among his peers in Europe, and from what is best described as limited support.

Breeders on a budget who stayed away from the Coventry Stakes winner will surely have to reconsider, especially given the son of Choisir remains excellent value at an unchanged fee of £3,000.

His two multiple winners were Talamanca and Hougoumont, both of whom should progress further, while

Giant – who sports the colours of his sire’s owner Phil Cunningham – ran out a convincing winner of a Chelmsford maiden in December.

Tasleet, a Group-winning and multiple Group 1-placed sprint son of Showcasing from the family of the brilliant Battaash, rated an attractive commercial proposition upon his retirement to Nunnery Stud.

Even so, his first crop of juveniles exceeded expectations as they included Coventry Stakes winner Bradsell, whose Royal Ascot victory saw him defeat the likes of Blackbeard, Persian Force and Royal Scotsman.

Injured when fourth to Little Big Bear in the Phoenix Stakes, the Archie Watson-trained colt returns for more in 2023, while others who look capable of better include American Sonja, Installation and Omniqueen.

The fact his second crop of yearlings have outsold his first, reaching an average over five times his £6,000 fee, surely bodes well and, even at a slightly increased fee of £6,000 (from £5,000 in 2021 and last year), he looks to be great value.

Deep Impact’s legacy in Europe has taken root thanks to Saxon Warrior’s first-season sire exploits and another son of the Japanese phenomenon in Tosen Stardom rates a very interesting addition to the Irish stallion ranks.

Standing under the Zenith Stallion Station banner at Lemongrove Stud for a fee of €7,000, the 12-year-old was a Group 3 winner in Japan before adding two Australian Group 1s to his CV and standing down under.

He has sired a handful of winners in Australia and has been priced up attractively for his first season in the northern hemisphere.

Unfortunately, a Group 1-winning son of the late Society Rock, was another who provided a pleasant surprise with his runners last year. The Prix Morny winner had seven individual scorers headed by dual winner Looking For Lynda, also fourth in the Listed Roses Stakes and who was given a Racing Post Rating of

From page 15 Continues

100 on his penultimate start, and four-time winner Perdika. Oak Lodge Stud’s eight-yearold stood his first season at Cheveley Park for a fee of £7,500 but has since resided in Ireland, where his fee remains at €3,500 for the second year in a row.

With lightly raced prospects waiting in the wings, such as debut Wolverhampton winner Always Tomorrow and Holy Fire, who was a two-length third on her debut for Charlie Fellowes in December, 2023 could also be kind for Unfortunately.

US Navy Flag, a really tough performer for Aidan O’Brien and Coolmore, appears to be passing on plenty of his quality to his progeny, with his first crop of runners featuring four black-type performers including two Listed winners. The impeccably bred son of War Front and Misty For Me –a full-brother to Roly Poly from the family of Fasliyev and Menifee – was retired to Coolmore at an initial fee of €25,000 and is now less than half of that at €10,000. His leading performers include French Listed winner and Group 2-placed Ocean Vision, and Love Reigns, who struck in stakes company for Wesley Ward in the United States, having finished fourth to Dramatised in the Queen Mary.

The stallion himself won the July Cup at three, so it will be interesting to see how his progeny fare this coming season.

Washington DC had a productive time of things in 2022, with the Bearstone Stud sire perhaps going slightly under the radar with a stakes performer in Washington Heights leading the way among nine individual winners so far.

Dropped slightly from £3,500 to £3,000 this season, the son of Zoffany appeals as a fairly priced individual for the smaller breeder, while others on the winners’ board include Smooth Daddy at Starfield Stud (€4,000) and March Hare Stud’s Master Carpenter (£1,000).

‘US Navy Flag, a really tough performer for Aidan O’Brien, appears to be passing on plenty of his quality to his progeny, with his first crop of runners featuring four black-type performers including two Listed winners’

BLOODSTOCK SPECIAL FOAL GALLERY

A GLIMPSE INTO THE FUTURE

SANTIAGO –TRANQUIL MAGIC

LOGICIAN –ANGELA’S HOPE

–WELSH GOLD

DARTMOUTH –INCH LALA

PARRADO –CAFETIERE

A’ALI – LUMINESCE

LOPE Y FERNANDEZ –SPAIN BLUES

ALKUMAIT –WINDY CITI

MORE ESTABLISHED SIRES

Aclaim’s headline act is last year’s 1,000 Guineas heroine Cachet, who returns to action this year, while Manton Park Stud’s son of Acclamation might have some other aces up his sleeve too.

