Value Sires Part II: The Middle Ground

[Wandering Eyes]

For this second instalment of our value sires series we are looking at stallions standing in the €20,000 to €49,999 fee range. 

Another year has gone by in which Nathaniel (Ire) has provided us with one of the stars of the season. This time it was the Irish Oaks winner You Got To Me (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}), who later played a starring role of a different kind when topping the Tattersalls December Mares Sale at 4.8 million gns. She'll be in the Amo Racing silks next year and surely already has trainer Ralph Beckett dreaming of back-to-back wins in the Arc.

Her victory at the Curragh meant that Nathaniel got up the hat-trick of European 'Oaks' winners, his standout daughter Enable (GB) having won at Epsom while Channel (Ire) landed the Prix de Diane. He is of course also the sire of the ill-fated Derby winner Desert Crown (GB), and this year notched a second Group 1 victory as broodmare sire when Tribalist (GB) (Farrh {GB}) got the better of Charyn (Ire) in the Prix de Moulin.

So, sorry if you've heard this one before, but we repeat: Nathaniel remains exceptional value even with his fee having gone back up to what was his opening mark of £20,000. He stood at £17,500 in 2024 and £15,000 for the three years prior to that.

We'll stay in England for now with the stallion who has been very much a talking point this year: Study Of Man (Ire). When one hears that a stallion's fee has doubled that can sound rather punchy but it is easy to imagine that even if Study Of Man's fee had been trebled for 2025 there would still have been a clamour to use him. Indeed, there is a waiting list at £25,000 after the season finished with a timely Group 1 victory for Juddmonte's Kalpana (GB) – another potential contender for next year's Arc.

The Andrew Balding-trained filly impressed all season, from her debut win at a chilly Wolverhampton in January, through a scintillating 10-length handicap debut at Newmarket's Craven meeting, and on to consecutive black-type wins at Hamilton, Kempton and Ascot's Champions Day. She was far from alone in advertising her sire's merits. 

Study Of Man had just 55 foals in his first crop and 66 in his second, which makes his five stakes winners and 11 stakes performers overall an admirable tally and puts him above the obvious stars of this crop of stallions, Too Darn Hot (GB) and Blue Point (Ire). At the time of writing, his percentage of black-type winners to runners is 5.33%. He has only 58 two-year-olds to run for him next year, and 51 from the crop about to become yearlings (almost half of which were bred by Kirsten Rausing), but he covered 123 mares this year, and that number will surely rise again in 2025. 

There will be plenty of attention on St Mark's Basilica (Fr) this year as the first runners of the former champion galloper make it to the racecourse. His half-brother Magna Grecia (Ire) did not set the world alight in his early seasons at stud and he has now been relocated to stand at March Hare Stud in England. The siblings are both Classic winners, but St Mark's Basilica, by Siyouni (Fr), was rated 7lbs higher than Magna Grecia after a career which saw him win the Dewhurst and go on to be unbeaten at three, claiming the Poule d'Essai des Poulains, Prix du Jockey Club, Eclipse and Irish Champion Stakes. He's down to €40,000 for 2025, from an opening fee of €65,000 and €50,000 last season. If all goes well for his first runners that could look a very fair price, especially considering his yearling average of £177,250 (median £99,750).

Two other names on the Coolmore roster catch the eye in this fee bracket. Auguste Rodin (Ire) looks exceptional value at €30,000. He became a bit of a 'Marmite' horse following some lapses on the track but I'm prepared to stick to the fact that when he was good he was brilliant. It takes a proper horse to compile a CV which includes the Derby, Irish Derby, Irish Champion Stakes, Breeders' Cup Turf, Prince of Wales's Stakes and Futurity Trophy. And that's what he is: a proper horse with a top-drawer pedigree.

There is a decent array of sons of Deep Impact (Jpn) at stud. Some will succeed and some won't, but we've seen recently what Study Of Man can do, and Auguste Rodin, whose first two dams are both Group 1 winners, has a similarly enticing pedigree. His third dam is the influential Cassandra Go (Ire), who, if she were racing now, would also be a Group 1 winner as she landed the King's Stand Stakes when it was still a Group 2 (and still known as the King's Stand).

Another of Coolmore's sons of Siyouni is Paddington (GB), who is standing for less than half of his initial fee in just his second year, and is now €25,000. The horse who started his three-year-old season by winning the Madrid Handicap was, two starts later, a Classic winner in the Irish 2,000 Guineas and soon galloped his way to three more consecutive Group 1 wins in the St James's Palace, Eclipse and Sussex Stakes. He covered 145 mares in his first book, with some fertility issues early on, though he has shuttled to New Zealand and that situation is reportedly improving, as has been seen in other young stallions. 

Over in the Darley corner is Ghaiyyath (Ire), who picked up momentum with his first two-year-old runners towards the back end of this season as one might reasonably have expected him to do. He has now had 11 winners from his 42 runners, including the Group 3 runner-up Stanhope Gardens (Ire), who looks another nice prospect for Marc Chan (in partnership with Chelsea Thoroughbreds). Ghaiyyath now stands at €20,000, two-thirds of his opening fee and it is worth remembering that he really came into his own as a five-year-old. Expect to see more from his runners as they too mature. 

The Darley roster is not short of sons of Dubawi (Ire) and one of the most admirable among a strong bunch is Modern Games (GB), who covered a first book of 141 mares. He remains at his 2024 starting fee of £30,000 which is entirely reasonable considering his significant achievements, which include five Group/Grade 1 wins at a mile in Britain, France, America and Canada and two Breeders' Cup victories. His blend of precocity and speed should appeal to the commercial breeder and he is a half-brother to the 1,000 Guineas winner Mawj (Ire) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}).

At €35,000, Charyn (Ire) is the most expensive new stallion in France this season but, as a champion miler with three seasons and 19 starts under his belt, he has demonstrated both his early prowess, as winner of the G2 Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte, and his durability. He is also a substantial and good-looking individual who will surely be well supported, both by Sumbe and outside breeders. 

We can't leave without mentioning Kodiac (GB), who has only recently surrendered to his stud-mate Mehmas (Ire) as the most dependable source of two-year-old winners. (He also combined well with the champion sire Dark Angel (Ire) as the broodmare sire of Charyn.)

This year, as on many occasions in the past, he has sired more winners in Britain and Ireland than any other stallion (114 at the last count).  He will be 24 on New Year's Day and his reduced fee of €25,000 (from a 2019-2022 high of €65,000) reflects that fact, but if you want to get a young mare off to a flying start Kodiac remains an enticing option. 

Value Podium

Gold: Study Of Man, Lanwades, £25,000
One of the best-bred stallions in Europe, this grandson of Miesque is still very well positioned at his new high fee.

Silver: Auguste Rodin, Coolmore, €30,000
Packs a whole lot of punch at this introductory price.

Bronze: Nathaniel, Newsells Park Stud, £20,000
A proven Classic sire at a bargain price.

 

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