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Racing’s Crystal Ball: How TDN Europe Predicts 2023 To Play Out

A large part of the fun that comes with following racing and the bloodstock game is predicting the future. Who will win the Derby? Who might top the Orby Sale? What freshman sires are here to stay and which ones will drift into the abyss?

Well, we've looked deep into the TDN Europe crystal ball for 2023 to see if we can come up with the answers to the burning questions for the year ahead. Enjoy!

January

If you think he had a good Christmas, wait until you see how January goes for Willie Mullins. This is the month where Ireland's dominant jumps trainer ramps up a gear, highlighted by Energumene's deadly performance in the Clarence House Chase at Ascot. Can anyone stop Energumene–or Mullins for that matter–at Cheltenham?

Meanwhile, Gordon Elliott appears to have his own festival banker in the shape of Mares' Novice Hurdle hotpot Halka Du Tabert, who makes light work of her rivals in the Solerina Mares' Novice Hurdle at Fairyhouse.

Guess who features among this race's roll of honour? None other than Honeysuckle and Minella Melody. Could the torch be passed to fellow Kenny Alexander-owned Halka Du Tabert?

February

Reassuring figures are recorded at one of the first big Flat sales of the new year, the February Sale, where multiple lots sell for six figures. Maybe 2022 wasn't a dream after all.

Willie Mullins once again dominates at the Dublin Racing Festival where Honeysuckle's bid for a four-timer in the Irish Champion Hurdle is foiled by State Man, who now appears the chief Irish challenger to Constitution Hill in the Champion Hurdle.

Galopin Des Champs dazzles in the Irish Gold Cup, but will he stay the extra two furlongs up the punishing hill at Cheltenham?

March

Did somebody say Flat racing? Aidan O'Brien opens the gates at Ballydoyle to the Irish press and Brendan O'Rourke is back in search of the next two-year-old star to follow this season. “He's by No Nay Never, Brendan. Big Little something, I think he's called,” says Aidan. “A fiver or a tenner,” asks Brendan.

Constitution Hill proves worthy of all of the hype in the Champion Hurdle by beating Honeysuckle, who runs a tremendous race in the first-time cheekpieces.

It's easy-as-you-like for Energumene in the Champion Chase but there's a surprise in the Stayers' Hurdle as Ahoy Senor, re-routed from the Gold Cup, denies Flooring Porter a third straight triumph.

It's a one-two-three for team Mullins in the Gold Cup, but it's Emmet who takes the top honours, not his uncle Willie, as Noble Yeats out-battles Galopin Des Champs with Stattler running an eye-catching race with a view towards the Grand National back in third.

The recently-returned Oisin Murphy shines at the Dubai World Cup meeting. Meanwhile, industry stakeholders begin to get a foothold on what's required for the Dubai Breeze-up Sale as solid trade is recorded.

April

Don't say you weren't told. Stattler does a Hedgehunter by building on a cracking effort in the Gold Cup to secure Grand National glory at the main expense of Lifetime Ambition.

Oh yes. We're back, baby. The breeze-up circus gets going with a bang as the international buyers turn out in force for the Tattersalls Craven Breeze-up Sale. Tally-Ho Stud sells the top lot, a Kodiac colt, to Peter and Ross Doyle for high six figures.

Will he or won't he? The build-up to the Craven S. revolves around whether leading 2000 Guineas contender Chaldean will take in a prep or head straight to the Classic. In the end, Andrew Balding elects to sidestep the Craven, describing himself as delighted with Chaldean's condition at home on the gallops.

May

No prep run? No problem. Balding's decision to go straight to the 2000 Guineas with Chaldean pays off in spades as he romps home at Newmarket. Little Big Bear fails to get involved but Auguste Rodin finishes a fine second for Aidan O'Brien, who goes on to win the 1000 Guineas with Meditate.

