Value Sires 2026 Part III: Affordable Options

[Wandering Eyes]

And on we go, to a sector of the market that will have great appeal to the shrewd and smaller breeders (you can certainly be both), with the next part of our Value Sires series devoted to those standing in the bracket of £7,500 to £14,999 (approximately €8,500 to €17,000). 

There are always deals to be struck in the stallion market, and perhaps that is especially true within the lower price tiers, where your bartering power may also depend on your previous support of a particular stallion or stud, and the number of mares you have at your disposal. The fact that covering numbers have dropped off in recent years will mean that stallion owners will be conscious of the need to retain and incentivise the breeders who remain in operation.

Proven prowess

Being the sire of this year's Derby and Irish Derby winner entitles you to go first, so step forward Australia, who completed the same double himself, as indeed did his sire Galileo. We like this very much, but Australia proved himself to have more than one dimension this season thanks to the cheering victory of his daughter Cercene for Joe Murphy at Royal Ascot. It was but one of a number of feelgood results on racing's biggest stage and, in a year when Australia was advertised for only €10,000, should have served as a timely reminder of his talents. He's back up a wee bit this year to €15,000 but that still represents value for a sire who could get you a horse capable of mixing it in some of the world's biggest races. 

The name of his stud-mate Churchill lurks behind some decent performers too, without the dual Guineas winner ever really being given the credit he deserves. So let's right that wrong. Churchill is sneakily quite good: Classic winners Vadeni and Blue Rose Cen have already let the cat out of the bag on that front, and this year his daughter Survie went close to giving him another Prix de Diane winner before selling for 1.9m gns at Tattersalls. Ridari changed hands from the Aga Khan Studs to John Stewart's Resolute Racing for €950,000 at the Arc Sale before going on to win the G2 Prix Wildenstein and is a colt to follow in 2026. At €15,000, Churchill is at his lowest fee yet for 2026.

We will get to some English sires in due course but also in Ireland stands one of the best-value sires in Europe: Awtaad. He graced our podium last year and is rightly back up there again, his fee having been only marginally adjusted upwards from €7,500 to €8,500.

Post-race press conferences can sometimes be rather sober affairs despite the excitement of the occasion, but that was not the case for Willie Mullins, who swiftly downed two glasses of bourbon while gleefully recounting to journalists the thrill of securing his first win at the Breeders' Cup. The extraordinary Ethical Diamond was the horse who gave rise to what would have undoubtedly been a proper session later on. He had also been one of two winners for Awtaad at Royal Ascot along with Ascending.

The Irish National Stud's Phoenix Of Spain has barged his way into contention, and he too has risen slightly to a previous fee of €12,500, but that still looks reasonable following a year in which he notched his first Group 1 winner, Caballo De Mar, along with three Group 3 winners in Europe and one in Australia. One of those, Lady Of Spain, has joined Katsumi Yoshida's Northern Farm after being sold for 900,000gns in December. Phoenix Of Spain's 5.83 per cent black-type winners to runners in 2025 puts him right up there among the best of his intake.

It was an elite band of European stallions, numbering just 17, who sired two or more Group 1 winners this year and Ballylinch Stud's Make Believe was one of them. He is also a former podium poser and we have to put him back up there again this year after the exploits of Sajir in France and Royal Supremacy in Australia, while G2 Oaks d'Italia winner Klaynn ruled the three-year-old division in Italy. Any stallion who can get a horse as good as Mishriff in his first crop is surely no fluke, and thus Make Believe is proving, at a fee which is back up to €10,000 for 2026, having been €8,000 this year.

At the £10,000 mark in Britain for the third year running is Overbury Stud's Golden Horn, a horse for the big occasion, whether you like the Flat or jumps. At the Cheltenham Festival his handful of runners included the Champion Hurdle and Triumph Hurdle winners Golden Ace and Poniros, while at Royal Ascot Trawlerman landed the week's most prestigious race, the Gold Cup, and was later named Cartier Stayer of the Year. Another four Group winners were added to Golden Horn's Flat tally in 2025, most notably the G2 Park Hill winner Santorini Star.

