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Brown On The Search For Next Perfect Power At Goffs UK

Top bloodstock agent Richard Brown has done his bit to alleviate any stresses vendors may have been feeling on the eve of the Doncaster Breeze Up Sale by explaining that he will be using a raft of metrics other than just times in an effort to find the next Perfect Power (Ire) (Ardad {Ire}) at this year's sale.

Monday's breeze took place on testing ground, with some two-year-olds handling it better than most, which will all be taken into account by the buying bench, according to Blandford Bloodstock's ace scout.

As if to remind the strike-rate Blandford Bloodstock has enjoyed at this sale in recent years, posters of previous purchases Bradsell (GB) (Tasleet {GB}), last year's Coventry S. hero, and the multiple Group 1-winning sprinter Perfect Power, hang proud either side of the rostrum.

Describing what that sight meant to the team of international bloodstock agents upon arriving at the sale ground, Brown said, “It was epic. We left Newmarket at five o'clock on Sunday morning for the practice breeze and, when we walked into the ring, it was very cool to see Bradsell and Perfect Power either side of the rostrum. They are two really good horses who have come out of this ring. This place has been very lucky for us in the past. I watched Perfect Power's breeze over the weekend just to refresh the memory for what we are looking for so fingers crossed we can find another one.”

Perfect Power | Scoop Dyga

He added on the conditions, “It's very soft ground. I actually thought that times came into it less than ever at the Craven Sale. The fastest horses in the breeze are very often not the best horses to come out of the sale. There are so many different things that go into the melting pot.

“The great thing about the breeze-up sales is that lots of people use different methods to buy horses out of these sales. There are so many purchasers using different methods that it provides a great spread to the buying bench and that bore out last week. There were plenty of horses who did very little in terms of time at the Craven and they still made plenty of money.”

In searching for the next star, Brown explained that the Blandford team marries up many strands of information and evidence before playing on certain horses.

He said, “If you went to the breeze-up sales and just went by the timesheet and bought the fastest horses, you really would spend a lot of money and do very badly.

“Time is a factor but there are a lot of other factors to it as well–the style of the breeze, the horse's action and its attitude. The horse's attitude is something we place a huge amount of emphasis on as the whole process is a massive test.”

He added, “On top of all that, you've still got to like the horse physically. There are plenty of horses who breeze well and, if I don't like the look of them, I won't buy them. I'm not just going to buy an ugly horse who does a fast time.

“But it usually adds up. When a horse breezes well, moves well and shows some speed at some point in the breeze, you usually look at the horse and say, 'yea, I get it.'”

Brown, who was crowned Bloodstock Agent Of The Year for the second year running in 2022, bought four horses at last week's Craven Sale at Tattersalls from 65,000gns to 350,000gns and a total spend of just under 1 million gns.

He labelled himself as pleasantly surprised by the buoyancy of the first domestic breeze-up sale of the year, especially in terms of the clearance rate, and predicted the top end to remain strong this week at Goffs UK.

Brown said, “I have some clients who want colts, some people looking for fillies only, others looking to get going–in terms of that they are looking for sharp two-year-olds–and I also have orders for back-end horses as well. I wouldn't say the brief changes from sale to sale, because different types can come from any sale, and actually, Light Infantry (Fr) (Fast Company {Ire}), who came from this sale and got as close to Inspiral (GB) (Frankel {GB}) as anything in the Jacques le Marois, can do something big up here this year before going back to Australia. He wasn't in any way a whizz bang horse and, in actual fact, is getting better with every run.

“Obviously Donny has set its stall out to be a good source of two-year-olds and we expect to see those but that doesn't mean that if a nice big and backward horse comes up there, that we don't have orders for those types as well.”

He added, “The top is very strong and I imagine that will continue to be the same. I actually thought that the clearance rates were better than I was expecting them to be at the Craven and that the market was pretty buoyant. I bought four horses but got beaten on more than that in the middle market and at the top end as well.”