In Chaldean's absence, Little Big Bear justifies O'Brien's faith in the colt's ability to see out the mile as he makes light work of the opposition in the Irish 2,000 Guineas while Dermot Weld's Tahiyra shows a blistering turn of foot to win the Irish 1,000 Guineas.

It's that man again. Willie Browne tops the Arqana breeze-up sale with a colt sourced in America the previous autumn.

June

Aidan O'Brien wins the Oaks with a filly who failed to win as a two-year-old while the Guineas runner-up Auguste Rodin takes the step up to 1m4f in his stride by running out one of the most impressive Derby winners for some time.

It's a week for the first-season sires at Royal Ascot as colts by Ten Sovereigns and Soldier's Call win the Coventry and Norfolk S. respectively while an Inns Of Court filly lands the Queen Mary S.

Kyprios runs out one of the most impressive winners of the week to take his second Gold Cup. At the opposite end of the spectrum, Sakheer dazzles in the Commonwealth Cup, once again advertising the prowess of breeze-up handler Willie Browne.

Back at the Curragh, Aidan O'Brien records a record-extending 15th Irish Derby triumph.

July

Auguste Rodin had the option of bidding for the Derby double at the Curragh but he proves himself to be equally as adept back over 10f in bolstering the good record that three-year-olds have in the Coral-Eclipse S. at Sandown.

Remember him? Desert Crown makes his long awaited return to the track in the King George at Ascot but he is no match for Vadeni who appears a much stronger horse this year and sees the trip out well.

The demand for horses with good ratings remains strong at the July Sale at Tattersalls while, on the track, Sakheer follows up his brilliant display at Royal Ascot with a red-hot performance in the July Cup.

August

After running a number of classy races against the boys, Dramatised causes something of a surprise for local owner Steve Parkin and trainer Karl Burke in the Nunthorpe S. at York.

September

He never managed to win the St Leger as a jockey but he does it as a trainer. Step forward Donnacha O'Brien. Proud And Regal, indeed.

Goffs captures the imagination with its latest incentive to attract buyers and vendors alike to the Orby, which continues to go from strength to strength. A number of New Bay and Mehmas colts sell nicely while Saxon Warrior hardens his reputation as a coming force in the stallion ranks with his progeny selling for notable sums.

October

No match for Alpinista 12 months ago, Vadeni wins the Arc from stablemate Al Hakeem with Bay Bridge keeping on best for third.

Book 1 does not disappoint at Tattersalls with 10 lots breaking the million gns mark, including Philip Stauffenberg's Kingman half-brother to Skitter Scatter, who he picked up for €550,000 at Goffs the previous November.

But the top lot is a 3 million gns colt consigned by Watership Down and it sells to Mick Donohoe, bidding on his iPad for Yulong, with MV Magnier and Anthony Stroud pushing him all the way.

The weather Gods do not look kindly on British Champions Day as the meeting is a washout and the testing ground throws up a number of surprise results.

November

It's a first Melbourne Cup victory for Willie Mullins as Champion Hurdle also-ran Vauban builds on his Queen Alexandra S. victory at Royal Ascot to take the race that stops a nation.

Nothing can separate Aidan O'Brien and Charlie Appleby once again at the Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita as both men send out five winners apiece. Special mention to Modern Games, who secures his third Breeders' Cup triumph and second Breeders' Cup Mile success.

December

There must be something in the water. Tally-Ho Stud clinches its third first-season sire championship in four years as Inns Of Court does what Mehmas and Cotai Glory did before him by producing the goods with his first crop of runners. It was an incredibly-strong year for the freshman sires with Soldier's Call, Ten Sovereigns, Too Darn Hot, Advertise and Blue Point achieving plenty.

Some extra dates are added to the farewell tour as Frankie Dettori announces his decision to continue his riding career for another season.

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12 Questions With Bertrand Le Metayer

First job in the Thoroughbred industry?
Cheap labour on my parents' stud farm; breaking in horses with my brother Louis.

