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LEADING SIRES

Frankel will regain his British and Irish leading sire title in 2023, having become champion for the first time in 2021 but loaning his crown to Dubawi last year. His progeny earnings stand at just over €8m up to November 6, way ahead of his closest pursuer Dubawi on €4.66m. Banstead Manor Stud’s unbeaten dual world champion delivered one Group 1 winner after another in the past 12 months, including Chaldean, Courage Mon Ami, Inspiral, Mostahdaf, Nashwa, Soul Sister, Triple Time and Ylang Ylang on the home front to seal his second championship. Frankel’s brilliance is illustrated by his 44% winners-to-runners strike rate and 12.78% black-type winners-to-runners strike rate, as recorded in the exhaustive statistics available on stallionguide.com.

Sadly, the upper echelons of sire tables tend to confirm that you get what you pay for in life, as nearly all the most successful stallions are priced accordingly. However, a few more affordable names in Ireland did make their presence felt. Gleneagles, available at Coolmore for €17,500 in 2023, achieved highly credible stats of 41% winners to runners and 4.66% black-type winners to runners in Europe, while Dandy Man, who stood at Ballyhane Stud at €15,000 this year, proved to be the definition of ‘prolific’ again, with 123 winners from 300 runners at a rate of 41%. Only Kodiac’s progeny put in more runs than Dandy Man’s in the past season. A bargain basement sire who perennially scores well in these stallion tables is Mayson, who is on the move from Cheveley Park Stud in Newmarket to Springfield House Stud in Co Tipperary. The son of Invincible Spirit, who has top sprinters Oxted and Rohaan on his roll of honour, recorded a brilliant 51% winners-to-runners strike rate in 2023, led by Honey Girl’s victory in the Athasi Stakes.

Cracksman edged out his sire Frankel to be champion sire in France (€4.39m), almost entirely due to his unbeaten first-crop son Ace Impact's successes in the Prix du Jockey Club and lavishly endowed Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. It goes to show how first-place prizemoney in that one race skews the statistics, because Frankel supplied Group 1 winners Inspiral, Jannah Rose, Kelina and Westover across the Channel, with Westover and Onesto finishing second and third in the Arc.

BLUE POINT

LEADING FIRST-SEASON SIRES

Darley pair Blue Point (based at Kildangan Stud) and Too Darn Hot (Dalham Hall) stood out in the European first-season sire table. Blue Point led the way on both individual winners, notching 41 up to November, and earnings, amassing €1.64m, with €1.14m of that accrued in Britain and Ireland. He is the third European-based freshman to supply two Group 1-winning juveniles, after Lyphard and Sadler’s Wells, with Rosallion scoring in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardère and Big Evs taking the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint.

Too Darn Hot is in second place by prizemoney on both the European and GB & Ireland lists, with the vast majority, €915,318 accrued in the latter jurisdictions, but his black-type winners-to-runners ration of 6.45% in Europe was head and shoulders above his peers and his 5.45% in Britain and Ireland also led the way. His four offspring who scored in stakes company all had a significant ring of quality – Fallen Angel, who landed the Moyglare Stud Stakes; Darnation, who took the May Hill Stakes; Alyanaabi, who scored in the Tattersalls Stakes and ran second in the Dewhurst; and Carolina Reaper, successful at Group 3 level in Germany.

In Europe, Coolmore colleagues Ten Sovereigns and Calyx sired multiple stakes winners at strike rates of 4.29% and 4.26%, while Irish National Stud resident Phoenix Of Spain and Ballyhane-based Soldier’s Call managed praiseworthy winners-to-runners quotas of 40% and 36%. One sire who arguably outperformed expectations for his debut season with two-year-old runners, and hinted at better to come, was Lanwades Stud’s Prix du Jockey Club hero Study Of Man. The son of Deep Impact came up with seven winners from just 25 runners, and an early pattern winner in the shape of Paddy Twomey’s Beresford Stakes scorer Deepone gave him a creditable score of 4% black-type winners.

