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Matthew Poon ‘lucky’ to be back in the saddle after suffering broken ribs in nasty Happy Valley fall
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Vincent Ho hopes Golden Sixty can take him to the world: ‘I want to win Group Ones overseas’
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Master Montaro shows he’s worth the wait with debut win: ‘he got his tax money back today’
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Danon Smash becomes just fourth international to win the Hong Kong Sprint after Sha Tin blitz
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Aidan O’Brien’s Mogul climbs Hong Kong Vase mountain as Tony Cruz left frustrated with Exultant
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Hong Kong International Races becomes a reality for Jerome Reynier after 15 years watching on TV
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With Christophe Soumillon sidelined, Zac Purton lands the ride he thought he already had
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Beauty Generation to race on if competitive against Golden Sixty, Admire Mars in Hong Kong Mile
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Going behind the scenes of an unprecedented HKIR
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Frankie Lor puts Winning Dreamer’s unbeaten record on the line with Classic Mile a possibility
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Tony Cruz declares Exultant ‘fit and ready’ as he looks to create Hong Kong Vase history
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Hollie Doyle puts ‘icing on the cake’ with victory aboard smart youngster at Happy Valley
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Ryan Moore returns with a better Aidan O’Brien mare as he chases record third Hong Kong Cup
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By Wandering Eyes · Posted
2nd-SA, $70K, Msw, 2yo, 6 1/2f, 2:31 p.m. ET. NEWTON (Munnings) went through the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling sale ring and brought $975,000. Sent to Bob Baffert, the colt is out of $1.2-million buy Secret Jewel (Bernardini), whose other progeny include GSW Twenty Carat (Into Mischief) and SW Point Proven (Gun Runner). Secret Jewel's half-sisters include Canadian GSW Colonial Flag (Pleasant Tap), MGSW Sparkle Blue (Hard Spun) and last but not least GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf victress Shared Account (Pleasantly Perfect)–herself the dam of GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf heroine Sharing (Speightstown). TJCIS PPS 3rd-GP, $70K, Msw, 2yo, f, 6f, 1:20 p.m. ET. Unraced Bonita Mia (Warrior's Reward), the dam of MGSW Super Chow (Lord Nelson) and SW Princess Indy (Lord Nelson), has Spendthrift homebred Authentic Chance (Authentic) headed to the post for her unveiling under the care of trainer Todd Pletcher. The filly's dam is a half-sister to GI Acorn Stakes champ Carina Mia (Malibu Moon) and her extended female family includes Argentinian champion 3-year-old filly & GISW Miss Linda (Arg) (Southern Halo). TJCIS PPS 7th-GP, $70K, Msw, 2yo, 6f, 3:18 p.m. ET. One of the best maiden special weight races on Sunday includes a number of colts who are set for their first bow. Among them, look for Brad Cox stablemates Waymark (Liam's Map) and Autobahn (Nyquist) to be in the mix. Waymark went for $700,000 during Keeneland September and is out of a stakes-winning Shortleaf dam who produced GI Arkansas Derby runner-up Caddo River (Hard Spun). As for the WinStar-bred Autobahn, his dam is GSW Take Charge Paula (Take Charge Indy), who foaled 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard', Long Neck Paula (Uncle Mo). High Camp (Instagrand) makes the races for breeder/owner OXO Equine and trainer Will Walden. The first foal for his dam, the bay's grand dam is MGSW Summer Applause (Harlan's Holiday). TJCIS PPS The post Well-Bred Daughter Of Munnings Set For Debut As Santa Anita Opens appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Having dealt with the rookies as a case apart, and then sought a couple of bargains at the base of the pyramid, today we move into a category that remains within the reach of many hands-on breeders–from $10,000 to $19,999–while also containing sires that can raise the bar a good deal higher. On the one hand, it includes a number of young horses still to be given adequate (if any) opportunity to show what they can do, yet already finding their books and fees eroded by still newer names. But we can also weigh up older sires whose record entitles you to hope that they might inexpensively put a winner under your mare. MIDSHIPMAN has long been a model of that type, having