Biggest influence on your career?
Serving in the commando paratroopers for building my determination. On the horse front it was inspecting Derby sale horses with George Mernagh in Ireland and yearlings with Rogers Beasley in Kentucky.

Favourite racehorse of all time, and why?
Has to be Frankel, not only for his performances but for the great story that it brings to the sport. For Juddmonte's skills of breeding the best and their belief in Sir Henry Cecil's capacity to bounce back in a world where it's easier to swap trainer than find a decent meal in Newmarket!

Who will be champion first-season sire in 2023?
Ask me again in early September.

Greatest race in the world?
Has to be the Arc being the multi-generation contest over testing trip and often ground. Urban Sea's legacy seems to prove it.

If you could be someone else in the industry for a day who would it be, and why?
Ryan Moore on Estimate when reporting to the late Queen after winning the Ascot Gold Cup, the joy that everybody felt that day was beyond explanation.

Emerging talent in the industry (human)?
David Menuisier.

Name a horse TDN should have made a Rising Star, and didn't?
Vadeni (Churchill).

Under-the-radar stallion?
Starspangledbanner.

Friday night treat?
A magnum of Burgundy with Dominic Mahony's finest Pata Negra.

Guilty pleasure outside racing?
That wouldn't be politically correct to reveal…

Race I wish I'd been there for…
The Derby in general.

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Frankel’s Tour de Force Brings French Champion Honours

Having provided the winners of this year's Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, Prix de Diane, Prix Jacques le Marois, Grand Prix de Paris and Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, Frankel (GB), unsurprisingly, has been named the champion sire of France in 2022. He ceded his position as champion in Britain and Ireland to Dubawi (Ire), whom he finished in front of when it comes to overall European earnings.

Of the winners of the above named Group 1 races–Alpinista (GB), Nashwa (GB), Inspiral (GB) and Onesto (Ire)–all bar Alpinista remain in training in 2023 giving Frankel an impressive battalion of older horses, which should also include 2021 Derby hero Adayar (Ire) and Irish Derby winner Westover (GB). Then of course in the Classic division for next season there's Chaldean (GB), who is in the running to be named European champion 2-year-old when the 2022 international classifications are announced in January.

There are few certainties in life, let alone in horseracing, but what we can say with some certainty is that these titles so early in Frankel's stud career will only be multiplied as the years progress.

Leaving aside this interloper in French territory, the Aga Khan Studs resident Siyouni (Fr), who was champion in his home country in 2021, again finished best of his compatriots and second in the table overall. He is the great hope for now as France seeks up-and-coming stallions to show themselves worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as him, Le Havre (Ire), who died in March and was ninth overall this year, and Wootton Bassett (GB), who was bought by Coolmore in 2020 and relocated to Ireland.

Siyouni was more than €3 million behind Frankel in prize-money and he now owns a truly international reputation. For the past two years he has been available to cover mares to southern hemisphere time and he notched a new Group 1 winner in Australia, the extremely promising 3-year-old filly Amelia's Jewel (Aus), in November. In Europe his star of 2022 was Tahiyra (Ire), who earned her Group 1 laurels in Ireland on just her second start in the Moyglare Stud S. The Aga Khan-bred half-sister to Tarnawa (Ire) must be considered one of the leading female Classic contenders for next season.

It would be no surprise to see Siyouni start to make a proper mark as a broodmare sire, too. His leading light in this regard is Erevann (Fr), a son of Dubawi and Siyouni's first Classic winner Ervedya (Fr), who in 2022 won the G2 Prix Daniel Wildenstein and was third in the G1 Prix Jacques le Marois. He looks a Group 1 winner in waiting.