Off the mark in December of his two-year-old season and a winner of the Prix de la Foret at four, it would be reasonable to expect Aclaim’s progeny to improve with winters on their backs, and it will be intriguing to see how his highly rated Listed-winning daughter Royal Aclaim does in 2023.

Aclaim’s other black-type runners include Italian Group 2 second Jacinda and a quartet of Listed-placed performers.

Initially retired to the National Stud for a fee of £12,500 in 2018, a price of £10,000 this year (an increase from £6,000 last term) does not seem an unfair one for a Classic-producing sire who is no one-trick pony.

Derrinstown Stud resident Awtaad enjoyed a breakout 2022, particularly on Arc weekend at Longchamp when he sired two Group 2 winners.

Anmaat, who won the Prix Dollar, looks every inch a Group 1-calibre runner for

Awtaad

Territories

Ulysses

Shadwell, while Prix Chaudenay winner Al Qareem is bound to be well placed by Owen Burrows.

The 2016 Irish 2,000 Guineas winner’s yearlings of last term were very well received, selling for up to 120,000gns from a 2020 fee of €15,000.

Awtaad’s fee was cut to €5,000 in 2022 and remains the same this year. To this writer’s eye, he deserves to be supported at this price, with

DUBAWI LEGEND

#SprinterByDubawi

He’s got so much speed and so much talent.

GR.1 2YO AND GR.3

Second highest rated 2yo in 2021 2nd Gr.1 Darley Dewhurst Stakes to dual Gr.1 winner Native Trail. TDN Rising Star.

Only one first season sire rated higher as a 2yo. OR: 115

Higher rated than Bayside Boy, Persian Force, Minzaal, State Of Rest, Caturra, Naval Crown, etc.

some really interesting backend juveniles coming out and the promise of more to come.

Ex-Irish Belardo is a now more accessible option for British breeders at Bearstone Stud and, as the sire of Group/ Grade 2 winners including Rockfel Stakes scorer Isabella Giles, Bellabel and Gold Phoenix from 17 black-type performers, he looks a tantalising prospect at a fee of £6,500.

The European champion two-year-old by Lope De Vega covered 215 mares in 2021 and 2022, so there should be plenty of upside to come in the following years.

Lanwades Stud resident Bobby’s Kitten was a winner of the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint and at stud has produced five black-type performers headed by the triple Group 2 winner and Group 1-placed Sandrine.

He has been clipped to a fee of £6,000 this term and should continue to provide his supporters with plenty of winners.

Speed and precocity are traits that are heavily desired in the commercial market, and Cotai Glory is passing them on in spades. Even with a fee more than doubled from his opening tag of €6,000, he is surely value at €12,500 for this upcoming covering season.

The Tally-Ho Stud sire produced one of the star juveniles – or, indeed, horse of any category – in The Platinum Queen, who struck in the Abbaye and finished second to Highfield Princess in the Nunthorpe.

A subsequent 1,200,000gns sale to Katsumi Yoshida at the Tattersalls December Mares Sale, she is the standout of her sire’s progeny but there are plenty more in the armoury.

The 11-year-old has produced a dual Group winner in Prix Robert Papin and Prix du Bois scorer Atomic Force, while his other black-type progeny include Italian Group winner Bottle Of Bubbles, progressive Rockingham Stakes winner Alpha Capture,

Coventry Stakes second Eldrickjones and a trio of Group 3-placed runners.

To have produced 15 stakes performers from his first two crops, Cotai Glory has to be worth a look, even at the pricier end of the budget breeding spectrum.

At €5,000, breeders have access to a triple Group 1-winning son of Galileo in Decorated Knight chalked up a 50 per cent winners to runners strike-rate so far in his career.

The Irish National Stud resident has provided a respectable number of winners too, headed by Denford Stakes second Ferrari Queen, and there is every reason to believe she can improve on last year’s efforts.