Newsells Park Stud's Without Parole provided one of the best two-year-olds of the year in Zavateri, who took the G2 July Stakes, G2 Vintage Stakes and G1 National Stakes in quick succession, narrowly beating subsequent Cartier Two-Year-Old Colt Gstaad in the latter. With 52 and 43 foals from his first two crops, Without Parole has fewer representatives than some of his rivals in this year's second-crop sires' table, in which he is in sixth place. His fee has returned to £10,000, from £8,000 in his last two seasons. 

Ardad has been represented by 40 two-year-old winners, with five stakes winners among them in Europe this year, putting him top of the list of juvenile sires standing in Britain. Admittedly, he has had a lot of runners – 113 from his largest crop of 157 foals in 2023 after the exploits of his first crop encouraged more breeders to patronise him. In 2022 his fee rose sensibly to £12,500 on the back of that, but this year it has been cut to £7,500 which makes him a value proven option.

A name worth noting among the young stallions in France is Victor Ludorum, who is the leading first-season sire in that country and has sired 17 winners across Europe, which puts him in eighth place by number of winners. He also has two black-type horses and is about to embark on his second season at Haras d'Etreham since Haras du Logis ceased standing stallions. After covering 102 mares this year, Victor Ludorum will be at his lowest fee of €10,000 (from €15,000) in 2026.

His stud-mate City Light continues to be a consistent source of winners and is also at €10,000.

Big year ahead

As ever, there will be much interest paid to the runners of the first-season sires of 2026. Those who may take up the running early include Perfect Power, who was himself a prolific two-year-old, winning at Hamilton in June before landing the Norfolk, Prix Morny and Middle Park Stakes. This year and next, the fee for the son of Ardad is £7,500, half that which he opened for at Dalham Hall Stud, and he posted a yearling average of 61,000gns for 32 sold.

Perfect Power also collected the following season's Commonwealth Cup and another of his ilk who was smart at two, winning the Gimcrack, but went on to land the G1 Haydock Sprint Cup at four is Minzaal, one of an increasing cohort of sons of Mehmas at stud. Minzaal also started at £15,000 at Derrinstown Stud and has been dropped to £12,500. His yearling average for 89 sold was 79,112gns.

What a racehorse State Of Rest was. His Group 1 victories came in America, Australia, France and Britain, with his Prince of Wales's Stakes win at Royal Ascot crowning that superb quartet. He won first up at two himself, and we know that his sire Starspangledbanner can get a good two-year-old. We'll be hoping to see some of his first two-year-olds starting to make their mark towards the second half of the season. He had some promising looking yearlings which averaged 53,514gns for 49 sold, and State Of Rest may well surprise some people next year, when his fee will be €15,000, down from €25,000 in his first year.

We're prepared to die on the hill that says Stradivarius can be a good Flat sire if given the right backing. He's been given enough support, with around 100 Flat mares for his first book, and though only 16 of the youngsters from those matings were offered as yearlings in Britain and Ireland, they found favour in the market, selling for an average of 48,357gns for the 14 that changed hands. Plenty more will be lurking on their breeders' farms, about to head into pre-training, hoping that they will run their way to one of the £25,000 bonuses offered by Stradivarius's owner-breeder Bjorn Nielsen for his first ten juvenile winners. (And don't forget the £250,000 bonus for a Group 1 winner at two or three.) The National Stud resident has remained at his sensible starting fee of £10,000 throughout.

It was as a four-year-old that Naval Crown came into his own when winning the G1 Platinum Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot. The son of Dubawi joined Kildangan Stud the following year at €15,000 but dropped to €9,000 last year and remains at that price for 2026. He had some well-made yearlings, and 42 of them were sold for 47,012gns. He might be a sneakily good bet for next year, and plenty of folks will be expecting much from the next Tally-Ho sire off the line, Persian Force, whose fee has returned to his starting fee of €10,000 (from €8,000), presumably following some encouraging yearling sale results, with 73 sold for an average of 45,849gns.

In France, Sealiway, a winner of the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere and later the Champion Stakes, will be bidding to put the fledgling operation of Haras de Beaumont on the map when his first runners step out next year. A son of Galiway, who has been a revelation at Haras de Colleville, starting at €3,000 and settling at €30,000 for the last four years, Sealiway was the busiest young stallion in France on his retirement in 2023, and he is now down to €10,000, having started at €12,000.

