Sergei Prokofiev still leads but others making their mark

By John Ingles

16:21 · TUE September 03, 2024

John Ingles looks at how the first-season sires are shaping up heading into the autumn.

Sergei still out in front

Our last look at this year’s first-season sires in early-June covered the standings after the early months of two-year-old racing but plenty has happened since ahead of the big autumn contests.

It was Sergei Prokofiev who was fastest out of the blocks prior to Royal Ascot which was much as expected given he was a precocious type himself and has the advantage of having the largest first crop among this season’s new sires.

He has continued to set the pace over the summer, having a clear lead both by number of wins (17, from 13 individual winners) and by prize money in Britain and Ireland, having earned around half as much again as his nearest pursuer.

Sergei Prokofiev’s highest-rated horse remains Arizona Blaze (103), trained by Adrian Murray for Amo Racing. While he won the very first two-year-old race of the season in Ireland in March, he’s not simply an early sort, having plenty about him physically, and, since finishing third in the Norfolk Stakes, has also been placed in the Railway Stakes, Phoenix Stakes and a valuable sales race at York.

Sergei Prokofiev’s other black-type winner has also come in the Amo Racing colours but Enchanting Empress (85), who completed an early-season hat-trick in the listed National Stakes at Sandown, has been well held in both her starts since. Another of his best winners to date is another Irish colt, Distant Seas (94), a convincing winner of a Curragh maiden earlier this month for Michael O’Callaghan.

Enchanting Empress ridden by jockey David Egan (second left)

Sands storm coming...?

Gimcrack Stakes Sands winner Sands of Mali is another who has built on a good start in the spring and now has ten individual winners in Britain and Ireland who have won twelve races between them.

His stand-out pair so far are the Kevin Ryan-trained colt Ain’t Nobody (102), winner of the Windsor Castle Stakes at Royal Ascot, and the Harry Eustace-trained filly Time For Sandals (102p), narrowly beaten in the Super Sprint at Newbury and the Lowther Stakes at York on her last two starts and looking likely to progress further.

Pinatubo, who had the highest fee among this year’s first-season sires at £35,000, had one winner on the board by early-June but, in keeping with his own career at two, he’s making big strides now and has the same number of wins and winners as Sands of Mali but from much fewer runs. While Pinatubo lacks a black-type winner so far, it should be only a matter of time before one of his runners makes the breakthrough.

Wolf of Badenoch (100p) has gone closest so far, finishing second in the Vintage Stakes at Goodwood, a race won by his sire. Godolphin’s dual novice winner Cavallo Bay (93) was third in a Grade 3 contest at Saratoga this week, while Andesite (96), who had to miss Royal Ascot after a promising debut win at York, still looked in need of the experience in the Gimcrack Stakes last time but holds plenty of big-race entries this autumn.

Mohaather making waves

Sussex Stakes winner Mohaather hadn’t got off the mark at the time of the last update but has been firing in winners over the summer, now having 12 winning horses who have won 15 races.

Chief among them is Big Mojo (104+) who was much improved from his debut for Mick Appleby when getting off the mark in the Molecomb Stakes at Goodwood before finding the extra furlong of the Gimcrack stretching him last time.

Newbury listed winner Yah Mo Be There (96) is another of Mohaather’s highest-rated winners, while among potential improvers for the autumn are the fillies Mojave River (86p), winner of a valuable newcomers race at Deauville for Joseph O’Brien, and Serving With Style (83p), who holds a Rockfel Stakes entry for Karl Burke after winning both her starts.

Others to note in weeks ahead

We noted 2000 Guineas winner Kameko’s encouraging start in the last update and, as expected, he’s carried that forward in recent months, with nine winners who have won ten races in total.

His first winner in Britain, Wimbledon Hawkeye (109p), won at long odds on his debut for James Owen at Kempton at the end of May and has progressed really well since, finishing third in the Superlative Stakes at Newmarket before chasing home top two-year-old colt The Lion In Winter in the Acomb Stakes at York. Representing the same connections as his sire, Andrew Balding and Qatar Racing, New Century (101p) looks another promising type and was suited by the step up to a mile when winning the listed Stonehenge Stakes at Salisbury last time.

Prix Morny and Middle Park Stakes winner Earthlight looked one of the more likely sires to do well with his first two-year-olds and he has now had eight different winners in Britain and Ireland who have won nine races.

Mr Lightside (100) is the best of those at present, winning a couple of novices before running a good third behind stablemate Big Mojo in the Molecomb. However, Earthlight’s highest-rated horse is French filly Daylight (105) who emulated her sire by winning the Prix de Cabourg at Deauville and ran a good third against the colts when trying to follow up in the Morny.

Frankel’s son Without Parole, winner of the St James’s Palace Stakes and who didn’t make a winning debut until December of his two-year-old season, wasn’t going to get many early two-year-olds but he’s another to get into his stride in recent months and now has seven winners in Britain and Ireland who have won nine races. Unlike the other leading first-season sires, he doesn’t yet have a runner with a Timeform rating of 100 or more but they’re headed by the Ralph Beckett-trained Mr Chaplin (94) who was his sire’s first winner when successful at Newbury in May.

Also the winner of a good nursery at Goodwood when stepped up to seven furlongs, he wasn’t discredited when fifth in the Acomb last time. Parole d’Oro (86p), winner of a novice at Epsom for Michael Bell, looks another of Without Parole’s more promising types.

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