IT is early days yet, but a look at the top dozen sires in Europe who had their first runners last year, based on their numbers of winners, probably suggests to me that many will continue to be successful in the years ahead.

With 51 individual winners, Blue Point (Shamardal) was the clear leader in the first-season sire championship for 2023, and all but two of the winners were in Europe. Standing at Kildangan Stud, under the Darley banner, his fee for 2024 is €60,000, a healthy jump from the €35,000 he cost breeders last year.