One consignor facing into the Goffs UK Breeze Up Sale off the back of a productive Craven Sale is Cormac Farrell. Consigning under the banner of C.F. Bloodstock for the first year, Farrell sold three horses for just over 500,000gns at Tattersalls and is hoping to keep the momentum going this week.

“The Craven was amazing,” Farrell started. “They were all very professional and it was a great sale. I have to say, the results were down to a team effort and everyone plays a role. Rory Cleary is a huge help to us, in fairness. He's a top-class judge and a great horseman. Rory broke most of our horses and rode them all work so it wouldn't have been possible without him.”

Farrell's Footstepsinthesand (GB) colt [lot 80] clocked particularly well given the conditions and makes up a three-pronged draft for the Curragh handler who has also achieved some notable success selling point-to-point horses.

He said, “The Footstepsinthesand colt cost 20,000gns here at the Premier Yearling Sale and, from day one, he has been very straightforward. We were expecting him to breeze well so we are delighted. Visually, it looked very good and I have since heard that it is up there with some of the fastest times. Regardless of the time, though, I have no doubt that he is going to go on and be a good horse. Hopefully we have a good sale and get them all sold and to good homes. That's important because you need to get a name for selling nice horses.”

The sale kicks off at 10am on Tuesday where 191 horses will go under the hammer at a sale that has produced seven Royal Ascot winners in as many years.

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‘He’s Everything Clive Cox Said He’d Be’: Caturra Takes To The Ropes

The winds of change have blown through Overbury Stud in the last year. Gone is the stalwart of the British National Hunt ranks, Kaya Tara (GB), who died in retirement in December at the age of 28. Last summer the Gloucestershire farm had welcomed the horse that many will hope could be his replacement, Golden Horn (GB), bought from Anthony Oppenheimer by Jayne McGivern as his burgeoning National Hunt statistics caught many an eye. Then, at the other end of the spectrum, in came Caturra (Ire) last autumn, the first son of Mehmas (Ire) to stand in Britain and, judging by early demand, a welcome addition to the more commercial end of the stallion ranks in the UK.

“The response has been tremendous,” says Overbury Stud's Simon Sweeting, who may well be giving serious consideration to installing a revolving door on the covering barn. “He has got some super mares. His owner, Saeed bin Mohammed Al Qassimi, has really got behind him and he's bought some lovely mares, especially for him. And obviously he is determined that he succeeds, like we all are. But we've got some tremendous support from people that I would consider to be really good breeders. Nick Bradley is sending at least six mares, Fiona Denniff is supporting him, Whatton Manor Stud, Richard Kent, Paul Shanahan has a share in him. Byerley Stud and Houghton Bloodstock are also sending a lot. Good, sensible breeders who produce winners have got behind him, so hopefully that's going to give him a chance.”

The saying goes that if something ain't broke, don't fix it, and for the team at Overbury, it was well worth taking a chance on Caturra so soon after the early success of Ardad (Ire), who was Britain's leading first-season sire in 2021, and whose stand-out son, the treble Group 1 winner Perfect Power (Ire), has recently joined Darley's team of stallions at Dalham Hall Stud.

It is easy to join the dots: Ardad, Caturra, and Perfect Power were all bred by Tally-Ho Stud, where Ardad's sire Kodiac (GB) has stood with distinction for years, and which is also home to Mehmas. Furthermore, both Ardad and Caturra won the G2 Flying Childers S. Ironically, this was also the race that was seemingly at the mercy of Cotai Glory (GB) when he jinked and unseated George Baker. Seven years later, Cotai Glory, who also stands at Tally-Ho Stud, edged out Ardad to be the leading freshman sire of Europe.

“It's extraordinary how Tally-Ho keep producing horses like this, but they do. And we're very lucky to be the beneficiaries further down the line,” admits Sweeting.

