JUDDMONTE will be utilising 33 European stallions in 2023 for its exceptional broodmare band, with Frankel (Galileo) and Kingman (Invincible Spirit) receiving books of mares befitting their status as two of the world’s leading stallions.
They will stand at fees of £275,000 and £125,000 respectively this year.
Frankel’s book includes 25 blacktype performers or producers owned by Juddmonte, headed by four-time Grade 1 winner Emollient (Empire Maker), and the dam of Group 2 winner Raclette (Frankel). Other top-level winners in Frankel’s book for the upcoming season are the Matron Stakes winner Emulous (Dansili), Juliet Foxtrot (Dansili), and Viadera (Bated Breath).
Group 1 producers set for dates with the Banstead Manor super-sire are Bird Flown (Oasis Dream), the dam of Siskin (First Defense), Nimble Thimble (Mizzen Mast), the dam of Quadrilateral (Frankel), and the recently acquired Repose (Quiet American), dam of State Of Rest (Starspangledbanner).
Group 2 winners being covered by Frankel include Isabella Giles (Belardo), Arizona’s full-sister Nay Lady Nay (No Nay Never), Soffia (Kyllachy) and Starformer (Dynaformer). Other stakes producers visiting the 2021 champion sire are Flare Of Firelight (Birdstone), dam of dual Group 2 winner Threat (Footstepsinthesand), and Portodora (Kingmambo), dam of Group 2 winner Set Piece (Dansili).
Kingman
Kingman was represented by four two-year-old pattern winners in 2022, including Group 1 Fillies’ Mile and Group 2 Rockfel Stakes winner Commissioning, the unbeaten Group 2 Gimcrack Stakes winner Noble Style, and the Group 3 winner and Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes third Nostrum.
His 2023 book of mares comprises some notable two-year-old winners and producers, including Group 1 winner Passage Of Time (Dansili), the dam of group winners Time Test (Dubawi) and Tempus (Kingman); Group 1-winning sprinter African Rose (Observatory), dam of Group 3 winner Fair Eva (Frankel); Group 3 winner and Famous Name’s full-sister Big Break (Dansili); and Group 3 winner and Group 1 runner-up Helleborine (Observatory), dam of Group 2 Coventry Stakes winner Calyx (Kingman). He will also be covering top-level winners Proviso (Dansili) and Romantica (Galileo), as well as the dam of Logician (Frankel).
Bated Breath
One of the best prospects for 2023 for Bated Breath (Dansili) is the Group 3-winning filly Juliet Sierra, and her dam Kilo Alpha (King’s Best) will be returning to him this year. She produced the Grade 1 winner Juliet Foxtrot by Dansili (Danehill).
Juddmonte’s youngest stallion Expert Eye (Acclamation), the sire of 25 winners to date from his first crop, will have Group 1 winner Timepiece (Zamindar) among his book of mares. Visiting Oasis Dream (Green Desert), whose progeny have won over 2,800 races, is listed winner Vesela (Frankel), a half-sister to Oasis Dream’s son Showcasing.
Juddmonte homebreds New Bay (Dubawi) and Showcasing will be receiving several mares each. New Bay’s book will include Group 3 winners Dandhu (Dandy Man) and Gaining (American Post), while Showcasing’s book includes dual Group 2 winner Lucky Kristale (Lucky Story).
Other notable matings are Logician’s winning half-sister Monsoon Moon (Kingman) visiting Baaeed (Sea The Stars); Group 3 winner Sacred Bridge (Bated Breath) visiting Dark Angel (Acclamation); Enable (Nathaniel) and her dam Concentric (Sadler’s Wells) visiting Dubawi (Dubai Millennium), along with Group 1 winner Quadrilateral.
Midday (Oasis Dream) and her listed-winning daughter Mori (Frankel) are both due to be covered by Lope De Vega (Shamardal), while Expert Eye’s dam Exemplify (Dansili) will be going to Mehmas (Acclamation).
Frankel’s listed-winning half-sister Joyeuse (Oasis Dream) is to be covered by No Nay Never (Scat Daddy), while Group 3 winner Agave (Dubawi) will go to Sea The Stars (Cape Cross). Listed winners Elegant Verse (Galileo), a daughter of Special Duty (Hennessy) and Noon Star (Galileo), a daughter of Midday, will be visiting Siyouni (Pivotal).
Mehmas tops the yearling sale charts again
WEATHERBYS has published the 58th edition of The Bloodstock Sales Review, a valuable resource for those purchasing horses in all sections of the market, as well as breeders putting together their mating plans, whether flat or National Hunt.
The book provides a complete analysis of European bloodstock sales in 2022 for all foals, yearlings and older horses in Britain, Ireland, France, Germany and Italy.
