Value Sires Part I: The Newcomers

[Wandering Eyes]

The holiday season is done and dusted for another year, but for those in the bloodstock business the most prized packages remain wrapped and hidden away. In the coming weeks and months, another year’s worth of planning, investment and anticipation will come to fruition in the form of a fresh crop of foals frolicking the paddocks, and the cycle of boundless optimism that has fueled the Thoroughbred business for so many years will begin anew.

And one cycle rolls right into the next, as foaling season brings with it the endlessly fascinating task of planning a new round of matings. Proven sires and those on the bubble are joined by yet another intake of young pretenders. Over the coming weeks the TDN will present its annual multi-part Value Sires series, analyzing stallions by sire crop and career stage. We begin this week with the new class of 2020 and will advance through stallions with first foals, yearlings and runners, and later look at the stallions who have already proven their worth on the racecourse, highlighting value at each level.

That begs the question, what is value in the bloodstock business? For the end-user, it is doubtless turning a modest nomination fee into a reliable money-spinner that turns up year after year on the racecourse. But this style of breeding is falling out of fashion in favour of a mating that will meet the demands of the yearling sale market, and in this realm value is most likely to be found among the young sires who have not yet had the opportunity to decrease their worth with progeny on the racecourse.

While the definition of value is muddled, for the purposes of this series we will look to strike a happy medium between those sires whose progeny are likelier to earn their keep on the racecourse, and those that may prove most fruitful earlier on in sales rings. At the end of each installment we will present a podium of value for the sire crop.

The New Class of 2020

Standing alone at the top of the fee table for his sire crop is Too Darn Hot (GB), Darley’s triple Group 1-winning and dual Cartier champion son of Dubawi who starts out at Dalham Hall Stud alongside his sire for £50,000. That is fully double the fee that Dubawi-a Group 1 winner at two and G1 Irish 2000 Guineas and G1 Prix Jacques le Marois winner at three–commanded when he retired to Dalham Hall in 2006, and the manner in which Dubawi clawed his way to the top means his son won’t have to do the same. It won’t be lost on breeders, either, that Dubawi’s Night of Thunder (Ire) is this year’s leading first-season sire in Europe, the G1 2000 Guineas and G1 Lockinge S. winner having notched an eye-popping seven black-type winners in 2019. The fact that he has already left the likes of Makfi (GB)-in turn the sire of another useful young sire in Make Believe (GB)-as well as Poet’s Word (GB) and Al Kazeem (GB), who have both enjoyed success from limited opportunities, bodes well for the preservation of Dubawi’s line, and Too Darn Hot should be short odds to top the table. He is beautifully bred, being out of Dar Re Mi (GB) (Singspiel {Ire}), who is not only a triple Group 1 winner and prolific stakes producer, but also a half-sister to leading sire Darshaan (GB). He was the unbeaten 2-year-old champion, besting the subsequent Irish 2000 Guineas winner Phoenix of Spain (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) in the G2 Champagne S. and the G1 Commonwealth Cup winner Advertise (GB) (Showcasing {GB}) and G1 Investec Derby winner Anthony Van Dyck (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in the G1 Dewhurst S. He added two more Group 1s at three: the Prix Jean Prat over seven furlongs and the one-mile Sussex S., where he beat the G1 St James’s Palace S. winner Circus Maximus (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}). Too Darn Hot was Europe’s best miling 3-year-old in 2019 and duly earned divisional honours at the Cartier awards. Too Darn Hot retained the same level of brilliance across both seasons, posting RPRs of 125 at both two and three.

Too Darn Hot isn’t the only champion and multiple Group 1 winner that Darley introduces alongside his sire in 2020: at Kildangan Stud it is the triple Royal Ascot hero Blue Point (Ire), who stands in the same yard as his sire Shamardal at €45,000.

While Galileo and Dubawi once again occupy the top two spots on Europe’s general sires table, there should be little doubt that it was Shamardal who closed out the year as the sire of the moment, his Group 1-winning juveniles Pinatubo (Ire), Earthlight (Ire) and Victor Ludorum (Ire) putting the exclamation point on a stellar season that was kick-started with a win by Castle Lady (Ire) in the G1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches and Blue Point himself in the G1 Al Quoz Sprint over the subsequent GI Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint heroine Belvoir Bay (GB) (Equiano {Fr}). By that point, the 5-year-old Blue Point’s reputation was already well established: the winner of the G2 Gimcrack S. and placed in two Group 1s at two, Blue Point won the G3 Pavilion S. and the G3 Bengough S. at three and was third in the G1 Commonwealth Cup. He took the G1 King’s Stand S. over the record-setting sprinter Battaash (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) back at Royal Ascot at four, but it is doubtless that it was at five when Blue Point was at his best. He was unbeaten in five starts this year-three at Meydan and the King’s Stand and G1 Diamond Jubilee S. at Royal Ascot, after which connections called time on his career. He earned a career-best RPR of 127 in the King’s Stand and ran RPRs of 121-plus in every race this year.