endeared himself to countless breeders over the years while bumping along at fees even lower than his current $15,000. He's up to 59 lifetime stakes winners at a rock-solid 6.6 percent of named foals, 10 at graded level. Though now turning 20, his latest yearlings averaged $61,573–with only one of 30 failing to find a home. That looks suspiciously like exemplary commercial performance to underpin his services as a racehorse sire. Basically he can't help but make a stalwart job of anything you ask him to do. KANTHAROS entered stud the same year, 2011, but his career has followed rather more twists and turns. He earned his passage to Kentucky by punching above a low fee in Florida, briefly threatening to become something special, but has now taken a third consecutive cut to $10,000, half his 2023 fee. One way or another, that odyssey leaves him as high as #13 in lifetime earnings among active sires. DIALED IN should retain his usual loyal support after a generous trim from $15,000 to $10,000, acknowledging a tapering commercial profile that doesn't alter in the slightest his ability to sire a smart racehorse. He's had three Grade I winners, besides one who earned more than them all combined in Gunnevara. CAIRO PRINCE has taken exactly the same cut, which will surely keep him in the game as sire of 43 stakes winners at 5.4 percent of named foals, not least with Fierceness further upgrading his page. KARAKONTIE (Jpn) has never been adequately acknowledged for his lonely work against the tide, albeit his latest yearlings achieved a yield of nearly $60,000 from a $10,000 conception fee. With the commercial market becoming a little less hostile to turf, you have to doubt whether the younger sires taking advantage will ever match the ratios long established by Karakontie. With his superb genes, the sire of She Feels Pretty remains underpriced at $15,000. Kantharos | Sarah Andrew The indices of GOLDENCENTS can never stand up to his volume but any $10,000 sire that can win you the GI Kentucky Derby deserves some indulgence. FROSTED ($12,500) looks much more at home at this level, his body of work stacking up very acceptably to the kind of breeders now lining up to use him. He drew another triple-figure book last spring. UNION RAGS, another whose fee has come right down, has not yet had the same compensation in his books. But the fact is that he is still purveying the same genes, at $10,000, as he did to six Grade I winners. Among stallions still making their name, FLAMEAWAY has gilded a solid start with a Group 1 winner in the desert, Dark Saffron, alongside Group II winner and turf millionaire Bear River. He has emulated his sire Scat Daddy with a big impact in Chile and, from finite resources, appears to be providing a valid conduit to his outstanding European family at $10,000. While his current sales performance is holding him back, his books are holding up so well (weanlings graduate from one of 172) that he can absolutely consolidate from here. At the same fee, VOLATILE has shown a useful ability to make his bigger punches count: he had four stakes winners this year, steady enough, but all won graded stakes. As for the many horses in this tier yet to undergo any meaningful examination, we will use the top of our podium as an exception to prove the rule: generally speaking, we prefer evidence of some functionality, rather than participate in the guessing game that drives the commercial market. Two factors may militate against that prejudice, however: one, as in the case of our gold pick, is a fee that slides so fast that it becomes good value, even allowing for all the doubts that must linger; the other is the horse that you just can't help but admire at the price. My clear favorite, among the latter, is ANNAPOLIS. He holds his $12,500 fee, and so he jolly well should. For one thing, that avoids the negative message so many farms send to their clients–essentially that they have bought an overpriced product, which is now depreciating–in automatically clipping sires for their second and third years. But also because he was originally so attractively priced: having made an 11th hour switch to stud duties, he had to recruit mares in a hurry. As a beautiful horse, who combines a top-class grass record with elite dirt blood, he has maintained both quality and quantity in his books. His weanlings averaged $51,500, the best of any sire under $25,000, and auspiciously their median was virtually the same–always a significant marker. Among the preceding intake, besides our gold pick, DRAIN THE CLOCK deserves credit for maintaining a $71,084 average ($55,000 median) from a $10,000 cover fee, despite sending as many as 116 of his first yearlings into the ring. His foals look the type to land