This week scientists at University College Dublin and PlusVital have published research which has identified genes associated with stress in the racehorse, and it serves as a timely reminder as to the importance of that magical ingredient in a horse's make-up which is every bit as important as ability: temperament. This is a trait which has often been spoken about in regard to Mehmas himself, who was famously so laidback as an early juvenile in his days with breeze-up pinhooker Roger Marley that he barely paid the son of Acclamation (GB) any attention–until he started galloping.

Caturra hails from the second crop of Mehmas and, according to his former trainer Clive Cox, and now to Sweeting, he appears to have adopted a similar no-nonsense approach to life.

“He's absolutely brilliant. He really is just a very straightforward horse,” Sweeting says. “He enjoys the routine. He's very relaxed about the way that we do things with him, seeing a lot of the other horses like mares and foals in the same yard as him, and the other stallions. He's quite happy and relaxed out in the paddock, and he's taken to the covering tremendously. He's everything, in fact, that Clive Cox said he would be. He does what you want, as he did when he was in training.”

He continues, “He's getting more than his fair share of mares in foal. It's obviously the slower part of the season, so he is not under pressure. But he's getting them in foal with great regularity. So we are really pleased with the early results. He's very virile, and he's got a great libido.”

Sweeting adds, “Temperament is obviously such an important thing because, I keep saying it to people: if the trainers like them, then you've got half a chance. But if the trainers don't like them, if they haven't got a good attitude, they can very quickly turn against them and then you are sunk before you even start.”

Caturra is out of the Sleeping Indian (GB) mare Shoshoni Wind (GB), a decent handicapper over five and six furlongs, with three wins to her name and a runner-up finish in the Listed Empress S. at Newmarket. Though he has predominantly speed influences close up in his pedigree, the four-year-old's third dam, Pat Or Else (GB) (Alzao), is a half-sister to the St Leger and Gold Cup winner Classic Cliche (Ire) (Salse) and to Yorkshire Oaks and Prix Vermeille victrix My Emma (GB) (Marju {Ire}). With around 115 mares currently booked to him, Caturra clearly will be given a good chance to try to emulate the start made by his own sire in Ireland, and by his fellow Overbury resident, Ardad, whose popularity continues with 145 mares booked in to date.

“We did wonder when we started him how Caturra would impact on Ardad or vice versa,” Sweeting says. “But actually they're in two different brackets. One is proven and one is not. And they are two very different things for breeders to pick out and reasons for them to use either one.

“Caturra at the moment is a good level below [Ardad] in price, although a very similar type of horse at the start. But Ardad, he just feels very established now, and particularly having another stakes winner at the weekend, he just feels like he's done it and people can rely on him. You know you're going to get a good-looking horse, you know you've got the potential of a racehorse, and you know that people are going to like them at the sales. Whereas Caturra, you're paying a lot less money, but of course he has to prove himself, so they are in two different places in the market.”

While the two young sprint stallions are clearly going to be kept busy this covering season, busier still will be the Derby and Arc winner Golden Horn. He is listed as having covered 152 mares in his final year at Darley, and his book will be just as full this time around, with the Cheltenham Festival winner Concertista (Fr) (Nathaniel {Ire}) among a line-up of smart jumping mares to be paying him a visit.

“He is going to be busier than all of the others,” Sweeting notes. “We're lucky. We've got a great covering team. We've got a good system and it works pretty well. It is a busy time of year but I am certainly not going to complain about that. When you've got three or four horseboxes there, three times a day, it's a good sign.”

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Value Sires Part IV: Moving On Up

It is perhaps at this level of the market that bookings have not yet been finalised for this year's matings. While a number of those named here have since moved up in fee bracket on the back of success with runners and subsequent market response, there is still plenty of value to be found in the hope that stallions coming through could be similarly upwardly mobile.

The aim of this exercise has been to show the average profit for stallions at each of four different levels of the market according to their yearling prices of last year. Those youngsters were of course conceived in 2020, and the table takes into account the stallions' fees at that time plus a general keep fee for the mare and foal/yearling as well as sundry costs and sales expenses of £20,000. Only stallions showing an average profit with five or more yearlings sold last year have featured in these tables and assessments have already been published for stallions standing at £50,000 and above, between £20,000 and £49,999, and earlier this week for those at £10,000 to £19,999.