Lope De Vega (Ire) of course plied his own trade in France during his racing days and was, like his sire Shamardal, a dual Classic winner there. In 2022, he sired his highest number of stakes winners (24), with three of his four Group 1 winners triumphing in France. They were led by Dreamloper (Ire), whose two top-level victories came at Longchamp, in the Prix d'Ispahan and the Prix du Moulin. Sweet Lady (Fr) landed the Prix Vermeille and Place Du Carrousel (Ire) broke the hearts of Nashwa fans in the Prix de l'Opera.

Churchill (Ire), whose first-crop runners were 3-year-olds in 2022, had only 26 representatives in France through the year. However, exactly 50% of them won, and they included both of the Coolmore sire's Group 1 winners to date. Of those, Vadeni (Fr) backed up his victory in the 'stallion-making' Prix du Jockey Club by taking on his elders when travelling to England to win the Eclipse. He is a highly exciting individual to follow next year when considering he wasn't beaten far when third to Luxembourg (Ire) in the Irish Champion S. and was subsequently only half a length behind Alpinista when trying 12 furlongs for the first time in the Arc.

Then from Churchill's second crop came Blue Rose Cen (Ire), who was asked lots of questions during her debut season by her young trainer Christopher Head, and generally answered them with ease, winning four of her six starts, including the G1 Prix Marcel Boussac and G3 Prix d'Aumale.

Churchill was the fourth-leading sire in France in 2022 and managed a top-10 finish overall in Europe when leading his intake in ninth place overall, splitting Kingman (GB) and Siyouni, which is no mean feat for a second-season sire. His haul of seven stakes winners included the Group 2 scorers The Foxes (Ire) and Ladies Church (GB).

Of Churchill's contemporaries, Zarak (Fr) continued his ascent and was 11th overall in the French sire rankings. Most impressive was his tally of seven stakes winner (8.5%), which included the G2 Prix de Sandringham winner Purplepay (Fr), while La Parisienne (Fr) was placed in both the G1 Prix de Diane and G1 Prix Vermeille. That elusive Group 1 winner will surely not be far away.

We heard plenty about Dubawi in Thursday's appraisal of the leading sires in Britain and Ireland, where he was crowned champion for the first time. The Darley sire was fifth in the French table, having sired the Poule d'Essai des Poulains winner Modern Games (Ire), who went on to glory at the Breeders' Cup for the second time, and Dubawi finished just ahead of the second of the French domestic sires, Dabirsim (Fr).

It is hard to consider Dabirsim as much more than a useful sire. From six crops of runners he has sired two Group 3 winners and another five stakes winners, but he does get plenty of winners and was second only to Siyouni in this regard. There was a flurry of excitement when he was represented by the G3 Albany S. winner Different League (Fr) in his first crop, and the offspring of the large book of mares that he covered the following year (2018) were 3-year-olds in 2022. Having stood his first two seasons in Germany at Gestut Karlshof, he moved to France's Haras de Grandcamp and from 2023 will be in his new home of Haras de Montaigu.

One can only admire Kendargent (Fr), the blue-collar lad of the French stallion ranks, who, as a non-stakes winner still has his name printed in upper and lower case in the France Galop table, which in itself, ironically, makes him stand out. And stand out he should because by now it has been well documented that from pretty humble beginnings, he has put his owner Guy Pariente's Haras de Colleville firmly on the map. He finished seventh in the table this year, his lowest ranking since 2017, having been third and fourth in the last three years. Furthermore, he is not only a successful sire but appears to be an up-and-coming broodmare sire.

Goldikova's brother Anodin (Ire), who is now at Haras de la Haie Neuve after starting his career at Haras du Quesnay, was represented by two stakes winners in 2022 and was eighth in the table ahead of the late Le Havre.

Saxon Warrior (Jpn) made a pleasing start to his stud career and ended the year as the leading first-crop sire in France. That was thanks in no small part to his GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf winner Victoria Road (Ire), who, prior to jetting to America, won both the G3 Prix de Conde and Listed Criterium du FEE. But he wasn't his sire's sole group winner in France, as Moon Ray (Fr) won the G3 Prix Miesque, while Gan Teorainn (Ire) was runner-up in the G1 Prix Marcel Boussac.

