Across the Bluegrass and beyond, phone calls are being made and mares are being sent to first-year stallions in the hopes that in a few years' time, that stallion will top the freshman sire list and cement himself as a viable commercial force for years to come.
It's the goal of practically every person working in stallion season sales to book as many mares as possible. The more foals that are on the ground, the more chances a stallion has to produce a star, and with the recent repeal of The Jockey Club's stud book cap, that number can go as high as a stallion's physical capabilities will allow.
However, a packed book of mares isn't just a nice goal to have for a first-year stallion looking to make an impact on future year-end lists; recent results prove it's a necessity.
Since 2014, no stallion has finished in the top five on the freshman sire list by earnings without covering at least 100 mares during their first season at stud. Even among the stallions that cracked the top five standing outside Kentucky finished above the three-digit Mendoza line. Though there might have been some unexpected orders of finish, there were no stallions so far under the radar that breeders didn't see them coming years before their first 2-year-olds hit the track.
According to The Jockey Club's breeding statistics, the average debut book for a stallion that finished in the top five by freshman-sired earnings from 2014 to 2021 was 156.65 mares, which resulted in an average of 114.77 live foals.
There were no scrappy underdogs that covered limited books of mares and got one or two superstars to carry the load to a high placing. Those superstars were necessary for many of the top finishers to place where they did, but not without a strong base of runners backing them up.
Ashford Stud proved especially skilled at hitting the target between big books and success on the racetrack, accounting for the five largest books on the list, and two leading freshman sires in 2015 champion Uncle Mo (211 mares bred) and 2019 leader American Pharoah (208 mares bred). The group also included Cupid (223 mares bred), Practical Joke (220 mares bred), and Classic Empire (185 mares bred), all freshman sires of 2021.
Among the stallions that finished at the top of their respective freshman sire lists, Uncle Mo led the way, with 211 mares bred, ahead of what would become a record-setting freshman season. His runners were led by champion Nyquist, who retired to Darley America and became the leading freshman sire of 2020 after covering 153 mares in his debut book.
The leading freshman with the fewest mares bred in his first season was Spendthrift Farm's Cross Traffic, who was visited by 123 mares in his first season, then earned the freshman title in 2018 on the strength of Jaywalk's Eclipse Award-winning campaign.
The top-five freshman sire who earned his position with the fewest mares bred was Girolamo, who finished fourth in 2015 after standing his first season at Sequel New York. His runners were led during that freshman season by New York-bred She's All Ready, who won her debut maiden special weight and a stakes race at Saratoga before finishing third in the Grade 1 Frizette Stakes.
Girolamo was one of four stallions to crack the top five on a freshman sire list standing outside of Kentucky since 2014. He was joined by Florida stalwart First Dude in 2015 (131 mares bred), Laoban (122 mares bred) who started his stud career at Sequel New York and was the second-leading freshman of 2020, and Central Banker (119 mares bred) who stands at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds in New York.
Operating under the assumption that the top five freshman sires of 2022 will continue to follow the pattern of having bred 100 or more mares in their first book at stud, this leaves 23 North American stallions scrapping over those five spots.
This story originally appeared in the OBS March issue of The Back Ring, our mobile bloodstock newsletter. To view the full issue, click here.
The post What Do This Generation’s Leading Freshman Sires Have In Common? appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