Next week we will also consider the value among those sires who have not yet had yearlings at the sales, but for now we will deal with the end of the market that will particularly resonate with a wide range of smaller breeders, involving stallions who were standing at less than £10,000 in 2020.

We can sadly discount the name at the top of the list as Adlerflug (Ger) is no longer with us. The German champion died in April 2021, halfway through covering the mares who will have provided his small final crop. This penultimate crop was not large either, which tends to be the norm for Germany, but his yearling results reflect what was then Adlerflug's growing international status on the track. He was standing at his highest level when he died, but even then a €16,000 fee looked incredibly reasonable. With this class act no longer available we can look instead to his sons at stud, which include the brilliant Arc winner Torquator Tasso (Ger), who is about to embark on his first season at Gestut Auenquelle, and the German Derby winner In Swoop (Ire), who covered a large book at the Beeches Stud in Co Waterford and whose first foals are expected imminently. In Swoop's full-brother and fellow Group 1 winner Ito (Ger) was recently transferred from Germany to stand at Yorton Stud in Wales.

Still very much in active service and now flying high beyond this tier is Mehmas (Ire), a horse we've heard plenty about over the last few years and it is easy to imagine that will continue. The son of Acclamation (GB) actually stood at his lowest fee in 2020 of €7,500 in his fourth season but then his first runners woke everyone up to his prowess and he hasn't looked back, climbing to €25,000 then €50,000 and now €60,000. There will be no trouble encouraging mare owners to use him even at this level, and as our table shows, his first runners helped Mehmas's second crop of yearlings to sell for an average price which was 11.6 times his fee back then.

He will soon face competition from his own sons as three of them — Minzaal (Ire), Persian Force (Ire) and Caturra (Ire) — have already been retired to studs in Ireland and Britain and he can be regarded as one of the most exciting young stallions in Europe.

Ardad (Ire) was a year behind Mehmas in retiring to stud and the yearlings shown here represent his smallest crop of only 19. Once his first runners hit the track in 2021 and started winning early, the mares visiting him at Overbury Stud suddenly increased in number and he has 98 yearlings registered this year. In 2020, Ardad's fee had remained at his opening mark of £6,500 (it dropped to £4,000 in 2021 and is now £12,500) and, like Mehmas, they sold for an average price which was more than 11 times his fee. He too has been joined in the stallion ranks by one of his sons, the treble Group 1 winner Perfect Power (Ire).

Ardad still looks good value at his adjusted fee, and the same can be said for Havana Grey (GB), who was also standing at £6,500 in 2020 but has risen to £18,500 on the back his first-season sires' championship laurels. The winners came thick and fast for the Whitsbury Manor Stud resident last year and it will be intriguing to see how they fare as three-year-olds. He trained on himself, from starting his campaign as an April juvenile and running eight times each at two and three before landing his Group 1 on Irish Champions Weekend in his second season. With a whopping 81 of last year's yearlings making on average nine times the fee for which they were conceived and showing average profit of £31,871, it was clearly a good move to be in the Havana Grey camp in his second year at stud.

As we can see, and for obvious reasons, not many of the stallions near the top of this table are still covering at fees within this tier, and that is the case for Kodi Bear (Ire), whose lowest fee of €6,000 came in 2019 and 2020 and is now €15,000, while Cotai Glory (GB), who brought more first-season sire glory to Tally-Ho Stud the year after Mehmas, is now €12,500, having previously been €5,000. The Platinum Queen (Ire) was the star for the latter last year and she subsequently fetched 1.2 million gns when sold to Katsumi Yoshida. That obviously doesn't figure in Cotai Glory's yearlings figures which were good nonetheless, at an average nine times his fee and average profit of £17,478 for 47 yearlings sold. That figure was just slightly below Rathbarry Stud's Kodi Bear, whose average profit was £18,247 for 32 sold.