It also includes foals and yearlings either foaled in Europe or by European-based sires at the major auctions in North America and Japan.
Furthermore, the volume features comprehensive overviews of the trading year for Tattersalls, Goffs, Goffs UK, Tattersalls Ireland and Arqana, as well as tables of the leading sires of 2022 by yearling average, lists of the year’s dearest yearlings and foals, and a roll of top historical auction prices.
To mark the publication of the book, Martin Stevens has looked at the top 10 most profitable British and Irish-based yearling sires of 2022. He has worked out each sires’ profitability index by dividing their 2022 yearling average by their covering fee of 2020, when the offspring in question were conceived.
10 STARSPANGLEDBANNER (Choisir) Average 96,625gns/€120,733, 2020 fee €22,500; index 5.37
Long known as a reliable source of high-class two-year-olds and sprinters, but in 2022 he revealed a new aspect to his abilities, with Aristia, Rhea Moon and State Of Rest winning top-level races over 10 furlongs, and California Spangle becoming a star of the Hong Kong racing scene.
9 KESSAAR (Kodiac) Average 27,214gns/€34,004, 2020 fee €6,000; index 5.67
Kessaar made a promising start with his first-crop of two-year-olds in 2022, supplying 25 winners at a strike-rate of 45%, including black type-placed Bolt Action and Ipanema Princess.
8 NEW BAY (Dubawi) Average 70,655gns/€88,284, 2020 fee €15,000; index 5.89
New Bay showed considerable promise as a sire from the moment his first two-year-olds raced in 2020, and he took his place at the top table last year when Bay Bridge and Bayside Boy notched a memorable Group 1 double for him on Qipco British Champions Day at Ascot, and Saffron Beach added the Prix Rothschild at Deauville to her CV.
7 FARHH (Pivotal) Average 96,768gns/€120,911, 2020 fee £12,000; index 8.06
Farhh has compiled an impressive progeny record in spite of being subfertile, with 23 blacktype performers to his name from his six small crops of racing age. Last season’s Group 1 Sun Chariot Stakes heroine Fonteyn and classic-placed Tribalist are the latest stars to show him in a good light.
6 HAVANA GREY (Havana Gold) Average 53,196gns/€66,468, 2020 fee £6,500; index 8.18
Havana Grey took the breeding world by storm last year, with his first crop of two-year-olds yielding 42 winners at a strike-rate of 49%, as well as no fewer than 13 blacktype performers, headed by Group 3 scorers Eddie’s Boy, Lady Hollywood and Rumstar.
5 KODI BEAR (Kodiac) Average 39,830gns/€49,768, 2020 fee €6,000; index 8.29
Kodi Bear has won the respect of breeders by siring 12 blacktype performers, including top-class sprinter Go Bears Go, from his first three inexpensively bred crops.
4 NIGHT OF THUNDER (Shamardal) Average 179,894gns/€224,778, 2020 fee €25,000; index 8.99
Night Of Thunder was the first-season sire sensation of 2019, supplying 28 winners at an exceptional clip of 58%, and matching Fasliyev’s record of seven stakes scorers in a freshman year. He has maintained a flow of classy runners since, and was represented last year by the top sprinter Highfield Princess.
3 COTAI GLORY (Exceed And Excel) Average 36,653gns/€45,797, 2020 fee €5,000; index 9.16
Cotai Glory made a bold show with his first two-year-old runners in 2021, delivering 35 winners at a strike-rate of 40%. He impressed again in his sophomore season last year, with The Platinum Queen becoming the first two-year-old to win the Group 1 Prix de l’Abbaye since Sigy in 1978.
2 ARDAD (Kodiac) Average 62,967gns/€78,677, 2020 fee £6,500; index 9.69
Ardad won the Windsor Castle Stakes and Flying Childers at two, and he has shown with his first two crops that he is getting precocious and pacey stock in his own image, such as dual Group 1-winning two-year-old and Commonwealth Cup hero Perfect Power.
1 MEHMAS (Acclamation) Average 70,481gns/€88,066; 2020 fee €7,500; index 11.74
Mehmas has established himself as the go-to sire for fast, early types with a touch of class, obliterating the record for number of first-crop two-year-old winners in 2020 when he clocked 56 in total, including unbeaten Middle Park Stakes hero Supremacy and Gimcrack winner Minzaal.
The latter won the Haydock Sprint Cup last year and the likes of Going Global, Lusail, Malavath and Persian Force also flew the flag for him throughout 2022.
This is the second year that Mehmas has topped this chart, and it will be fascinating to see if he can maintain his position in 2023 with his fifth crop of yearlings, conceived at a justifiably much higher price of €25,000.