Advertise (GB) (Showcasing {GB}) may have had to play second-fiddle to Too Darn Hot in the Dewhurst last year, but he built on victories in the G1 Phoenix S. and G2 July S. to take command of the 3-year-old sprinters’ division in 2019. After failing to see out the mile in the G1 2000 Guineas, he dropped back to six furlongs to win the Commonwealth Cup with a career-best RPR of 121. Second to Ten Sovereigns (Ire) (No Nay Never) in the G1 July Cup, Advertise bounced back to add the G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest against elders. Bred by Cheveley Park Stud out of a daughter of that nursery’s potent Pivotal (GB), Advertise is the first six furlong Group 1 winner at two and three to retire to stud in Britain since Oasis Dream-who also happens to be his grandsire. Advertise starts out at the National Stud at £25,000.

Coolmore introduces a trio of newcomers next season, with this year’s G1 2000 Guineas winner Magna Grecia (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) introduced at €22,500. Continuing the theme that permeates through most of the highest-regarded young stallions, Magna Grecia was a Group 1 winner at two who held his form to win again at the highest level at three. Both his top-level wins came over a mile: he beat Phoenix of Spain and stablemate Circus Maximus (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in the Vertem Futurity Trophy at two and on his next start took this year’s G1 2000 Guineas with an RPR of 121. It is likewise not a coincidence, being among the elite group to retire to stud, that Magna Grecia is from a red-hot sireline and Invincible Spirit’s stock just seems to keep rising. Kingman (GB) has built on the promise he laid down last year to stamp himself as one of the hottest sires on the planet, while Cable Bay sits second on the first-season sires’ table and I Am Invincible (Aus) continues to fly the flag Down Under. Other representatives of the dynasty include Lawman (Fr) and Charm Spirit (Ire), while the first yearlings by Shalaa (Ire) were highly sought after this year. Magna Grecia is one of four sons of Invincible Spirit to retire in Europe for 2020.

Kingman’s potency perhaps needs no better plug than the fact that the shrewd folks at Coolmore have decided to invest in it with the purchase of the sire’s first stakes winner, Calyx (GB), who stands for €22,500 in Co. Tipperary next year and is Kingman’s first son at stud. Calyx is a Juddmonte homebred from a long line as such; his fourth dam, Populi (Star Envoy), was bought by Khalid Abdullah for $2-million at Keeneland November in 1983 and Khalid Abdullah bred Kingman’s first three dams. First dam Helleborine (GB) (Observatory) won the G3 Prix d’Aumale and was second in the G1 Prix Marcel Boussac, and Calyx certainly inherited her precocity. A ‘TDN Rising Star’ when winning by five lengths on debut in Newmarket last June, he beat Advertise by a length in the G2 Coventry S. just 10 days later. He suffered a setback thereafter which ruled him out until May, when he won the G3 Pavilion S., and met with his first defeat when second in the G2 Sandy Lane S., after which he was retired. Calyx was blessed with the incredible turn of foot that his sired used to such affect and that many of his best progeny possess. While it is a shame that we never truly knew where Calyx ranked among the best sprinters of his generation, he is a young sire that will get every shot to wind up among the best of them at stud.

It is noteworthy that Coolmore is retiring no sons of Galileo this year, and Ten Sovereigns (Ire), like his sire No Nay Never, could prove a valuable outcross to the great champion and begins at €25,000 at Coolmore. Like Too Darn Hot, Ten Sovereigns was an unbeaten Group 1 winner at two, taking the six-furlong Middle Park S. in addition to the G3 Round Tower S. Like Advertise he failed to see out the eight furlongs of the 2000 Guineas, and connections were rewarded for cutting him back in trip with a win over Advertise, and elders, in the G1 July Cup. Ten Sovereigns is out of a daughter of Exceed and Excel, who is proving very worthy as a broodmare sire, with this year alone with the Derby winner Anthony Van Dyck in addition to Ten Sovereigns to his credit.