Two sons of Invincible Spirit, Invincible Army (Ire) and Inns Of Court (Ire) have potentially exciting seasons ahead of them with their first runners. The vibes appeared to be very positive about Yeomanstown Stud's Invincible Army, who was dropped from a starting fee of €10,000 to €7,500, where he remains. Given that these yearlings were conceived off that higher opening mark, his average profit of £14,896 is decent from 72 yearlings sold and he is at a level which makes him very attractive if his first crop of runners deliver in the way which appears to be anticipated.

Similar comments apply to Tally-Ho's Inns Of Court, who had a massive group of yearlings at the sales last year with 122 sold for average profit of £3,052. His fee has been kept at a lower level, dropping from an initial €7,500 to €5,000.

With these two stallions, as with Highclere Stud's Land Force (Ire), who also has his first runners this year, there is of course the chance for things to go very much in the breeeders' favour if they make a promising start and sustain it through to when their later crops are being offered at the sales. The risk involved is often reflected in dips in fees in the third and fourth seasons, though in Land Force's case he started an acceptable level of £6,500 for one year and had been £5,000 since then. Again, there were some favourable comments from yearling buyers, to the extent that 75 of his first-crop yearlings sold for an average price of £32,779, or five times his fee, at average profit of £6,279.

We'll see what the coming months bring for these young stallions as the eagerly anticipated early juvenile races get underway. One whose early results were encouraging on the track last year was Tasleet (GB), one of two sons of Showcasing (GB) to be standing at Shadwell's Nunnery Stud. Considering the increasing focus on success at Royal Ascot, a first-crop G2 Coventry S. winner is just what the doctor ordered for any budding sire, and that is exactly what Tasleet had in Bradsell (GB), one of 16 winners for the sire last season. The Archie Watson-trained colt went amiss when contesting the G1 Keeenland Phoenix S. but is reported to be on the comeback trail. Bradsell clearly has plenty of talent, so let's hope he is able to show that again this year.

Tasleet started out at £6,000 and has returned to that fee after two years at £5,000, but he remains competitively priced to give breeders a return on their investment. His average profit last year was £6,304 for 23 yearlings sold.

Cheveley Park Stud's Twilight Son (GB) is another who has remained at an accessible price for breeders. He's still at his 2020 fee of £7,000, and his yearlings from that crop made on average five times that fee, with an average profit of £8,942. Both his sire and grandsire, Kyllachy (GB) and Pivotal (GB), were hugely dependable and successful members of the Cheveley Park Stud roster and there is no reason that this dual Group 1-winning sprinter can't develop into a similarly reliable sire capable of getting some fast and commercial offspring if granted enough support.

VALUE PODIUM

Gold: Tasleet

It is an important year for him but his support is growing and he has been kept at an affordable level to give both him and those who use him a chance.

Silver: Cotai Glory

Yes, his fee has now crept up into the next bracket but not by much and his star package The Platinum Queen was no fluke. There is some depth to his stakes horses from just two crops to race so far, and he can continue the solid work of his sire Exceed And Excel (Aus) as a dependable source of good sprinters.

Bronze: Ardad

He too is now in a higher fee bracket, but his fee remains sensible. This year's crop of juveniles is small, but he covered bigger and better books in the last two years, making it a reasonable proposition to use him now in anticipation of plenty more to come from his offspring on the track.

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Mr Prospector Line Boosted Among Europe’s Busiest Stallions

Covering numbers are more an indication of fashion than of success but, this being, as we so often hear, “a numbers game”, it is worth having a closer look at the Flat stallions in Britain and Ireland who have been gifted books into three figures this year. We will also be looking in more depth at the French covering numbers in the coming days.

According to the statistics recently published by Weatherbys in the annual Return of Mares, there were 62 stallions who covered 100 or more mares in 2022, and that is not taking into account sires such as Crystal Ocean (GB), who covered 338 mares and can legitimately be considered a Flat sire (as can so many in his bracket) but is advertised on the Coolmore National Hunt roster.

