Starman Blowing Our Minds with Sequence of Group-Winning Juveniles

[Wandering Eyes]

When it comes to the 2025 crop of first-season sires in Europe, there's one stallion who is now operating in truly rarefied air, fittingly so for a horse going by the name of Starman.

With 16 individual winners on the board in Europe, the son of Dutch Art is currently six clear of Nando Parrado and eight clear of A'Ali, with Palace Pier, Space Blues and Supremacy then locked in a three-way tie for fourth with seven winners apiece. Lucky Vega has six, while Ubettabelieveit and Victor Ludorum each have five.

Now, it's worth pointing out that Starman still has a big job on his hands, numerically, to match the achievements of some of the other leading first-season sires of recent years.

By way of comparison, the likes of Havana Grey (27 in 2022), Blue Point (24 in 2023), Cotai Glory (22 in 2021), Sioux Nation (19 in 2022) had all amassed more winners by the end of Goodwood. In 2020, Mehmas had accumulated 14 winners at the same stage, despite the fact the season only started on June 1 due to the delay to racing caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mehmas ended that year with 55 individual juvenile winners, a record-breaking tally for a first-season sire in Europe. Blue Point made it to 49 three years later, while Sioux Nation eventually came out on top in his season-long scrap with Havana Grey in 2022, accumulating 44 winners to that rival's 42.

Time will tell what Starman's end-of-year tally looks like, with just under five months of 2025 remaining, but in lots of ways the hard work has already been done, so quickly has he distinguished himself as a prolific source of high-class two-year-olds.

Quantity is one thing – and Starman has that in spades with 201 registered foals from his first year at Tally-Ho – but quality is quite another. It's in the latter department where he's really excelled, with his four individual Group winners putting him in that rarefied air we spoke of.

For context, Frankel and Too Darn Hot are the only other European-based stallions in the last decade to come up with four Group-winning juveniles from their first crop.

The G2 Lowther Stakes winner Queen Kindly headlined Frankel's offering in 2016, also featuring the G3 Princess Margaret Stakes heroine Fair Eva, G3 Prix de Conde scorer Frankuus and G3 Prix d'Aumale victrix Toulifaut.

As for Too Darn Hot, he went one better when striking at the top level with his Moyglare Stud Stakes winner Fallen Angel in 2023. Sunday's G1 Prix Rothschild heroine was ably supported in that first season with victories for Darnation in the G2 May Hill Stakes, Alyanaabi in the G3 Tattersalls Stakes and Carolina Reaper in the G3 Zukunfts-Rennen.

What sets Starman apart, however, is that Frankel had just one Group winner (Fair Eva) to his name at this relatively early stage of the season, while Too Darn Hot was still yet to open his account in that category. In fact, Starman is the first freshman sire since 2015 to have registered more than one Group winner by the end of Goodwood.

First-Season Sires with the Most Group Winners Since 2019

• 4* – Starman (2025)
• 4 – Too Darn Hot (2023)
• 3 – Belardo (2020)
• 3 – Havana Grey (2022)
• 3 – Night Of Thunder (2019)
• 3 – Pride Of Dubai (2020)
• 3 – Saxon Warrior (2022)

With so much time in the year remaining, Starman must be a safe bet to surpass even the achievements of Frankel and Too Darn Hot by finding a fifth individual Group winner from somewhere. Perhaps it could be Flowerhead, already second in the G2 Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot, or maybe Gold Digger, who was sixth in the G3 Albany Stakes at the same meeting.

Maybe it will be one of the many Starman juveniles yet to take their first steps on a racecourse. He's still only had 54 individual runners, from those 201 registered foals, so there should be plenty of ammunition waiting in the wings.

And then there's the quartet who have already put his name in lights, with the promise of more to come.

Certainly, the speedy Lady Iman doesn't look finished yet, with trainer Ger Lyons confirming on Monday that there's every chance she could take on her elders in the G1 Nunthorpe Stakes at York later this month.

The Tally-Ho homebred was her sire's first winner when making her debut at Dundalk back in late-March, before later becoming her sire's first Group-race winner when landing May's G3 Fillies Sprint Stakes at Naas. Beaten just once in five career starts, she most recently doubled her Group-race tally when also winning last week's G3 Molecomb Stakes at Goodwood.

Lady Iman now has a Timeform rating of 104, which sees her tied with Venetian Sun among Starman's top fillies, with the latter also having a 'p' attached to her rating to denote that she is likely to progress further. The Karl Burke-trained Venetian Sun, who followed up her Albany win in the G2 Duchess Of Cambridge Stakes at Newmarket last time, is another with a Group 1 target looming on the horizon, with the Prix Morny at Deauville reported to be next on her agenda.

That just leaves the G2 Prix Robert Papin heroine Green Sense and G3 Tyros Stakes winner North Coast, both trained by Joseph O'Brien. A late withdrawal from Monday's Irish EBF Ballyhane Stakes at Naas, Green Sense has earned a Timeform rating of 96, while North Coast, with a rating of 105, is set to make his next appearance in the G1 National Stakes at the Curragh, after winning the Tyros by six lengths.

Altogether Starman is now responsible for seven black-type runners in Europe, an impressive roll of honour for a horse who didn't make his own debut until the July of his three-year-old season for trainer Ed Walker and owner-breeder David Ward. He quickly rattled off a hat-trick of wins, notably landing the Listed Garrowby Stakes at York, before enjoying the highlight of his eight-race career when winning the following year's G1 July Cup.

Speaking to TDN Europe back in February, when Starman was a 1/3 shot to be crowned leading first-season sire (by number of winners), Walker said, “I don't think we will see too many run in April and May, but I am hoping that by Goodwood they will be rocking and rolling.”

With Goodwood now in the rear-view mirror, it's fair to say that Starman has no doubt exceeded those expectations and then some, blowing our minds ever since Lady Iman met the judge in a hurry at Dundalk.

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