It's going to be a crucial season for the second-season sires. Cassie Tully takes a look at those who made a big impact with their crops in 2019.
As we tentatively creep closer to resumed racing in Britain and Ireland, it seems an appropriate time to take a look back at those who had their first two-year-olds in 2019 and assess what we can look forward to in terms of the second season sires this year.
There were 36 horses that retired to stud in Britain, Ireland and France in 2016. Some have either since emigrated or moved to the National Hunt sphere and some did not have at least 20% winners to runners and one stakes-placed horse to be included in our list. So, 17 horses remain. (See table below)
Overall, 14 of the 17 horses managed to produce a Stakes winner and eight sired a Group race-winning horse. Some of those who made a notable impact or are expected to, are:
Gutaifan, the son of Dark Angel who stands alongside his father at Yeomanstown Stud, was the horse who claimed first season sire honours in 2019 when producing the highest number of winners of the group (30). However, he was also the sire who covered the largest number of mares (203) and had the largest number of runners, so his percentage leaves him in about mid division.
Of Gutaifan’s 89 starters in 2019, only one managed to gain Black-Type, a somewhat disappointing figure considering he was so heavily supported. Although father and son both solely raced as juveniles, the majority of sprinters do improve and mature with age as we know, so perhaps the best of Gutaifan’s soldiers are yet to emerge.
Night of Thunder was the horse with the highest percentage of winners to runners. On the track he didn't emerge until the October of his two-year-old season before his Group One wins at three and four. He could have been forgiven for not having a plethora of winners in his first juvenile crop.
That was far from all. He ended up topping nearly all of the categories with 57% winners and eleven stakes performers which included three Group winners. Group Two winner Night Colours and Group Three winners Under The Stars and Pocket Square were the main flagbearers.
The son of Dubawi, who is out of a Galileo mare, has the best possible current sire lines and definitely features as a positive example for the Dubawi over Galileo cross. He was the third highest priced of the new recruits.
Gleneagles and Golden Horn were the two most expensive retirees of 2016 and there is (justifiably) quite a gap between them on the table now.
The former, who was a Group One winner at both two and three years, has a strong 42% winners strike rate, as well as seven Stakes horses including the Group Two winners Royal Dornoch and Royal Lytham. Gleneagles is also the only horse of the 17 to sire a Group One performer.
As the bloodstock world is constantly wondering which son of Galileo may eventually inherit his crown, a point to note would be that at this stage in Galileo’s career, he had 23 more runners than Gleneagles but did not yet have a Group winner, let alone two Group Two winners and a Group One performer. Watch this space.
Golden Horn on the other hand can be excused from having half the percentage of winners as his rival having only appeared at the end of October in his own two-year-old days before his four Group One wins including the Arc and the Derby at three.
He did still have three Stakes performers however, including the Group Three winner West End Girl. We can confidently expect to see much of his quality emerging this year.
Cable Bay and Due Diligence are two horses who exceeded expectations. Both started at a modest £6,500 fee, are Stakes winners and were Group One placed. They sired four and three Group performers from their first crop of juveniles respectively.
One of the higher profile and higher priced new recruits was Muhaarar. Although his four Group One wins in a row did not come until his three-year-old year, he was also a Group Two winner and Group One placed at two.
His one Black-Type placed horse from 51 runners so far and a £30,000 fee means the pressure is on for some magic to happen this year.
Saving the most impressive and unexpected first-season stallion to last, we turn to Galiway. A product of that famous Galileo-Danehill cross, he ran only six times in total, winning a Listed race at three.
The Wertheimer & Frere homebred retired with the lowest fee on the list at €3,000, covered the lowest number of mares (41) and subsequently had the lowest number of runners (11).
Phenomenally, from those 11 runners, he sired 5 winners (45%) and two Stakes horses including Group Three winner Kenway, Listed placed Galova and Wanaway who was fourth in in a Group Three event and has already followed up this year with a Listed win in March.
Galiway comes from the classy family of Danzigaway, Silent Name, Gold Away and so on and considering that 17 of Galileo’s sons have produced 69 Group One winners between them already, there is a strong chance that the quality genes are going to re-emerge here.
An unfortunate fact is that ultimately, the majority of first season sires do not go on to succeed at stud. However, there is more than enough budding quality here to ensure breeders return to them for future opportunities at least, providing plenty of fresh talent and competition to feast our eyes upon for the seasons ahead.
Responsible gambling
We are committed in our support of responsible gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.
Sky Bet's responsible gambling tools are detailed here and if you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133, or visit begambleaware.org.
Further support and information can be found at GamCare and gamblingtherapy.org.