It is likely a sign of the times that of the five highest-priced colts to retire in Europe for 2020, none won a Group 1 beyond a mile. It is good news for racing, however, that the likes of Stradivarius, Sottsass, Japan and Ghaiyyath remain in training next year. And while Crystal Ocean (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), the joint-highest rated horse in the world this year (at the time of publication), is headed straight off the bat to do National Hunt duty for Coolmore. However, one of the two horses he shares the title with, Waldgeist (Ire), is available at Ballylinch Stud for €17,500. The only elite son of Galileo (Ire) to retire for 2020, Waldgeist truly packs a punch with both his race record and pedigree. He is the first foal out of the exciting young producer Waldlerche (GB) (Monsun {Ger}), a half-sister to the G1 St Leger winner Masked Marvel (GB) (Montjeu {Ire}). Waldgeist won two of his three starts at two, including the G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud. He was a short head away from victory in the G1 Prix du Jockey Club at three and earned his first Group 1 at four in the G1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud going 2400 metres. Waldgeist was undoubtedly at his best this year at five, however, winning three of his five starts including the G1 Prix Ganay and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, and finishing third in the G1 Prince of Wales’s S. and G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth S. behind Crystal Ocean and Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}), respectively. Waldgeist was the joint highest-rated horse in the world this year with those two rivals on a mark of 128 and earned RPRs of 128, 126 and 124. He was a model of consistency through his four seasons on the track, winning or placing in 15 of his 21 starts and winning eight pattern races.

Waldgeist is brought to you by the stud that produced the ascendant Lope de Vega, and that one’s first Classic winner, Phoenix of Spain (Ire), debuts at the Irish National Stud for €15,000. Phoenix of Spain was good enough at two to win the G3 Acomb S. and finish runner-up to Too Darn Hot in the Dewhurst and Magna Grecia in the Vertem Futurity Trophy-running the eventual 2000 Guineas winner to a head in the latter-and he turned the table on both those rivals when earning a 120 RPR on seasonal debut in the Irish 2000 Guineas.

Starting out at £15,000 in Newmarket are a pair of 2018 Derby winners: the Epsom hero Masar (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}) and the G1 Prix du Jockey Club victor Study of Man (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}).

Masar is an excellent example of that coveted blend of speed and stamina, and he has the pedigree to boot. Fast enough to beat the four-time group-winning sprinter Invincible Army (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) on debut in May of his 2-year-old season, Masar ran five times that campaign, winning the G3 Solario S. over the eventual Irish 2000 Guineas and Prix Jacques le Marois victor Romanised (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}) and finishing third in the G1 Prix Jean Luc Lagardere. Masar won the G3 Craven S. by nine lengths with Roaring Lion (Kitten’s Joy) back in third, and after finishing third in the 2000 Guineas he won the Derby with an RPR of 122.

Masar is out of the G2 UAE Derby and G3 UAE Oaks winner Khawlah (Ire) (Cape Cross {Ire}) and his third dam is Melikah (Ire) (Lammtarra), who was placed in both the English and Irish Oaks and is a half-sister to none other than Sea the Stars (Ire) and Galileo (Ire). Masar, therefore, possesses an intriguing blend of speed, stamina, pedigree and talent, and he is an imposing individual who really fills the eye.

Similarly, Study of Man-standing at Lanwades-boasts one of the most sought-after pedigrees in the stud book, and one that will be an outcross to much of the European mare population. He is out of a Storm Cat daughter of the great Miesque, and it is a family that has already produced the sires Kingmambo, Miesque’s Son and Karakontie (Jpn), who has three stakes winners from his initial crop this year. Study of Man won his only start at two, over a mile at Saint-Cloud in September, and he clearly relished the step up to 2100 metres, taking the G2 Prix Greffulhe and the G1 Prix du Jockey Club. He was not disgraced when ninth, beaten 4 1/2 lengths, by Enable in last year’s Arc, and he picked up two Group 1 seconds this year in the Prix Ganay and Prix d’Ispahan.