running, and 139 mares returned last spring in the hope of slipstreaming an impact on the freshman table. He is joined on $10,000 by MANDALOUN, who has taken a third consecutive cut after starting at $25,000. His date with Citizen Bull's dam produced a seven-figure yearling at Saratoga, helping his average to $108,336 (median $66,000), and there will be some very well-bred horses going out to bat for those breeders who stick with him now. The same syndrome applies to many of his peers: conspicuously EARLY VOTING, who has halved from his opening fee of $25,000 despite processing 69 of 83 yearlings at $129,485 (median $80,000); CYBERKNIFE, similarly halved to $15,000 (106 of 136 sold at $90,886/median $63,500); and JACK CHRISTOPHER, plunging to $15,000 (opened at $45,000) after 128 of 155 yearlings sold at $113,875 (median $92,500). Cyberknife | Sherackatthetrack With that in mind, it feels sensible to put aside those stallions who covered their first mares last spring: for these will doubtless find themselves on the same trajectory, and so offer better value again next year. We'll address the broader status of the bubble stallion when we reach the top of our Value Podium. As in every category, meanwhile, we apologize to those stallions that have not been mentioned in dispatches. But this remains, as always, an exercise as subjective as it is ignorant of the most critical factor of all, the make and shape of your mare. VALUE PODIUM Bronze: CARACARO Uncle Mo–Peace Time (War Front) $10,000 Crestwood Got to stick with this fellow, the good folks at Crestwood having shown what can still be done against the industrial Goliaths. Caracaro's first crop of juveniles in 2024 included two stakes winners from just 21 starters. One of these was Casalu, who had topped an OBS April session at $775,000–the first sign that something unusual might be happening with a $6,500 rookie. Casalu is meanwhile a dual stakes winner, with serial placings in graded company, but a lot of people didn't need to wait for that corroboration: Caracaro's book that spring leaped from 67 to 151 mares. No fewer than 119 returned last time round and, while this spike will still take a year or two to cycle through, that does mean that those who use him now will be ideally positioned to ride the wave. Especially auspicious is the way Caracaro's second crop has corroborated the bright start made by their predecessors, with Throckmorton ($8,000 weanling turned $250,000 2-year-old) recently following up his maiden success in a stakes race at Aqueduct; and Churchill maiden winner Mo' Em Down subsequently runner-up in the GIII Sorrento Stakes. Remember that all three of Caracaro's siblings are either stakes winners or graded stakes-placed; while the second dam is GI Kentucky Oaks runner-up Santa Catarina (Unbridled). There's obviously no shortage of competition among heirs to Uncle Mo but this one, who flashed high ability in a curtailed career, may prove to be recycling something well ahead of his fee. Silver: MITOLE Eskendereya–Indian Miss (Indian Charlie) $10,000 Spendthrift The tame sales performance of his latest yearlings stands in contrast to an excellent year on the racetrack for Mitole, crowned by GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint winner Shisospicy. But if he has exhausted his value to those commercial breeders who systematically exploit new sires, then perhaps he's building on the foundations they gave him–by sheer weight of numbers–as a legitimate racehorse sire. Ultimately, after all, that is the only way to renew sales momentum. Mitole | Sarah Andrew Mitole's three other graded stakes winners this year all belong to his debut crop, suggesting that they are thriving with maturity–much as he did himself. Yet you don't become champion freshman without transmitting precocity, as well as speed, and this fall his third-crop daughter Rileytole was denied a juvenile Grade I by just a nose. Think what that might have done for the marketability of a sire whose stock has been winning sprints as resonant as the GIII Count Fleet Handicap and GII Honorable Miss Stakes. His sire was little help to Mitole, though the Japanese knew the value of Cosmah as Eskendereya's fifth dam. And they have now also imported Mitole's half-brother by Oxbow, Hot Road Charlie. These are genes that roll up their sleeves and go to work. Mitole could be flattered by the way he worked the commercial system, but his resume now has weight beyond mere aggregation. Champion sprinter, champion freshman, perhaps he can next to prove himself champion value. Gold: CORNICHE Quality Road–Wasted Tears (Najran) $15,000 Ashford In some ways this feels a little hypocritical. I'm always pontificating against unproven sires, and the way