The Saleh Al Homaizi and Imad Al Sagar homebred gives breeders access to brilliant bloodlines at an affordable price. He is out of Pearling, a Storm Cat full-sister to the brilliant Giant’s Causeway and blue hen You’resothrilling, dam of top-flight winners Gleneagles, Marvellous, Happily and Joan Of Arc.

Due Diligence burst onto the scene with his first crop including Group winners Streamline and Good Vibes, and, with his best-bred and largest crops ready to go following that initial success, he can start to claw back some of the limelight from his prolific studmates at Whitsbury Manor.

The son of War Front stays at a fee of £5,000 for 2023, and, with his yearling average of 2022 coming in at over £21,000, Whitsbury Manor will be eagerly awaiting his crop of juveniles this year.

Golden Horn’s move to Overbury Stud as a dualpurpose sire should not deter Flat breeders given a very reasonable-looking fee of £8,000.

While it would be fair to say the Derby and Arc-winning son of Cape Cross did not live up to initial expectations at Darley, he has still produced some high-class stock on the

Ulysses: good value with progress still to come

level – think Group 2 winner and Group 1-placed Botanik and the exciting Haskoy to name but two – while his progeny over jumps continue to deliver the goods.

For those looking to produce a quality animal for either sphere, or even a dual-purpose performer, you could do a lot worse than this gorgeous champion. His top yearling of 2022 sold to William Haggas for 290,000gns, while there is plenty more to come from the aforementioned duo plus Ebor Handicap winner Trawlerman.

A fee of €10,000 for Ballylinch’s Make Believe also looks a reasonable enough sum given the sire has already produced a champion in the ultra versatile Mishriff, while it’s also worth looking at some of his other leading progeny.

The son of Makfi, whose 2022 yearlings made up to 220,000gns, is so far responsible for seven blacktype winners from 12 blacktype performers overall, with the promise of more to follow from his bigger and best-bred crops.

His four Group 3 winners include narrow Prix de Royallieu second Believe In Love and the likeable Rose Of Kildare, while Self Belief looked a performer to note when landing a Listed event at Leopardstown last October in cosy fashion. That was only his

Continues page 20

HUGO PALMER

‘At €5,000, breeders have access to a triple Group 1-winning son of Galileo in Decorated Knight, who has chalked up a 50 per cent winners to runners strike-rate so far in his career’

More established stallions standing in Britain and Ireland for £10,000/€12,500 or less First-crop 4yos in 2023

More established stallions standing in Britain and Ireland for £10,000/€12,500 or less First-crop 5yos in 2023

ALKUMAIT

First-crop 6yos in 2023

HIGH CLASS 2YO

QUICKEST EVER WINNER OF GROUP 2 MILL REEF STAKES, FASTER THAN DARK ANGEL & HARRY ANGEL

COVERED 110+ MARES IN HIS FIRST SEASON AT STUD

HALF-BROTHER TO OUTSTANDING 2YO OF 2022 CHALDEAN (FRANKEL)

Winner of four races incl. Gr.1 Dewhurst Stakes, Gr.2 Champagne Stakes and Gr.3 Acomb Stakes. A leading contender for 2000 Guineas

HALF-BROTHER TO 1 MILLION GUINEAS FOAL IN 2022

HUNTING HORN

Camelot - Mora Bai (Indian Ridge)

Fee 2023: €2,000 (Live Foal)

The only MULTIPLE GROUP WINNING son of Camelot to stand in Ireland

Closely related to the late HIGH CHAPARRAL, a sire of CHAMPIONS under both codes

Career earnings of OVER £860,000

Supported with an attractive first book of 85+ MARES

An outstanding physical with RACE, PERFORMANCE and PEDIGREE

LEADING FIRST CROP SIRE at Goffs December NH Sale 2022 with an average price of over 6 times his covering fee

MIRAGE DANCER

Frankel - Heat Haze (Green Desert)

Fee 2023: €3,500 (Live Foal)

A GROUP 1 winner over 1m4f

Career earnings of OVER €1,000,000

Dam HEAT HAZE, a two time GR.1 WINNING sister to five GR.1 WINNERS incl. stallions DANSILI, CHAMPS ELYSEES and CACIQUE

The first son of GB/IRE Champion Sire FRANKEL to stand in Ireland

160+ MARES covered to date, including the dams or siblings of multiple graded winners

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

From

page

third start and there should be plenty more to come.