First yearlings 

The risk of using a stallion in his third year at stud is of course that by the time a breeder might be wanting to sell a foal, the first runners will have come through and you can find yourself either in clover or in trouble. Stick to your guns if you like a horse, and there has been nothing but favourable comments about Shaquille since he retired to stud – both of his own physique and now in praise of his foals. He was of course a tiptop sprinter at three and the Ace Stud resident is now available for £10,000, having stood his first two seasons at £15,000. He has it all to prove, but that is true for all names mentioned in this section.

The burly Native Trail was the champion two-year-old of his generation and is now at €16,000, while his fellow Darley sire Triple Time remains at £10,000, representing good value for a Group 1-winning son of Frankel over a mile. Another smart Frankel horse from this intake is Shadwell's Mostahdaf, winner of the Juddmonte International and Prince of Wales's Stakes at four, and who really does stand out at £9,000, down from his initial £15,000.

There are Frankels from a range of distances in this intake and Onesto took the G1 Grand Prix de Paris over a mile and a half. His Juddmonte-bred dam Onshore (Sea The Stars) is out of a full-sister to Hasili, and we've all seen what that particular family can do. He stands for €10,000 in 2026.

A Champagne Stakes winner at two and winner of the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes the following year, Bayside Boy represents a more affordable way into the New Bay line and is now €12,500 at Ballylinch Stud (from €15,000)

After a false start, when injury prevented Mishriff from covering in his first season with Sumbe, we hope that the remainder of his stud career will be plain sailing. A stunning horse, he lived up to those good looks with a body of work which included the Prix du Jockey Club, Saudi Cup, Dubai Sheema Classic and Juddmonte International. From the family of Kodiac and Invincible Spirit, Mishriff is now available at £12,500, a fee which could look very reasonable in the years to come.

Second-year stars

Among those about to embark on their second covering seasons are the National Stud's Bradsell, who boasts a terrific race record for his £10,000; Coolmore's statuesque son of Dubawi, Henry Longfellow (€12,500); Group 1-winning miler Big Rock, who is at the rejuvenated Haras de Grandcamp for €12,000; fellow French Group 1-winning recruits Puchkine (€8,500, Haras de Beaumont) and Metropolitan (€12,000, Haras d'Etreham).

The trio of Big Evs (€15,000, Tally-Ho Stud), Good Guess (€12,500, Tally-Ho Stud) and Mill Stream (€10,000, Yeomanstown Stud) covered 159, 210 and 170 mares respectively this year, and you can expect them to be well represented and well supported at next year's foal sales.

New to stud

In this price bracket the significant new recruits are Inisherin, a member of the final crop of Shamardal and a close relation to his fellow retiree Rosallion and to Triple Time. The G1 Commonwealth Cup winner joins the Dalham Hall roster at £12,500.

Juddmonte's well-bred G1 Lockinge Stakes winner Lead Artist – another from the Hasili family -has been turning the heads of visitors to Banstead Manor Stud and is also at £12,500.

The GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf winner Unquestionable is one of four sons of Wootton Bassett to join the Irish ranks this year and he will start at €10,000 at Rathbarry Stud, while the Irish National Stud has taken charge of Amo Racing's G1 Flying Five Stakes winner Arizona Blaze and has put him in at €12,500.

Bolstering the French ranks is the G1 Prix Morny winner Whistlejacket, who joins Big Rock at Grandcamp for €14,000.

Value Sires Podium

The first thought here is 'We're gonna need a bigger podium'. There are so many in this category worthy of highlighting, but since only gold, silver and bronze medals exist, the stewards had a very close look at the stud-mates Australia and Churchill and decided they wouldn't mind passing the silver medal back and forth across the yard.

GOLD

Awtaad, Derrinstown Stud, €8,500
You want to breed a racehorse, right? Well, look no further.

SILVER

Australia and Churchill, Coolmore, €15,000
Dual Classic winners, dual Classic producers, and now dual silver medal holders. A snip at this price.

BRONZE

Make Believe, Ballylinch Stud, €10,000
Can deliver sprinters through to those with Classic potential, and he remains terrific value.

 

Click the links here if you missed Part I or Part II of our Value Sires series.

The post Value Sires 2026 Part III: Affordable Options  appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

View the full article