thousands of mares are wasted in deference to the prejudices of ringside “investors” wholly lacking in conviction. Almost invariably, they ensure that first-crop yearlings achieve averages slavishly sequenced according to their covering fees. And they then abandon those same horses, precisely as their “judgement” might prove most valuable, i.e. when everyone else is running scared because foals are actually nearing the starting gate. That's when the books slide. That's when the fees slide. And that's when the potential dividends skyrocket. Because if you find the right bubble horse, the one who actually vindicates all the hype that launched his stud career, then in a couple of years from now you will be taking to market goods that very few people have–and a lot of people suddenly need. In some ways, then, putting this horse top of our podium is a gesture. Others might make a similar case, as noted above, for peers at the same stage, like Jack Christopher, Early Voting or Mandaloun. But if Corniche remains a guess, no less than any of the rest, then there is at least some tangible evidence in his favor. And that's the flesh and blood he presented for his debut at the yearling sales. Ridiculous as it should sound, by modern standards an offering of 84 was fairly conservative. Epicenter sent 160 into the ring, Jack Christopher 155, Golden Pal 149. But the 72 that found a new home did so at a superb average of $171,694, behind only Flightline (conception fee $200,000), Life Is Good ($100,000) and Jackie's Warrior ($50,000). If home runs of $725,000 and $650,000 assisted that yield, then the median took equally high rank at $135,000. Having made a similarly bright impact with his weanlings the previous year, Corniche is transparently throwing stock that fully vindicates his opening fee of $30,000. As ever, the question now is whether they are show ponies or racehorses? Well, the template is pretty encouraging: they are by a $1.5 million 2-year-old who clocked a 98 Beyer on debut over 5 1/2 furlongs, before stretching out and being crowned unbeaten crop champion at the Breeders' Cup. He would have started at a higher fee, had he retired on the spot, but his drawn-out farewell required the kind of fee that might nudge breeders with short memories. And now, because of the puerility of the commercial system, the same semen is worth only $15,000–despite rave reviews for his yearlings, the only evidence available of its efficacy. I must admit I was originally nervous of the seeding of Corniche's family, but his dam is much the most accomplished runner (six-time graded stakes winner) by Najran, so that hesitation actually turns itself inside out. A genetic potency was palpably at work, on the racetrack, in both Corniche and his mother. If it was worth tapping into that, at $30,000, just to get an unbroken youngster to stand on a dais, why wouldn't you pay $15,000 now that they are about to break into a trot? The post Kentucky Value Sires For 2026: Part 3–Stallions Under $20k appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Billed as Japan's richest race, the ¥960,040,000 (€5.2m) G1 Arima Kinen sees a slew of Group 1 winners vying for its ¥500,000,000 (€2.7m) first-place prize. Leading the way in the advance markets and by total votes delivered by the voting public is four-year-old mare Regaleira. The three-time Group 1 winner by Suave Richard will carry the silks of Sunday Racing. Christophe Lemaire will ride the daughter of Roca (Harbinger), who claimed the 2023 Hopeful Stakes–won today by Lovcen–the 2024 Arima Kinen, and last month's Queen Elizabeth II Cup. Assistant trainer Yu Ota said, “Her break was a little bit off in the Queen Elizabeth II Cup last out, but her timing was good, so we were lucky there. She stayed at Miho after that and we gave her more gate practice. Since she doesn't get tense at the training center, there were no problems, but the question is how she'll do in the race. “We clocked her on Dec. 10 and she's showing steady improvement. Last week, she worked on the dirt. Her reactions and responses were still a bit slow, but this week's work should fix that. Her muscle tone is good, she's eating well, but the main concern is the gate. The start isn't in front of the grandstand this time, which should make things easier.” The 2025 Classic generation is represented by G1 Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) hero Museum Mile (Leontes). Booked in stall four with Cristian Demuro in the irons, the colt claimed the G2 Asahi Hai St. Lite Kinen at this course in September and was a good second to Masquerade Ball (Duramente) in the G1 Tenno Sho (Autumn) last month. “He didn't have early speed in the Tenno Sho (Autumn) and ended up traveling from near