As the accompanying table (below) shows, no Flat sires breached the 300-mark, but the four busiest, all standing in Ireland, reached around 250. In Britain, last year's leading first-season sire in that country, Ardad (Ire), was the only horse to pass 200. He covered 205 mares at Overbury Stud, having been sent only 26 mares in 2020. His first set of juveniles were swift enough out of the blocks for him to have a surge of late bookings in 2021, when his book numbered 146.

But how do these numbers break down into sire-lines within sire-lines? It is of course hard to get away from Northern Dancer, whose sons have been so dominant that they now possess their own strong branches within that division. Among these sires tabled, and there are of course other representatives with smaller books, only 10 of the 62 do not have Northern Dancer as a male-line ancestor.

The Mr Prospector line, always far more celebrated in America, has been given a massive boost in this part of the world largely thanks to his great grandson Dubawi (Ire), who will be champion sire in Britain and Ireland for the first time in 2022 and features on this list along with six of his sons – Time Test (GB), Night Of Thunder (Ire), New Bay (GB), Ghaiyyath (Ire), Too Darn Hot (GB), and Space Blues (Ire). It was Mr Prospector's son Seeking The Gold who was responsible for Dubawi's sire Dubai Millennium (GB), while another two sons of Mr P, Machiavellian and Gone West, lead us, eventually, to two names near the very top of this list, newcomer Starman (GB) – a crack sprinter who interestingly has Montjeu (Ire) as his damsire – and Wootton Bassett (GB), who stand at Tally-Ho Stud and Coolmore, respectively.

The only outlier among the group of 62 is Saxon Warrior (Jpn), who, along with Study Of Man (Ire), was one of only two sons of Deep Impact (Jpn) standing in Britain and Ireland. That number has now increased by one with the news that Tosen Stardom (Jpn) is to shuttle from Australia to stand at Ireland's Lemongrove Stud. Saxon Warrior was himself recently represented by a first-crop Grade I winner at the Breeders' Cup in Victoria Road (Ire), and Deep Impact's son Auguste Rodin (Ire) had his trainer Aidan O'Brien and the media ablaze following his victory in the G1 Vertem Futurity. The Sunday Silence line, so dominant in Japan, may yet take root in Europe.

To cover Northern Dancer's influence, in this group at least, we must break it down into five of his sons: Danzig, Sadler's Wells, Try My Best, Storm Bird, and Nureyev.

Of those, the name packing the biggest punch is Danzig, chiefly through his dominant sons Green Desert and Danehill. Sixteen of these busy sires listed here stem from Green Desert and 11 from Danehill.

Notably, from each of those two spring the veteran half-brothers Invincible Spirit (Ire), who has six sons and a grandson on this list, and Kodiac (GB), who has four sons. Arguably, their extraordinary Classic-winning dam Rafha (GB) must take much of the credit for this pair, along with a dynasty which includes new Sumbe recruit Mishriff (GB), but their longevity is also remarkable, with Invincible Spirit listed as having covered 106 mares at the age of 25 this year, while the 21-year-old Kodiac covered 63.

Think Danzig and your mind generally wanders towards speed, but he is also responsible for the Derby winners Sea The Stars (Ire) and Golden Horn (GB), the two best sons of his late grandson Cape Cross (Ire), who is of course also the sire of the recently deceased brilliant dual Oaks winner Ouija Board (GB). That fact in turn makes Cape Cross the damsire of another Derby winner, Australia (GB). All three of those had covering numbers in excess of 150, though Golden Horn had a strong National Hunt contingent in his 2022 book and he has since moved from Dalham Hall Stud to Overbury Stud, where that trend will continue.

Almost half of the stallions on this list – 28 in total – stem from Danzig, and that is surely owing to the speed and precocity more generally associated with this line, which is so much in demand from breeders these days. These include newcomers Palace Pier (GB), A'Ali (Ire), Soldier's Call (GB), Mohaather (GB), Alkumait (GB) and Nando Parrado (GB).