Adlerflug's Reputation Continues to Fly High

For the third year in a row Adlerflug (Ger) was the champion sire in Germany, though regrettably his premature demise in April 2021 means that the last two of those championships have been awarded posthumously. Only Dubawi could better Adlerflug's percentage of 11% stakes winners to runners in Europe in 2022, his top-flight representatives being headed by G1 Grosser Preis von Baden winner Mendocino (Ger) and G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup winner Alenquer (Fr).

Adlerflug's Arc-winning son of 2021, Torquator Tasso (Ger), added the G2 Grosser Hansa-Preis to his record and was third in this year's Arc after runner-up finishes in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth S. and the Grosser Preis von Baden. He has now joined the stallion barn at Gestut Auenquelle, while Adlerflug's other representatives at stud in Europe include In Swoop (Ire) and his full-brother Ito (Ger), as well as Iquitos (Ger).

Camelot (GB) was represented by the Deutsches Derby and Grosser Dallmayr-Preis winner Sammarco (Ger) and was runner-up in the table ahead of former multiple champion Soldier Hollow (GB), who also features as the broodmare sire of Sammarco.

Sea The Moon (Ger), who, like Adlerflug, was a Deutsches Derby winner during his racing days, has the favourite for that race next year in the form of the G3 Preis der Winterfavoriten winner Fantastic Moon (Ger). The Lanwades resident was fourth in the German rankings, with Areion (Ger), who died earlier this year, in fifth. The latter has been succeeded at stud in Germany by his son Alson (Ger), who stood his first season at Gestut Fahrhof in 2022.

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Dependable Dubawi a Deserved Champion

The recent football World Cup featured a few surprises, with several high-profile teams losing out to supposed lesser lights. That situation is not a mirror of what happened in the General Sires' Table of Great Britain and Ireland in 2022, when the established stars held their position so well that the first five in the 2021 table are the first five in the 2022 table, albeit in a different order. The most notable change in the order is one which many observers will applaud: Dubawi (Ire) has gained his deserved reward for years of consistent excellence by finally claiming the crown after many honourable near misses.

Dubawi's consistency as a stallion has been remarkable. An unbeaten Group 1 winner as a two-year-old in 2004 before taking the G1 Irish 2,000 Guineas and G1 Prix Jacques le Marois the following year, he retired in 2006 to Dalham Hall Stud, where he has spent his entire career bar one season, 2008, when he stood at Kildangan.

One could say that there was guarded optimism about Dubawi's prospects at the outset, witness his first-season fee of £25,000, which at the time was a fair sum, but no more extravagant than that, for a horse with his form. It turned out that there was even less optimism that that figure implies because his fee had dropped to £15,000 by the time that he started to have runners in the spring of 2009. It was easy to see why opinions might have been divided. Dubawi was the star of the one and only crop of the fabulous Dubai Millennium (GB) who had covered for a fee of £100,000 in his only season (2001) but, while Dubai Millennium had been large, magnificent and very imposing horse, the diminutive Dubawi didn't look much like his dad at all.

It didn't take long for Dubawi to demonstrate that a great book doesn't have to have an eye-catching cover. He had a very good year with his first three-year-olds in 2010, most notably thanks to Makfi (GB) winning both the G1 2,000 Guineas and the G1 Prix Jacques le Marois. In the former race Makfi became the first of the three winners (so far) of the first Classic of the British year sired by Dubawi; in the latter he inflicted a rare defeat on the mighty Goldikova (Ire). At the end of the season, Dubawi, despite only having two crops to represent him, stood in a very creditable eighth place in the General Sires' Table. He has never looked back, and from 2013 onwards he has never finished out of the first five. In the ten seasons 2013 to '22 inclusive, his 'form figures' read 3422325231. Under the circumstances, the title of 'Champion Sire' is richly deserved by Dubawi, to be savoured by his connections and his many admirers all the more for how many times he has come close.