the rear,” reflected assistant trainer Yuichi Tomomichi. “That said, his final drive was strong and he settled well even amid the slow pace of the race. “He's grown overall and filled out in various areas. This is his third start of the autumn but there's been ample time in between races, so he does look fresh. His condition looks good too. The distance is longer this time, but he has gotten good results at Nakayama before.” Another Group 1 winner set to contest the Arima Kinen is June's Takarazuka Kinen scorer Meisho Tabaru. The son of enters on the back of a sixth-place run in the Tenno Sho (Autumn). “The pace was slow in the Tenno Sho (Autumn), with the first 1000 meters run in 62 seconds and it came down to the fastest late speed, which worked against him,” said trainer Mamoru Ishibashi. “Still, he covered the last three furlongs in :33.1 seconds and he traveled very nicely. I hadn't thought he'd be able to settle that well, so I think he learned quite a bit from that race. “His three fast workouts at Ritto, all over the woodchip flat course, have gone well. He has won over 2200 meters and, if he settles well again, I think he should be able to handle the trip this time.” A pair of Japanese Derby heros also line up in 2024 victor and G1 Dubai Sheema Classic winner Danon Decile (Epiphaneia) and 2023 hero and 2025 G1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup scorer Tastiera (Satono Crown). The duo leave from stalls nine and 16, respectively. Justin Palace (Deep Impact), the 2023 G1 Tenno Sho (Spring) hero, has placed twice at the highest level this term without a win and leaves from stall three. Stepping up to this tier for the first time is Mystery Way (Just A Way). The seven-year-old gelding is on a two-race winning streak, and captured the G2 Copa Republica Argentina over this trip at Tokyo in November. Japan's Group 1 Bonanza Continues On Dirt Godolphin's Narukami aims to regain the winning thread in Monday's G1 Tokyo Daishoten at Ohi. The son of Thunder Snow has won five of his seven starts, including the Listed Japan Dirt Classic over the track and trip of Monday's contest. Stepping up to group level for the first time there, he ran 13th as the favourite after a stalking journey before fading in Chukyo's G1 Champions Cup earlier this month. The consistent Natural Rise (Kizuna) also boasts five wins from seven starts, with his only blip a fourth in a listed race at Kawasaki in December of 2024, and his aforementioned second-place run to Narukami in the Japan Dirt Classic at Ohi in October. The three-old will leave from stall one in the 16-horse field. Mizuki Noda's Mikki Fight (Drefong) adds intrigue with a third in the G1 February Stakes and a victory in the G3 Antares Stakes his two most recent performances. Although his sire was best known in the U.S. as the 2016 Eclipse Champion Sprinter and GI Breeders' Cup Sprint hero, his progeny have thrived at longer distances in Japan. Ho O Roulette (Roses In May) is fresh off a victory in September's G3 Sirius Stakes, while Diktaean (King Kamehameha) exits a tally in the G3 Korea Cup that same month. The duo will break from posts 12 and 10, respectively. The post Regaleira Holds Arima Kinen Claims, Tokyo Daishoten Offers Redemption For Narukami appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article -
By Murray Fish · Posted
No Cant horses in, a couple from Timaru... distance? Chch to Riverton 594km -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Galileo and Dubawi, two titans of the sport whose fates have been so entwined for the past two decades that the marrying of their superior bloodlines to one day give us a champion sire was perhaps as inevitable as it is satisfying for us bloodstock nuts. On 12 occasions, in 2008 and then every year between 2010 and 2020, Galileo topped the end-of-year sires' table in Britain and Ireland. On four of those occasions Dubawi filled the runner-up spot, before the Darley stalwart finally enjoyed his day in the sun when crowned champion for the first time in 2022. In 2021 and 2023, Frankel ran away with the sires' championship to give Galileo the early bragging rights over Dubawi in what promises to be an enduring battle between their many stallion sons, long after their own reigns among Europe's best have come to an end. For Galileo, who died in July 2021, that time is sadly upon us, with him having fallen to 26th position in the 2025 rankings. His 53 individual runners in Britain and Ireland did still include a Group 1 winner, though, namely the Coronation Cup scorer Jan Brueghel, who was ably backed up by the G1 Gold Cup and G1 Goodwood Cup runner-up Illinois. As for Dubawi, having been second in 2024 to Dark Angel, he dropped one place further to third this