LEADING SECOND-SEASON SIRES

Arc winner, Ace Impact, who also took the Prix du Jockey Club and retires to Haras de Beaumont in Normandy unbeaten, hails from the first crop of his Frankel’s son, Cracksman, who tops the second-season sire table in Europe by progeny earnings, with a haul of €5.09m. Ace Impact accounted for a large proportion of that figure, though, and there has been more talk about some of the sire’s fellow sophomores.

Havana Grey in particular is widely thought of as the next big thing iin breeding and he tops the British and Irish standings with €2.2m. The son of Havana Gold covered mediocre books of mares at basement fees in his early years at Whitsbury Manor Stud and yet he has supplied ten black-type winners in 2023 – including Prix Morny and Middle Park Stakes victor Vandeek – an excellent clip of 7% in Europe and 6.3% in GB & Ireland. His fee has been increased to £55,000 for next year and the word in sales house bars is that still might represent value for money.

Sioux Nation has quietly done well to keep pace, supplying nine black-type winners at a strike rate of 6.12% in Europe, though that drops to 4.9% in Britain and Ireland. The star turn by Coolmore’s son of Scat Daddy was Challenge Stakes winner and 1000 Guineas third Matilda Picotte. Fellow Coolmore sire Saxon Warrior achieved a useful 4.1% black-type winners-to-runners ration in Europe with his first two crops, while the ill-starred champion Roaring Lion’s sole generation, who turned three in 2023, won stakes races at a clip of 3.9%. Dalham Hall Stud-based Harry Angel showed himself to be something of a winner machine with 53% of his runners on the continent this year scoring at least once, that figure holding up well at 50% for Britain and Ireland.

LEADING THIRD-SEASON SIRES

The European third-season sire table is led by Coolmore’s Churchill by prizemoney, with dual French Classic heroine Blue Rose Cen and Dante Stakes winner The Foxes contributing most to his pot of pot of €3.14m. He also did enough, however, to top the British and Irish table with €1.77m.

None of the European cohort could hold a candle to Haras de Bonneval sire Zarak, a Group 1-winning son of Dubawi and Zarkava, on two key metrics of success. His first three crops, bred off a fee of just €12,000, produced a 54% winners-to-runners strike rate and sensational 8.5% black-type winners-to-runners ratio. He was represented by his first top-flight scorer when Zagrey took the Grosser Preis von Baden.

LEADING SIRES OF 2YOS

Coolmore-owned Scat Daddy sons Justify (who stands at Ashford Stud in Kentucky) and No Nay Never (Coolmore Fethard) delivered exceptional results with their two-year-olds in Europe this year.

US Triple Crown laureate Justify’s second crop yielded the highest-rated juvenile colt and filly in Europe, City Of Troy and Opera Singer. For good measure he also got two Grade 1 winners in this age group at the Breeders’ Cup meeting with Just FYI striking in the Juvenile Fillies and Hard To Justify taking the Juvenile Fillies Turf. His two-year-olds imported to Europe, admittedly a selected group, scored in black-type races at an extraordinary 18.8%.

No Nay Never meanwhile provided a table-topping eight individual black-type-winning two-year-olds in 2023, at a strike rate of 12.7%. They included Array in the Mill Reef Stakes, Lake Forest in the Gimcrack Stakes and Matrika in the Airlie Stud Stakes. Six of those individual blacky type winners were in Britain and Ireland, scoring at a 10.3% strike rate.

No Nay Never’s studmate Wootton Bassett conjured up a 12.5% ratio of two-year-old stakes winners to runners in Europe with his last crop conceived at Haras d’Etreham in Normandy. Cream of the crop were Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf hero Unquestionable, Phoenix Stakes winner Bucanero Fuerte and Coventry Stakes scorer River Tiber. That whets the appetite for the son of Iffraaj’s first Irish-conceived two-year-olds in 2024.