Kildangan sire Profitable, standing for €9,000 in 2023, has been represented by a first-crop Queen Mary Stakes winner in Quick Suzy, from six black-type winners and ten black-type performers overall.

He had another Group 2 winner last season in Prix du Calvados scorer Wed, while his first two crops have yielded 50 individual juvenile winners –more than any other son of Invincible Spirit, or indeed Invincible Spirit himself, has achieved over the past two seasons.

Fellow Darley stallion Postponed is standing at Dalham Hall this year at a career-low £5,000, and the 12-year-old son of Dubawi really is worth a second look at that price.

It is fair to say he could do with a flagbearer, but he improved with age himself – as evidenced by Group 1 victories as a five-year-old in the Dubai Sheema Classic, Coronation Cup and Juddmonte International – and his stock can be expected to do likewise.

Ones to watch from his second crop, who have recently turned three, include Cool Party, who has won two of his three starts and was beaten a nose on his debut,

Postponed is well worth second look

and Sunburn, a winner at Saint-Cloud on her last start in November.

A Group 1-producing sire at an affordable fee is the

Dalham Hall-based Territories, a Group 1-winning and Classic-placed son of Invincible Spirit who has thrown a top-notch filly in

GOOD MORNING BLOODSTOCK

Rougir as well as the Groupwinning Derby runner-up Hoo Ya Mal, a £1.2 million sale to McKeever Bloodstock at the Goffs London auction last summer.

As well as those two lucrative top-level performers, Territories can also count the progressive Australian Group 2 winner Berkeley Square and exciting stakes winner Aldaary among those with Group 1 potential. Support in the 11-year-old will continue from his younger crops as his fourth-crop yearlings averaged around £103,000 at Tattersalls Books 1 and 2.

His third-crop juveniles of 2022 include progressive Group-placed colt Grey’s Monument, Ends Of The Earth, winner of his only start at Chantilly, and last-time-out Curragh winner Nightcliff.

At the time of writing he had already notched 15 winners in eight different countries in 2023, including Laos, winner of a €50,000 handicap in France. At £10,000 there is little not to like about Territories, a sire whose best days are surely ahead of him.

Cheveley Park Stud has plenty to look forward to with Ulysses, too, especially given the fact the son of Galileo and Oaks heroine Light Shift came into his own with victories in the Juddmonte International and Eclipse aged four.

Another priced at £10,000, a fee the chestnut has stood at for the last three years, the tenyear-old’s 2022 season saw him with a Group-winning and Classic-placed runner in Irish Derby second Piz Badile, as well as Royal Ascot-winning and Group 1-placed juvenile Holloway Boy and the progressive stakes winner Mighty Ulysses.

A beautifully bred stallion

from the family of Lingerie, Ulysses is also doing the talking in the sales ring too. His yearlings last year made up to 170,000gns and he has big, quality books in the pipeline having been supported strongly by Cheveley Park and the Niarchos family.

KITTY TRICE

ESTABLISHED SIRES

Kicking off the section containing the biggest number of sires in Ireland and Britain, Rathasker Stud’s Bungle Inthejungle has sired seven black-type winners headed by Nunthorpe Stakes heroine Winter Power and Lowther Stakes winner Living In The Past, yet remains at an affordable fee of €6,500.

His two stakes-winning juveniles last year came in the form of Manhattan Jungle and Funny Money Honey, ensuring his name continued to crop up as a source of high-class and precocious speed.

At £7,500, Bearstone Stud’s Dream Ahead is a proven source of top-class talent, with his 13 individual Group winners including Group 1 scorers Glass Slippers, Al Wukair, Dream Of Dreams and Donjuan Triumphant.

A sire with his record rarely stands at such an enticing fee, and he will surely remain at the forefront of thinking for breeders working with a more limited budget.

Ballyhane’s Elzaam is another Group 1-producing sire on the list of established stallions. He is responsible for Matron Stakes winner Champers Elysees from six black-type scorers and 17 individual stakes performers overall.

Priced at €4,000 for 2023, the son of Redoute’s Choice has,

notably, covered 250 mares in the last two seasons and has proved a sire more than capable of upgrading his mares.

