Bill's Columns

Four sires stand out from the crowd among North American and European third-crop sires (first foals 2015, first 4-year-olds 2019), or should I say sires which originally stood in North America or Europe. With their second crops of 3-year-olds now well into the Classic season, Take Charge Indy and Violence, in North America, and Camelot and Declaration of War (who actually stood just his first season in Ireland), in Europe, are the top third-crop sires by cumulative progeny earnings and in most black-type categories. In the accompanying tables, Declaration of War is ranked second in Europe and also tenth in North America (the figures are identical). But Take Charge Indy was sold to South Korea after the 2016 breeding season, before he ever had a runner (his last of three US crops are now 2-year-olds), and Declaration of War has spent the current 2019 season in Japan on a one-way ticket.

At this writing Take Charge Indy maintains a lead of around $264,000 in cumulative progeny earnings, though Hill ‘n’ Dale’s Violence, second by progeny earnings, leads North American third-crop sires in three important black-type categories: number of Black-Type Winners (BTW, 13) and Black-Type Horses (BTH, 24); and number of Graded Stakes Horses (GSH, 12). Take Charge Indy is second among NA sires with 10 BTW. Spendthrift’s Jimmy Creed is next with eight BTW and is tied for second with Take Charge Indy, with 22 BTH. Shanghai Bobby, like Declaration of War an Ashford sire sent to Japan, has seven BTW, tied with WinStar’s Paynter and Overanalyze, and Shanghai Bobby ranks fourth by BTH, with 20. Take Charge Indy and Violence have three GSW each, but Violence has 12 GSH, well clear in that category; Jimmy Creed (8) is next, followed by Take Charge Indy and Darley’s Animal Kingdom, with six each. Seven third-crop sires have a Grade I winner, but none have more than one, nor more than two G1-placed horses.

Coolmore’s Camelot dominates the European third-crop list, and leads all NA/EU third-crop sires by number of BTW (16); number of GSW (9) and GSH (17); and number of Group 1 winners (3) and Group 1 Horses (5). Counted as a European sire, Declaration of War is second by cumulative progeny earnings, and second or tied for second among European sires in all black-type categories. Society Rock, who was leading European Freshman Sire of 2017 but another who unfortunately died before he ever had a runner, still ranks third by cumulative earnings, but will be overtaken before long by Intello, a son of Galileo who has rotated between Cheveley Park Stud in England and the Haras du Quesnay in France; Intello is also tied with Declaration of War with nine BTW, and a clear third in Europe, with 14 BTH, and also third with four GSW. As noted, only Take Charge Indy and Violence in North America have three GSW; also in Europe, Darley’s Farhh, with quite small foal crops, has three GSW.

Spendthrift’s Cross Traffic was the surprise top Freshman Sire last year, and remains the only North American second-crop sire to yet have a Grade 1 winner, the 2018 Champion Two-Year-Old Filly, Jaywalk. Also at Spendthrift, their two-time G1 Dirt Mile winner Goldencents, from Into Mischief’s first crop, was runner-up on the Freshman Sire list, but compliments of G2 Louisiana Derby winner By My Standards, and G3 Pat Day Mile winner Mr. Money, on the Kentucky Derby undercard, Goldencents has taken over the money lead from Cross Traffic, and is also the only NA second-crop sire with more than one GSW. Cross Traffic still leads by number of BTW (6) and BTH (12). Goldencents is tied with Airdrie’s Cairo Prince for second by number of BTW (5), but edges him, 10 to nine, for second by number of BTH. WinStar’s Fed Biz also has nine BTH. Three Chimneys’ Will Take Charge, a half-brother to top NA third-crop sire Take Charge Indy, is the only NA second-crop sire with more than two Graded Stakes Horses; he has four.

The top three European second-crop sires by cumulative progeny earnings all have impressive black-type numbers as well. Juddmonte’s Kingman, who had no fewer than 10 black-type horses in the month of May, has now tied the top 2018 European Freshman Sire, Coolmore’s No Nay Never, with eight BTW, and has edged ahead on the money list, though No Nay Never leads all NA-EU second-crop sires with 18 BTH; Kingman has 13. Kingman is tied with Coolmore’s Australia and England’s Lanwades Stud’s Sea The Moon, with three GSW each, though Australia is clear second by number of GSH (6), to No Nay Never’s seven. Australia has three G1-placed runners to lead that category, though Kingman, No Nay Never, and Coolmore’s Ruler of the World join Cross Traffic as the only NA-EU second-crop sires to have sired a G1 winner so far.