A pair of multiple group-winning sprinters by highly sought- after sires start out in Ireland next year at €10,000. Soldier’s Call (GB), in addition to Advertise, is the second son of Showcasing to go to stud in 2020; he is available at Ballyhane Stud. Soldier’s Call was an admirably tough juvenile who carried his form through his 3-year-old campaign. Soldier’s Call won the Listed Windsor Castle S. at Royal Ascot, the G3 Prix d’Arenberg at Chantilly and the G2 Flying Childers S. at Doncaster during an eight-race 2-year-old campaign last year that also included a third-place finish, beaten a neck, against older horses in the G1 Prix de l’Abbaye followed by a sixth in the inaugural Listed Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint. Soldier’s Call failed to find the winner’s enclosure this year at three but still posted a career-best RPR of 116 when second to Battaash in his record-setting G1 Nunthorpe S. He was also third in the G1 King’s Stand S.

Yeomanstown Stud debuts Invincible Army (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), one of four sons of Invincible Spirit to retire in Europe next year. Invincible Army is out of Rajeem (GB) (Diktat {GB}), the G1 Falmouth S. winner and close relative to this year’s G3 Fred Darling S. winner Dandhu (GB) (Dandy Man {Ire}). Invincible Army made seven starts at two, winning the G3 Sirenia S. and placing in the G3 Molecomb S., G2 Gimcrack S. and G2 Mill Reef S. He added the G3 Pavilion S. at three but it was really this year at four that he was at his best. He earned RPRs of 118 when winning both the G2 Duke of York Clipper Logistics S. and the G3 Chipchase S., and he picked up a Group 1 placing when third in the Flying Five S.

Another son of Invincible Spirit to join the ranks is Tally-Ho Stud’s Inns Of Court (Ire), who debuts at €7,500. Racing as a homebred for Godolphin and Andre Fabre, Inns Of Court was a debut winner at Chantilly at two. Dropped back to seven furlongs after failing to hit the board in the G1 Poule d’Essai des Poulains at three, he ticked off wins in the G3 Prix du Palais-Royal and the G3 Prix de la Porte Maillot, and earned an RPR of 120 when second to Al Wukair (Ire) (Dream Ahead)-with Thunder Snow (Ire) (Helmet {Aus}) back in third-in the G1 Prix Jacques le Marois. Inns Of Court won the G3 Prix de Ris-Orangis over six furlongs at four last year and was a short-head second to One Master (GB) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) in the G1 Prix de la Foret, and he recorded a career-best RPR of 121 this year when winning the five-furlong G2 Prix du Gros-Chene by 2 1/2 lengths. Inns Of Court is out of the Seeking The Gold mare Learned Friend (Ger), a half-sister to Fierement (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), a dual Group 1-winning stayer this year and last in Japan.

Siyouni (Fr) has made a big impact in France and beyond in the early stages of his stud career, and thus his first sons to retire to stud are likely to be met with great interest; those include in Britain this year Overbury Stud’s Le Brivido (Fr) and in France, Haras d’Etreham’s City Light (Fr).

Initially trained by Andre Fabre, Le Brivido beat none other than the triple Grade I winner Uni (More Than Ready) on debut at two. He won a Chantilly conditions race at first asking at three before finishing a short-head second to Brametot (Fr) (Style Vendome {Fr}) from the dreaded outside 13 gate. Le Brivido bounced back to take Royal Ascot’s G3 Jersey S. over seven furlongs in a faster time than both Ribchester (Ire) (Iffraaj {GB}) and Expert Eye (GB) (Acclamation {GB}), and he retired rated higher than both his sire and his grandsire, Pivotal (GB). He starts out at £7,000 in 2020.

Highclere Stud, which this year provided the second-ranked first-season sire Cable Bay (Ire), next year brings you Land Force (Ire), who joins Ten Sovereigns as a first-crop son of No Nay Never to retire to stud, at £6,500. A €350,000 yearling, Land Force is beautifully bred being a half-brother to the dual Grade I-winning Photo Call (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and from the family of this year’s standout mare Magical (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and many, many other Group 1 winners. Land Force won last year’s G2 Richmond S. and Listed Tipperary S. and was third in the G2 Norfolk S. at Royal Ascot.

In addition to its flagship newcomer Advertise, The National Stud debuts last year’s G1 Irish St Leger winner Flag Of Honour (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) as a dual purpose prospect at £4,500. Flag Of Honour, a half-brother to three stakes winners including sires Misu Bond (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}) and Air Chief Marshal (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}), won the G3 Eyrefield S. at two and the Irish Leger and two other pattern races at three. He was this year runner-up to Magical on three occasions, including the G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup.

