We are more than halfway through the big-race season, and that gives a far more reliable picture of the various statistics. As before, I have worked out the five best stallions in each of the three youngest crops.
It is among the second-season sires that the real changing of the guard looks to be coming. Coolmore’s son of Siyouni, St Mark’s Basilica, catches the eye in particular, and his progeny have earned more than any of the third-season sires.
He also has much the best average per runner, and it is of course the filly Diamond Necklace who has driven the earnings through the roof with her three Group 1 wins.
Among the first-season sires it is, as it was last year, a stallion from Ireland’s Tally Ho Stud who leads the way. The six-year-old son of Mehmas, Persian Force, holds a narrow lead over Bayside Boy (New Bay), who is nevertheless clearly the better on average.
Starman (Dutch Art), who won last year’s first-season championship for Tally Ho, follows St Mark’s Basilica, but measured on strength in depth and strike rate the Dubawi horse Space Blues is clearly the best.
The third-season sires are missing the winner of both the first- and second-season championships, Sergei Prokofiev (Scat Daddy), who now stands in Canada. He would have been overhauled in any case by the Dubawi horse Ghaiyyath, who could be the best of the crop.
Note too that Dubawi has sons in the top five in every crop, and that we see the next generation from Dubawi for the first time in the New Bay horse Bayside Boy.