At half the price is Irish National Stud resident Equiano, a son of Acclamation whose 30 stakes performers are headed by Group/Grade 1 winners in the shape of star sprinter The Tin Man and Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint heroine Belvoir Bay, and Group 2 winners Gustavus Weston, Equilateral and Medicine Jack.

As far as getting bang for one’s buck is concerned, here is a sire who is proven at the top table and yet is priced at just €2,000.

Coolmore stalwarts Footstepsinthesand (€10,000) and Holy Roman Emperor (€10,000) continue to serve it up to their younger colleagues, with the former responsible for Group 2-winning sprinter Brostaigh in 2022, while the latter had the dual Group 2-winning miler and Queen Elizabeth II Stakes third Jadoomi and American Grade 2 winner Rockemperor. The pair have to be on the radar of breeders on a budget this coming season.

Gregorian has also proved a fine servant for connections, in his case for Rathasker Stud, for whom he stands at a fee of €4,500.

The son of Clodovil was clearly in the minds of buyers last year, with his yearlings selling for up to €130,000, while his racetrack progeny are headed by Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte winner Plainchant from seven blacktype winners and 14 black-type performers.

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

From left: Famous Name, Havana Gold, Jukebox Jury, Magician and Sixties Icon

From

his sensational son Havana Grey, but the son of Teofilo undoubtedly stands out on his own merits – and at a fee of just £10,000.

While the Tweenhills resident’s progeny are headed by the Flying Five Stakes hero and Whitsbury Manor sire sensation, his 27 stakes performers also include last season’s Sandy Lane Stakes winner El Caballo and Listed winner and Richmond Stakes third Chateau.

There is also the unbeatenin-five sales race winner Streets Of Gold, whose progress last season makes him a fascinating candidate for Guineas and other top-level honours in 2023.

Cheveley Park Stud’s Mayson is another proven source of top-class talent, with the Invincible Spirit 15-yearold’s stock headed by King’s Stand Stakes and July Cup hero Oxted and Sandy Lane winner Rohaan from ten black-type winners and 27 stakes performers.

Standing once again for just £6,000, he has a band of loyal supporters and it is not hard to see why.

Chapel Stud’s Planteur, as sire of champion stayer Trueshan, should also remain at the forefront of budget breeders’ minds.

Standing at a fee of £4,000, the son of Danehill Dancer, who previously stood in France, produces tough, tenacious and high-class performers under both codes. He will continue to be ably assisted by his aforementioned Alan King-trained son as his British-bred crops come onto the scene.

Eight per cent stakes winners to runners is an excellent statistic for any stallion whatever the price point, but particularly so in the case of Raven’s Pass at €7,500.

The Kildangan Stud resident’s top performers include 2021 Flying Five Stakes winner Romantic Proposal –who was also among his stakes winners last year – while his reputation as a broodmare sire has blossomed through the exploits of multiple Group 1

✪ STAR VALUE ✪

sires

Mayson Consistent producer of tough and classy horses who like to win

Sir Percy Still coming up with the goods, including stateside

winners Mishriff and Saffron Beach; the latter is due to race on this year.

He also continued to turn heads in the sales ring last year, with his two-year-olds fetching up to €120,000 and a top price of 75,000gns for a yearling.

Another fine stallion stalwart is Lanwades sire Sir Percy, now a 20-year-old but still as capable as ever. Now standing at a private fee, his recent black-type horses include Grade 1 New York Stakes and Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac third Flighty Lady, November’s American Grade 3 winner Bellstreet Bridie, and Lanwades’ homebred Listed winner and Group-placed Kawida.

The Derby and Dewhurst winner also has a fine record with his juveniles, having sired 89 individual two-year-old scorers, while his Group 1 count comprises Sir John Hawkwood and Wake Forest.

Norman Court Stud’s Sixties Icon stands his second successive year at a fee of £3,000 – not bad value considering his strike-rate of winners to runners comes out at 56 per cent, and at a variety of trips too and including plenty of black type-class runners.

Celebrate every winner with a Success Box seen by millions

Lightning Spear (left) and Kameko at Tweenhills Stud in Gloucestershire, where Havana Gold continues to shine

Havana Gold Proven sire of

and stakes winners with exciting prospects to come