A Bright Light In France

City Light, at €7,000 at Etreham, is the most expensive flat stallion to retire to France next year. A debut winner going a mile at Saint-Cloud at two, he skipped the Classics at three in favour of sprint trips, and before the year was out he picked up a conditions win over six furlongs and three black-type placings. City Light got off the mark at pattern level at four when winning the G3 Prix de Saint-Georges over five furlongs, after which he was a short-head second to Merchant Navy (Aus) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) in the G1 Diamond Jubilee S. at Royal Ascot. That effort earned him an RPR of 121, and City Light carried his form through to his 5-year-old campaign this year, when he won the seven-furlong G3 Prix du Pin and was second in the G1 Prix de la Foret. While City Light’s dam, Light Saber (Fr) (Kendor {Fr}), did not earn black-type, his next two dams boast plenty of class; second dam Leariva (Irish River {Fr}) won Laurel Park’s GI International S. in 1991, while third dam Leandra (Fr) (Luthier {Fr}) was France’s high-weighted 2-year-old filly of 1980.

Also in France, Haras de la Barbottiere had great cause to celebrate on Oct. 19 when Donjuan Triumphant (Ire) at last picked up an elusive Group 1 win in the British Champions Sprint S. at Ascot with an RPR of 120. The son of Dream Ahead had won the G2 Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte by a stylish 5 1/2-lengths at two but his only other black-type win in 29 starts in the interim had come in a listed event at Doncaster last November. That hardly tells the whole story, though; in that time period he was also second in the G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest at three, third in last year’s British Champions Sprint S. and picked up a total of six black-type placings. The dark bay, who comes from the classy extended family of champions Scorpio (Fr) and Sagaro (GB), is available for €4,000 in 2020.

Also joining the ranks at Barbottiere at €3,000 is Robin Of Navan (Fr) (American Post {GB}), who defeated the dual G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe-placed Cloth Of Stars (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) in the G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud at two. He won at pattern level again at four and this year at six and was placed at Group 1 level in France and Italy.

France receives a genetic goldmine in the form of Gleneagles (Ire)’s full-brother Taj Mahal (Ire); the son of Galileo and the standout producer You’resothrilling (Storm Cat) won three group races between a mile and a mile and a half Down Under and he stands at Haras de la Haie Neuve for €4,000.

Another classy stayer to start out in France is Marmelo (GB) (Duke of Marmalade {Ire}), who is available at Haras du Grand Courgeon for €3,500. The five-time pattern race winner who signed off with a victory in the G2 Prix de Kergorlay on Aug. 18 is perhaps best known for finishing second in last year’s G1 Melbourne Cup.

While City Light is the first son of Siyouni to retire to France, Roman Candle (Fr) is the first horse by the similarly meteoric Le Havre (Ire) to go to stud in the country. Godolphin’s €190,000 yearling purchase was a winner at two and took this year’s G2 Prix Greffulhe and stands for €2,800 at Haras de la Hetraie.

Group 1 Winner New To Germany

Bolstering the German stallion ranks next year is Godolphin’s three-time Group 1 winner Best Solution (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}), who was purchased by a quartet of German studs and will stand at Haras de Auenquelle for €6,500. Best Solution won the G3 Autumn S. at two and was second to Waldgeist in the G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud. He won Lingfield’s Listed Derby Trial S. at three and later in the season took the G3 St Simon S. Best Solution truly came of age last year at four, reeling off three consecutive Group 1 wins over a mile and a half: Germany’s Grosser Preis von Berlin and Grosser Preis von Baden, and Australia’s Caulfield Cup. Best Solution’s third dam is the top-class stayer Eva Luna, who passed her marathon talents on to her sons Brian Boru (GB) (Sadler’s Wells) and Sea Moon (GB) (Beat Hollow {GB}), as well as to her daughters who produced the likes of Derby and Arc winner Workforce (GB) (King’s Best).

Value Sires Podium

Gold – Waldgeist (€17,500): the joint highest-rated horse in the world this year was consistently good over four seasons on the track and is a son of Galileo. Just missed in the stallion-making Prix du Jockey Club.

Silver – Masar (€15,000): a precocious 2-year-old who went on to win the Derby from the family of Galileo and Sea The Stars.

Bronze – Calyx (€22,500): the fastest son of Kingman is well-bred and shared his sire’s brilliant turn of foot.

The post Value Sires Part I: The Newcomers appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

View the full article