Dubawi, sire of this year’s National Stakes victor Henry Longfellow and Futurity Trophy hero Ancient Wisdom, and Frankel, whose daughter Ylang Ylang landed the Fillies’ Mile, fielded 11.9% and 10% black-type winners to runners in Britain and Ireland, to suggest that they will be competing for overall champion sire honours again next year.

LEADING BROODMARE SIRES

Late Coolmore phenomenon Galileo showed he’s no historical relic in 2023, not least through his daughters Warm Heart, Free Wind and Savethelastdance giving him a one-two-three in the Yorkshire Oaks, but he has slowly been slipping down the general and two-year-old sire tables in recent years.

However, he is hammering home that he is an improving ingredient in a pedigree in the European broodmare sire table. He is out on his own at the top, with his maternal grandchildren’s progeny earnings of around €17m being more than double the next-best figure of €7.9m belonging to Oasis Dream.

YEATS

Galileo’s tally of 42 black-type winners as damsire in 2023 was well clear of Oasis Dream’s mark of 18. His standouts in this department were Classic winners Auguste Rodin, Continuous and Marhaba Ya Sanafi, Group 1-winning two-year-olds City Of Troy and Henry Longfellow and leading sprinter Shaquille.

LEADING NATIONAL HUNT SIRES

On the National Hunt side, Castlehyde Stud’s legendary stayer Yeats was crowned champion sire in Britain and Ireland in 2022/23 for the second season in a row, with €2.94m in progeny earnings. Savills Chase winner Conflated was his marquee performer in the past 12 months. The shortlived Fame And Glory, the source of last season’s Grade 1 winners Flame Bearer, Home By The Lee and Stage Star, was runner-up in the table for the second year running, having accumulated €2.67m.

Grange Stud’s blue-chip option Walk In The Park achieved his highest finish in the British and Irish jumps sire championship, coming third on €2.3m. His best representatives – Ashroe Diamond, Facile Vega and Jonbon – stay in training and, along with his many unexposed younger offspring, they could catapult him to the number one spot in 2023/24. French sires Doctor Dino, Saddler Maker and Saint Des Saints stood out with black-type winners-to-runners strike rates between 14.63% and 10.77% last season, although it is important to remember that they have highly selected samples of runners competing on these shores.

The much-missed Jeremy, who always stood in Ireland and therefore has a more ‘warts-and-all’ representation, deserves extra credit for managing a 6.73% black-type winners-to-runners ratio. French sires are now crucial to the commercial National Hunt market, of course, so it’s worth checking out who is doing well domestically. Leading the way by prizemoney in France this year, up to November, was Cokoriko, with €2.21m. Big names Doctor Dino, Martaline and Kapgarde were fighting out the places on €1.99m, €1.97m and €1.84m respectively. Martinborough, a Japanese Grade 3 winner by Deep Impact and from the family of Singspiel, has smaller crops conceived in France – 51 five-year-olds and 38 four-year-olds – but he is responsible for an impressive 59% winners-to-runners strike rate in his adopted country.

By the more informative measure of black-type winners to runners, it is Haras de Beaumont-based Galiway who comes out best, on a remarkably high 14.29%. Willie Mullins sent out the sire’s best performer on home turf, with Gala Marceau running out a seven-length winner of the Prix Alain du Breil at Auteuil, a prestigious event for four-year-olds.

The unique table of young National Hunt sires available on stallionguide.com is an invaluable tool for making breeding and buying decisions for a sector of the industry in which the time from production to racing takes so long, with sires often being advanced in years before being proven on the racecourse and making an impact on the main table.

Fame And Glory, who scrapes into the table as he conceived the first of his five crops in 2013, comes out on top by prizemoney from No Risk At All, who retired in the same year and had top-notchers Allaho, Allegorie De Vassy, Aucunrisque and Epatante batting for him in 2022/23.

The late German Derby winner Pastorius clocked in with a very decent 52% winners to runners that season, while Churchill’s emigrants from the flat sphere had real strength in depth, with two black-type winners from 17 runners giving him an impressive mark of 11.76%. Sea The Moon is another proven flat sire whose representatives at the horses-in-training sales must be worthy of jumps owners’ and trainers’ attention, as he delivered a 9.38% black-type winners-to-runners strike rate in the NH realm last season.