Conversely, the Sadler's Wells/Galileo (Ire) axis is more usually associated with middle-distance performers, though we do have a notable exception in this area at the moment in Europe's leading first-season sire, the G1 Flying Five S. winner Havana Grey (GB), who is the sire of 42 winners and five stakes winners this year and is a great grandson of Galileo. In total, seven of the 10 representatives of the Sadler's Wells line tabled here descend via Galileo, with the other three including Kitten's Joy's son Kameko.

The expanding influence of the Storm Bird/Storm Cat line in this part of the world, chiefly through the latter's sons Giant's Causeway and Hennessy, is highlighted by the fact that nine make this list, with Lope De Vega (Ire), Lucky Vega (Ire), Lope Y Fernandez (Ire), Pinatubo (Ire) and Blue Point (Ire) all representing Giant's Causeway through Shamardal. (Earthlight {Ire} is just bubbling under with a book of 92). No Nay Never, by Hennessy's son Scat Daddy, is becoming increasingly widely represented, but Scat Daddy's Sioux Nation was narrowly the busiest of all this year. No Nay Never will have six sons at stud in Europe in 2023, including Ten Sovereigns. Sergei Prokofiev, the only Scat Daddy stallion in Britain, has been well supported and stands alongside Havana Grey at Whitsbury Manor Stud.

Nureyev's line is hanging in there through Pivotal (GB), whose son Farhh (GB) has compromised fertility, which is a shame as he looks as though he could have made far greater inroads in the stallion tables if he had been able to cover the numbers required to compete these days. His son Far Above (GB) covered a three-figure book in his first year, while of course Pivotal's greatest sire son, Siyouni (Fr), is arguably the most popular stallion in France. Because of his location, his full book is not listed in the Return of Mares for Britain and Ireland, but he is reported by the Aga Khan Studs to have covered 132 mares this year, while his two Coolmore-based sons Sottsass (Fr) and St Mark's Basilica (Fr) covered 126 and 176, respectively.

Finally, Try My Best's branch, via the perhaps unlikely source of the former Coolmore then Shadai resident Waajib (Ire) and his son Royal Applause (GB), has started to flourish through Acclamation (GB). Though the latter, now 23, was just shy of 100 mares himself this year, his sons Mehmas (Ire) and Dark Angel (Ire) covered 249 and 193 mares, while Mehmas's son Supremacy (Ire) was also high on the list with 187.

As the record-breaking first-season sire of 2020, and having backed that up last year by leading the second-crop sires' list, Mehmas's popularity continues to be in the ascendant and not just via his male offspring. In the last few weeks, his daughter Malavath (Ire) topped the Arqana Breeding Stock Sale at €3.2 million, while another, the Grade I winner Going Global (Ire), sold for $2.5 million at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale in Kentucky.

With Supremacy one year ahead of them, three more young sons of Mehmas join the ranks for 2023: G1 Haydock Sprint Cup winner Minzaal (Ire) is on Shadwell's Derrinstown roster, with Persian Force (Ire) retiring to stand alongside his sire at Tally-Ho Stud, and Caturra (Ire) becoming the first to stand in England, at Overbury Stud.

As we have seen in the recent past with such notable examples as Kendargent (Fr) and Wootton Bassett, starting out with small books of mares does not preclude success, and in fact it can be a breeder's worst nightmare to have one of many of a stallion's offspring if the fickle market suddenly turns its back. But as a guide to who's hot and who's not in the eyes of the commercial sector, the figures in the Return of Mares are always fascinating to peruse. And for those breeders simply with an eye on the racecourse with no sale-ring concerns in between, there are still plenty of options when it comes to well-bred and well-performed stallions which require simply the courage of your own convictions. Blood will out.