It didn't take long for Dubawi to demonstrate that a great book
doesn't have to have an eye-catching cover

As one would expect, Dubawi's fee has been a reflection of his success. In 2011 he covered at £55,000 before his fee rose to £75,000 the following year. By 2014 it was in six figures. It crossed the £200,000 mark in 2016, hit £250,000 in 2017 and, on the back of his first sires' championship, will be £350,000 in 2023. He will be full at that price, although in fairness one should point out that it is likely that only a relatively small number of nominations will be bought because so many are retained for use on the Darley/Godolphin broodmare band.

Until 2021, in all the seasons in which Dubawi was what one might term a 'minor place-getter' in the sires' championship the crown was held by Galileo (Ire). To date, Galileo (who died in July 2021 at the age of 23) has been champion sire 12 times, which means that he is currently one short of the total of titles achieved by his father Sadler's Wells. There is still time for him to equal, or even surpass, that total, but doing so will clearly be far easier said than done.

It was just a coincidence that Galileo's reign as champion sire ended in the year of his death because, obviously, a stallion's representation on the track does not start to drop off as soon as he dies, but a handful of years later. However, in Galileo's case a different obstacle had started to appear in the sense that he had become what one would could call a victim of his own success. So dominant had Galileo been for so long that a significant portion of the best mares in Europe were his daughters (and, in particular, such mares are numerous in the Coolmore band). Consequently he had ceased to be an option for a high percentage of the best mares, hence Coolmore having to look elsewhere and the 'Deep Impact over a Galileo mare' having become so conspicuously successful. In 2020 Galileo became champion broodmare sire of Great Britain and Ireland for the first time (making him the first horse in history to be champion sire and champion broodmare sire in the same season) and he has retained that title in both 2021 and '22.

When Galileo lost his champion sire's crown in 2021, he ceded it to his best son, Frankel (GB). Eight horses had finished runner-up behind Galileo during his 12 championships. Dubawi was the most successful of them with four second-place finishes, while Montjeu (Ire) was the only other stallion to occupy that position more than once. The other six stallions to finish second to Galileo were Danehill Dancer (Ire), Dansili (GB), Teofilo (Ire), Invincible Spirit (Ire), Dark Angel (Ire) and Sea The Stars (Ire). Ironically, Frankel was not one of those runners-up, but even so he had already been consistently successful in the small number of seasons since he had first appeared on the table. Frankel retired to stud in 2013 and entered the upper tiers of the general sires' table merely four years later (2017) when his oldest offspring were aged only three. He finished fourth that year, and from then to his first championship season (2021) he recorded form figures of 43401. When Frankel deposed Galileo in that 2021 season, the latter dropped merely one place to second. Both horses have enjoyed a good year again in 2022, finishing second and fourth in the sires' table respectively.

Frankel retired to stud in 2013 and entered the upper tiers of the general sires' table merely four years later when his oldest offspring were aged only three

This table obviously only includes performances in Great Britain and Ireland. Additionally, both stallions have had considerable further success overseas. Galileo's most notable international success of 2022 came when Oaks heroine Tuesday (Ire) supplemented her Classic triumph by taking the G1 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf. Frankel was the sire of the Irish Classic winners Homeless Songs (Ire) and Westover (GB), not to mention the outstanding juvenile Chaldean (GB), but his tally of overseas victories is even more impressive. Seven of the 13 Group/Grade 1 victories for his offspring in 2022 came outside the British Isles, headed by the victory of Alpinista (GB) in the G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and also including the triumph of Nashwa (GB) in the G1 Prix de Diane. These two wins have helped to ensure that Frankel ends the year as Champion Sire of France by a margin of over €2 million over second-placed Siyouni (Fr), who thus takes the title of leading French-based sire of the year.