Cheltenham Diversity

Mind you, for all the investigation and analysis we perform on sire tables, it’s worth remembering that the all-important action at the Cheltenham Festival, at which a winner is worth a thousand adverts for stud owners, showed us once again that we can obsess a little too much about the male line.

Only one sire over the four-day meeting put more than one winner on the board, and that was the late Burgage Stud stalwart Shantou, with two – Stay Away Fay in the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle and Impervious in the Mrs Paddy Power Mares’ Chase. The son of Alleged also got on the podium through Magical Zoe taking second in the Jack de Bromhead Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle and Monbeg Genius claiming third in the Ultima Handicap Chase.

Doctor Dino, who will stand at Haras du Mesnil at the lofty price of €22,000 next year, was on the mark with Boodles winner Jazzy Matty, and came close to another bullseye with two runners-up – State Man in the Champion Hurdle and Dinoblue in the Grand Annual.

Masked Marvel, Haras de la Tuilerie’s St Leger-winning son of Montjeu, confirmed himself one of the rising stars of the French national hunt stallion scene at the Cheltenham Festival by supplying Dinoblue’s Grand Annual conqueror Maskada and Stayers’ Hurdle third Teahupoo from just three representatives at the meeting. Willie Mullins has several exciting young horses by the sire, including Junta Marvel and Predators Gold. He’s one we should hear a lot more from in future.

Ocovango, who crossed the Irish Sea from The Beeches Stud to Dan and Grace Skelton’s Alne Park Stud in 2023, outdid his lowly stud fee of £3,000 at the festival by getting Dan Skelton’s Coral Cup victor Langer Dan and Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle third Champ Kiely from his three runners that week.

Boardsmill Stud’s evergreen affordable option Court Cave gave Bradley Gibbs his St James’s Place Festival Challenge Cup winner Premier Magic. The unraced Sadler’s Wells full brother to Beat Hollow has some festival record for a €4,000 stallion, having also delivered past Neptune Investment Novices’ Hurdle winners City Island and Willoughby Court.

Mahler, another long-serving, solid, lower-market national hunt sire, got his name on the leaderboard at Cheltenham thanks to his popular son The Real Whacker making all and bravely holding on to win the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase. The Group 3-winning son of Galileo, who stands at The Beeches Stud, was getting a deserved first big-race winner at the festival, with American Mike, Ms Parfois and Ok Corral having finished second in previous years.

Two of the most high-profile winners at Prestbury Park in March, Marine Nationale in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle and Galopin Des Champs in the Gold Cup, summed up why it pays to keep an open mind when it comes to stallions in the jumps game.

Marine Nationale, bred by Ballykelly Stud in County Tipperary, is one of 44 six-year-olds by French Navy, a Group 3-winning son of Shamardal who covered mainly flat mares for €4,000 under the Darley Club banner before his sale abroad three years ago, while French-bred Galopin Des Champs is one of just 14 seven-year-olds by Timos, a listed-winning son of Sholokhov who stood in total obscurity.

Blue Bresil might not have topped the Cheltenham Festival sire table, as he supplied one winner and no other placed runners at the meeting, but that one winner was potentially the best hurdler in decades. Constitution Hill sauntered to a nine-length victory over State Man in the Champion Hurdle to remain unbeaten in six starts under Rules. The Nicky Henderson-trained star, who finished second between the flags at Tipperary for Warren Ewing as a youngster, made it seven out of seven in the Aintree Hurdle in April.

Blue Bresil, a Group 2-placed son of Smadoun who was a complete unknown when he started out covering mares at €1,500 a go at Haras de la Croix-Sonnet, has grown to become one of the biggest forces in the British and Irish jumps stallion ranks. He has consistently covered large books chock-full of elite NH mares since being recruited by Glenview Stud from Yorton Farm in 2020 and so should be challenging for champion sire honours in the future.

CRACKSMAN