year, with the dual Group 1 winner Delacroix and G1 Lockinge Stakes hero Lead Artist leading his domestic challenge, as Rebel's Romance and Notable Speech added to their impressive top-level hauls on foreign soil. Soon to enter his 24th year on Earth, Dubawi will find it increasingly difficult to topple those at the very top of the table as the team at Darley move to carefully manage his workload, but there's time yet for him to give us another Delacroix, new to Coolmore for 2026, or Lead Artist, who is preparing to embark on his first season at Banstead Manor Stud. Already, Dubawi's record as a sire of sires is a formidable one, with the ultimate confirmation of his breed-shaping capabilities being delivered in 2025 by his 2,000 Guineas-winning son Night Of Thunder. No longer is Galileo one step ahead of his old sparring partner in having produced a champion sire in Britain and Ireland, albeit he can take a deal of the credit in this instance, too, as the sire of Night Of Thunder's dam, Forest Storm. Incidentally, it's the same cross that has also given us Dubawi's highest-rated runner, Ghaiyyath, and the Group 1-winning two-year-old Henry Longfellow. Night Of Thunder himself produced a Group 1-winning juvenile on his march to the title in 2025, namely the Dewhurst Stakes scorer Gewan, as well as the third-place finisher from that Newmarket contest, Distant Storm. The G2 Royal Lodge Stakes winner Bow Echo, G3 Autumn Stakes victor Hankelow and G1 Fillies' Mile third Evolutionist also rate as potential Classic prospects when Night Of Thunder is tasked with trying to defend his crown in 2026. Just as exciting a prospect is the return at five of Ombudsman, the horse who did more than any other to propel Night Of Thunder to this maiden championship, earning just shy of £1.9 million with victories in the G1 Prince Of Wales's Stakes and G1 Juddmonte International, as well as runner-up efforts in the G1 Coral-Eclipse and G1 Champion Stakes. Unbeaten in four starts as a three-year-old in 2024, culminating with a first Group-race success in the G3 Prix du Prince d'Orange, Ombudsman's rapid rise from promising talent to headline act rather mirrors that of Night Of Thunder the stallion. After all, it was only last year that the Kildangan Stud resident finished eighth among the leading sires in Britain and Ireland, his first entrance into the top 10. Night Of Thunder's ascension to the top of the tree has been swift and no less surprising when you consider that his headline performers from 2024, Economics and Desert Flower, both missed much of the latest campaign. The latter, for example, ran only twice, though her triumph in the 1,000 Guineas and third-place finish in the Oaks still saw her feature as one of her sire's leading earners, along with the G2 Hungerford Stakes winner More Thunder and high-class older filly Estrange. Having also produced the American Grade I-winning fillies Choisya and Dynamic Pricing, it's fair to say that Night Of Thunder is thoroughly deserving of his significant fee hike to €200,000 for next year. Lest we forget, he once stood for a fee of just £15,000 when briefly based at Dalham Hall in 2018 and 2019. Similarities can be drawn there with Dubawi, who was likewise dropped to £15,000 for his fourth season in 2009 – a far cry from the £350,000 he will command for the fourth consecutive year in 2026. Splitting Night Of Thunder and Dubawi among the top three stallions of 2025 was Wootton Bassett, whose even more remarkable rags-to-riches tale was brought to a premature end when he died from pneumonia in September this year. Having once stood for just €4,000 at Haras d'Etreham, Wootton Bassett's star had soared so high that his fifth and final season at Coolmore in 2025 saw him command a fee of €300,000, underlining his standing among Europe's elite. Further proof of the loss that Wootton Bassett will be to the industry was provided throughout the year. At its end, the son of Iffraaj was comfortably clear of Sea The Stars and Night Of Thunder at the head of the European sires' championship with nearly €12 million in progeny earnings. French Classic winners Henri Matisse (Poule d'Essai des Poulains) and Camille Pissarro (Prix du Jockey Club) both contributed significant sums before retiring to Coolmore for 2026, while the G1 Prix de la Foret scorer Maranoa Charlie will shortly embark on his first season at Tally-Ho Stud. Whirl, too, was a flagbearer for her late sire, having followed her runner-up finish in the Oaks with top-level triumphs in the Pretty Polly Stakes and Nassau Stakes. With Group 1-winning juveniles Hawk Mountain and Puerto Rico, plus the highly-touted Albert Einstein, headlining a long list of Classic hopefuls for Wootton Bassett, it would