Among European second-crop sires, there is a group of five promising sires which now all have between $900,000 - $1.2-million in progeny earnings: Charm Spirit, who rotates between England’s Tweenhills and France’s Haras de Bonneval; the Al Shaqab duo of Toronado and Olympic Glory, headquartered at France’s Haras de Bouquetot; the aforementioned Sea The Moon; and another Quesnay sire, Anodin – France’s top Freshman Sire of 2018 and not incidentally a full brother to Goldikova.

Among North American second-crop sires, behind the top three of Goldencents, Cross Traffic, and Cairo Prince, another seven sires have progeny earnings over $1.3-million: Lane’s End’s Noble Mission; New York’s McMahon of Saratoga Farm’s Central Banker; Fed Biz and Will Take Charge, already mentioned; Coolmore’s Verrazano; Adena Springs’ Mucho Macho Man; and Three Chimneys’ Strong Mandate, who had the first-time-out BTW of Belmont’s Astoria S., for 2-year-old fillies, June 7. Just behind them are Florida’s Ocala Stud’s Uncaptured and WinStar’s Revolutionary, who is just a few dollars short of the $1-million mark in progeny earnings himself.

Australia’s two big sales companies, Sydney-based Wm Inglis & Son and Magic Millions, based on Queensland’s Gold Coast, between them sold 1,018 fillies and mares in their May sales, which grossed A$137,604,500, and included 15 fillies or mares which sold for A$1-million or more. Magic Millions really dominates this segment of the market, selling 70% of the horses (709) for 75% of the gross (A$104,110,000), including 11 of the 15 seven-figure sales. But Inglis revamped their Chairman’s Sale, moving it away from the Easter Yearling Sale in April back to May, when they already have a Weanling and Broodmare Sale, and 54 horses sold in that sale May 3 averaged A$427,314, including four seven-figure sales.

The auction sale of good race fillies as maiden mares, before they are covered, has become an increasingly important part of the mixed sale landscape over the past few years, and this is also the case in Australia, where six of the 15 seven-figure sales (40%) were of fillies or mares not covered. Of the nine which were sold in foal, four were covered by Leading Sire-in-waiting I Am Invincible; two were in foal to Snitzel, who is about to claim his third consecutive sire championship; and one each to Zoustar, American Pharoah, and top first-year covering sire Russian Revolution.

One other interesting observation is that, though three of the 15 seven-figure sales sold for A$2-million or more, the top price was A$2.3-million. There is a very well-defined auction marketplace in Australasia, which is closely connected with the racing program, but which also reflects a clear distinction between racehorse owners and commercial breeders. This enables a more or less orderly transfer of fillies from racing to breeding stock, but might also explain why there is a ‘ceiling’ of let’s say A$3-million in the breeding stock sales. But if more Australian-bred fillies start producing G1 Epsom Derby winners, as was the case with Anthony Von Dyck’s dam, the Australian-bred Exceed And Excel mare Believe’N’Succeed this year, that ceiling might lift a little bit more, which would result in the Australasian sales becoming even stronger.

With only five mares sold in foal, of which two were seven-figure mares, Snitzel is the leading covering sire, with an average of A$880,000. I Am Invincible, the heir apparent in absolutely everybody’s books (he recently broke the record for SW in a season in Australia, now with 28 this season), ranks second, with 15 mares grossing a total of A$11,860,000, and averaging A$790,667. Two other sires with five or more sold in foal have averaged over A$400,000, namely the venerable Fastnet Rock (6/avg A$491,667) and the top young gun, Zoustar, who had 22 mares in foal gross A$9,610,000, and average A$436,818.

Thirteen sires in all had five or more in-foal mares sell for averages over A$150,000. After the top four named above, five more are proven sires: Exceed And Excel (7/avg A$317,857); Written Tycoon (11/A$289,545); top third-crop sire Pierro (12/A$271,667); Sebring (18/A$213,889); and the #3 second-crop sire, Spirit of Boom (7/A$205,000). The two top first-crop weanling sires, American Pharoah (12/A$285,000) and Capitalist (41/A$161,707) were the two top F2018 covering sires (from their second crops); and Russian Revolution (25/A$254,800) and Merchant Navy (24/A$220,521) were the two top sires who covered their first mares last season.