British and Irish Flat stallions with three-figure books in 2022

Name No. Mares (Sire)

Sioux Nation 255 (Scat Daddy)

Starman (GB) 254 (Dutch Art (GB))

Mehmas (Ire) 249 (Acclamation (GB))

Wootton Bassett (GB) 249 (Iffraaj (GB))

Ardad (Ire) 205 (Kodiac (GB))

Starspangledbanner (Aus) 202 (Choisir (Aus))

Saxon Warrior (Jpn) 199 (Deep Impact (Jpn))

Kodi Bear (Ire) 194 (Kodiac (GB))

Dark Angel (Ire) 193 (Acclamation (GB))

New Bay (GB) 193 (Dubawi (Ire))

Frankel (GB) 188 (Galileo (Ire))

Supremacy (Ire) 187 (Mehmas (Ire))

Time Test (GB) 181 (Dubawi (Ire))

Night Of Thunder (Ire) (180 Dubawi (Ire))

No Nay Never 178 (Scat Daddy)

St Mark's Basilica (Fr) 176 (Siyouni (Fr))

Cotai Glory (GB) 176 (Exceed And Excel (Aus))

Ten Sovereigns (Ire) 173 (No Nay Never)

Australia (GB 173 (Galileo (Ire))

Lope De Vega (Ire) 168 (Shamardal)

Havana Grey (GB) 166 (Havana Gold (Ire))

Dubawi (Ire) 165 (Dubai Millennium (GB))

Too Darn Hot (GB) 164 (Dubawi (Ire))

Galileo Gold (GB) 163 (Paco Boy (Ire))

Sea The Stars (Ire) 161 (Cape Cross (Ire))

Ghaiyyath (Ire) 161 (Dubawi (Ire))

Space Blues (Ire) 160 (Dubawi (Ire))

Camelot (GB) 159 (Montjeu (Ire))

Pinatubo (Ire) 159 (Shamardal)

Coulsty (Ire) 158 (Kodiac (GB))

Gleneagles (Ire) 155 (Galileo (Ire))

Palace Pier (GB) 154 (Kingman (GB))

Elzaam (Aus) 153 (Redoute's Choice (Aus))

Golden Horn (GB) 152 (Cape Cross (Ire))

Lucky Vega (Ire) 152 (Lope De Vega (Ire))

Sea The Moon (Ger) 152 (Sea The Stars (Ire))

Kingman (GB) 150 (Invincible Spirit (Ire))

Showcasing (GB) 150 (Oasis Dream (GB))

Sergei Prokofiev 150 (Scat Daddy)

U S Navy Flag 144 (War Front)

Ulysses (Ire) 143 (Galileo (Ire))

Blue Point (Ire) 142 (Shamardal)

Inns Of Court (Ire) 141 (Invincible Spirit (Ire))

Invincible Army (Ire) 138 (Invincible Spirit (Ire))

Dandy Man (Ire) 137 (Mozart (Ire))

Lope Y Fernandez (Ire) 134 (Lope De Vega (Ire))

Nathaniel (Ire) 133 (Galileo (Ire))

Nando Parrado (GB) 130 (Kodiac (GB))

Sottsass (Fr) 126 (Siyouni (Fr))

Oasis Dream (GB) 125 (Green Desert)

Magna Grecia (Ire) 120 (Invincible Spirit (Ire))

Profitable (Ire) 118 (Invincible Spirit (Ire))

Far Above (GB) 117 (Farhh (GB))

Bated Breath (GB) 115 (Dansili (GB))

Bungle Inthejungle (GB) 115 (Exceed And Excel (Aus))

Waldgeist (GB) 115 (Galileo (Ire))

A'Ali (Ire) 114 (Society Rock (Ire))

Soldier's Call (GB) 112 (Showcasing (GB))

Churchill (Ire) 108 (Galileo (Ire))

Mohaather (GB) 108 (Showcasing (GB))

Invincible Spirit (Ire) 106 (Green Desert)

Alkumait 105 (Showcasing (GB))

Kameko 102 (Kitten's Joy)

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