be folly to bet against him landing a posthumous title in Britain and Ireland in 2026. With three more bumper crops of bluebloods still to come from his time in Ireland, it's likely to be a case of when rather than if the prize returns to Tipperary, previously home to the champion sire every year between 1990 and 2020. Frankel, the horse who ended the reign of Coolmore dominance in 2021, had to make do with fourth this year, finishing with total prize-money around £2.3 million shy of that amassed by Night Of Thunder's progeny (£6.9 million). Wootton Bassett, meanwhile, was roughly £550,000 behind Night Of Thunder in second, with another £1.6 million back to Dubawi in third. The National Stud newcomer Diego Velazquez (Prix Jacques le Marois) and Lake Victoria (Irish 1,000 Guineas) featured among Frankel's Group 1 winners in 2025, but star billing went to the triple Oaks heroine Minnie Hauk, whose final start on European soil saw her fill the runner-up spot in the G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. She was beaten just a head there by Daryz, who became the first winner of Europe's richest race for his sire, Sea The Stars. The Gilltown Stud inmate, who finished one place behind Frankel among the leading sires in Britain and Ireland, enjoyed a particularly good time of things in France, with the top-level winners Sosie (Prix Ganay and Prix d'Ispahan) and Aventure (Prix Vermeille) helping to bankroll his bold bid for the European sires' championship. In addition to Frankel, Australia and Gleneagles further burnished the legacy of their sire, Galileo, by enjoying banner years in 2025. Derby winner Lambourn and Coronation Stakes scorer Cercene carried Australia to an eighth-place finish in the sires' table with their Group 1 victories, while Cartier Horse of the Year Calandagan continued to fly the flag for Gleneagles, whose 13th-place finish was the highest of his stallion career to date. Three other Coolmore sires occupied a place in the top 20, namely Starspangledbanner (12th), No Nay Never (15th) and Camelot (17th). Starspangledbanner was responsible for both the Cartier Champion Two-Year-Old Colt (Gstaad) and the Cartier Champion Two-Year-Old Filly (Precise), while Cheveley Park Stakes heroine True Love was a Group 1-winning juvenile for No Nay Never and Pierre Bonnard likewise for Camelot. The latter heads the ante-post betting for next year's Derby after his two-length win in the Criterium de Saint-Cloud. The G1 Champion Stakes third Almaqam and G2 Celebration Mile winner Jonquil starred for Ballylinch Stud's Lope De Vega as he narrowly missed out on a spot in the top five. Jonquil also suffered a narrow defeat in the Poule d'Essai des Poulains, providing the Juddmonte team with a second near-miss in as many weeks after Field Of Gold's unlucky run in the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket. Field Of Gold went on to confirm his standing as the outstanding three-year-old miler with Group 1 wins in the Irish 2,000 Guineas and St James's Palace Stakes, helping his sire, Kingman, to a seventh-place finish in the sires' table. Ranked eighth by prize-money, Tally-Ho Stud's Mehmas was responsible for more individual winners in Britain and Ireland than any other sire in 2025. His 120 winners included the G1 Middle Park Stakes scorer Wise Approach, with Wootton Bassett (111) and last year's champion, Dark Angel (105), the only other stallions to make it to three digits. Tally Ho veteran Kodiac and Whitsbury Manor Stud's rising force Havana Grey also ranked highly by that measure, with 94 and 93 winners, respectively. Not to be outdone by Galileo, Dubawi also had two other sons finish in the top 20 by prize-money, with Fallen Angel's hat-trick of Group 1 triumphs helping Too Darn Hot to 16th and dual Group 2 winner Pride Of Arras playing a starring role as New Bay finished 19th. Meanwhile, Too Darn Hot's fellow third-crop sire, Blue Point, rounded out the top 10. He is now responsible for two stallion sons, with Rosallion retiring to Dalham Hall after he finished second in a trio of top-level events in 2025. Finally, a word too for Awtaad who, along with Gleneagles (83), was one of only two stallions in the top 20 to be represented by less than 100 individual runners in Britain and Ireland. Of his 57 runners, 27 won at least one race, including Ethical Diamond, who had advertised Awtaad's talents long before his victory in the GI Breeders' Cup Turf at Del Mar, having preceded that remarkable display with wins in the Duke Of Edinburgh Stakes and Ebor Handicap. The post Champion Night Of Thunder Leads Next Wave of Elite Stallions appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article
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