Dubawi, of course, also enjoyed significant international success again in 2022. The highlight of his spring came when he was responsible (with three different colts) for the winners of the G1 2,000 Guineas and its equivalent in both Ireland and France. In the autumn, he couldn't quite match his previous record (achieved in 2021) of three Breeders' Cup winners but still had two, courtesy of that Poule d'Essai des Poulains hero Modern Games (Ire) in the GI Breeders' Cup Mile and Rebel's Romance (Ire) in the GI Breeders' Cup Turf. The latter had already scored twice in Group 1 company in Germany earlier in the season.

Aside from Dubawi, Frankel and Galileo, the other two horses to feature in the top five on the sires' table are Sea The Stars (third) and Dark Angel (fifth). These two are also proven to be thoroughly dependable, with the strengths of each clearly defined. Sea The Stars has put himself firmly in line to take up the mantle of his half-brother Galileo as the most reliable source of high-class stamina in Europe; while Dark Angel has proved himself a master at siring tough, fast horses who can come to hand quickly and also continue to progress over a number of seasons. Each is firmly established in the elite tier of European sires: not only did each finish second to Galileo in one of his championship seasons (in 2019 and 2017 respectively) but they (like Dubawi, Frankel and Galileo) are both part of the same quintet which has now dominated the table for two years running.

There must be a strong chance that Dubawi and Frankel will again 'fill the quinella' in the 2023 sires' table, not least because many onlookers regard Frankel's son Chaldean as Europe's most impressive two-year-old of 2022. Furthermore, one can expand that observation to say that if the past is a good guide to the future, all five of the principals from the standings of both 2021 and '22 are likely to enjoy yet another good season in the year ahead. All have reached the stage of seeming to be part of the furniture of the top tier of the leader-board, which makes the sixth-place finish of Dubawi's young Ballylinch-based son New Bay (GB) all the more creditable.

Winner of the 2015 G1 Prix du Jockey-Club, New Bay retired to stud in 2017 so he has reached this eminent position with his eldest offspring still aged only four. In an era in which the established stallions dominate the standings, it is encouraging to see so young a sire so prominent, particularly as his winners-to-runners ratio (49%) is second only to the figure recorded by his father Dubawi (51%). New Bay's excellent season, highlighted by the Group 1 double on QIPCO Champions Day at Ascot of his first-crop son Bay Bridge (GB) and his second-crop son Bayside Boy (Ire), marks him firmly down as potentially a leading sire of the seasons ahead.

The same comment could also apply to the only other 'third-season sire' in the top 20: Mehmas (Ire). His finishing position (19^th) is particularly creditable because, notwithstanding that he won two Group 2 races and was placed in two Group 1s in 2016, he didn't have the chance to put together a full racecourse CV because of his retirement after only one season in training. That meant that that Mehmas wasn't necessarily everyone's tip for the top at the outset, as is shown by the fact that he was covering for as little as €7,500 as recently as 2020. (The extent of the blossoming of his reputation is shown by the fact that he will cover for €60,000 in 2023).

The most successful 'second-crop sire' in Great Britain and Ireland in 2022 has been Churchill (Ire), who finishes the year in 23^rd position and whose potential was splendidly advertised during the season by the Cartier Champion Three-Year-Old Colt of Europe, Vadeni (Fr). The latter's victory in the G1 Eclipse S. at Sandown helped Churchill to be the best of this bunch of young stallions, while the Aga Khan homebred's G1 Prix du Jockey-Club triumph enabled Churchill to finish as high as fourth in the sires' table in France. Leading first-crop sire (by a wide margin) was Havana Grey (GB) who was represented by 36 individual winners of 56 races within Great Britain and Ireland. Collectively, his two-year-olds earned in excess of £1,000,000, a magnificent achievement which sees him finishing in a very creditable 39^th place in the General Sires' Table.

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