IT is a big year for sires when they have their first runners, and it can be make or break in more ways than one.

Apart from the results on the racecourse, where precocity commands a premium and fashion demands instant results, any perceived lack of immediate success can impact in the autumn when the sire’s second crop face the auctioneers in the sales ring. The later the date for the sale, the better the chance of a stallion getting a lot of early autumn winners, which can have a positive impact in the auction ring.

We have already had a number of yearling sales, two of which are staged in August – the Goffs UK Premier Sale and at Arqana. Now we are facing into a number of the biggest catalogues to be offered in Ireland, Britain and France, and some sires will have been rescued from being on a buyers list with a question mark beside their name, to being in good stead with them.

Conscious that the numbers can change dramatically, even in the space of a couple of days, I am endeavouring to provide a round-up of some of the sires who stock will feature during the coming weeks, and who are off the mark with their first runners. Some are out of the starting stalls at lightening speed, and already seen as a success, while some may be sleepers, with their best to come, and their stock could represent value in the coming weeks.

Kameko (Tweenhills Farm and Stud) is deserving of a special mention, as he is the first of his peers who went to stud in 2021 to sire a Group or Grade 1 winner. That colt, New Century, features elsewhere, along with a longer essay on Kameko (Kitten’s Joy). He will be well represented with yearlings for sale at Goffs, Tattersalls and Arqana. His yearlings this year were conceived at a fee of £20,000, down from his initial season at £25,000, and his current fee of £15,000.

Sensational start

Sergei Prokofiev (Whitsbury Manor Stud) was off to a sensational start at stud, and that early success has continued. Seventeen winners, in Britain, Ireland, France and Spain, are headed by the Group 3 Marble Hill Stakes winner Arizona Blaze, whose placed efforts include being third in the Group 1 Phoenix Stakes and the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot. Meanwhile, his daughter Enchanting Empress won the Listed National Stakes at Sandown.

Trained in Ireland by Aidan O’Brien and bought for $1,100,000 as a yearling, the impressive Canadian-bred Sergei Prokofiev (Scat Daddy) was a spectacular winner as a two-year-old by seven and a half lengths in a maiden race at Navan, and then added the Listed Rochestown Stakes at Naas by four lengths. Sent to Royal Ascot, he was a close third in the Group 2 Coventry Stakes, only a length behind Calyx and Advertise, and returned to winning form in the Group 3 Cornwallis Stakes over five furlongs at Newmarket.

At three, Sergei Prokofiev started off in winning form in the Listed Cork Stakes over five and a half furlongs at Navan, finishing fast to defeat 14 others, and then he was a close fourth to Mabs Cross in the Group 3 Palace House Stakes at Newmarket. He went to stud for a fee of £6,500, it was shaved to £6,000 in year two, and has been unchanged since. It will certainly move in 2025. The sire attracted more than 150 mares in each of his first three seasons, and buyers will be falling over themselves in Goffs, Newmarket and Deauville to see his yearlings.

Double up

Another stallion with two stakes winners in his first crop is Mohaather (Beech House Stud). Retired to Nunnery Stud at a fee of £20,000, he was cut to £15,000 for the next two years, and following is location change this year, breeders were set a fee of £12,500.

All but two of his 13 winners have been in Britain, and with one each in France and Poland.

His French winner is Mojave River, the Joseph O’Brien-trained filly who earned €80,000 for winning on her debut there, in an Arqana sales race. The trainer believes she is a stakes filly. In the meantime, Mohaather (Showcasing) is responsible for Big Mojo, whom I saw winning the Group 3 Molecomb Stakes at Goodwood in person, and he has since run second in the Group 2 Flying Childers Stakes. Another son, Yah Mo Be There, gained his sole victory to date in the Listed Rose Bowl Stakes at Newbury.

A lightly-raced 110,000gns yearling purchase by Shadwell, Mohaather won the Group 3 Horris Hill Stakes at Newbury shortly after landing his maiden over six furlongs at Nottingham, two of his three juvenile starts. He added the Group 3 Greenham Stakes, back at Newbury, on the first of just two starts at three, before going on to be rated 129 by Timeform as a four-year-old.

In his third season racing for Sheikh Hamdan, he trounced San Donato by almost four lengths to take the Group 2 Summer Mile at Ascot, and this was just 18 days before beating Circus Maximus and Siskin in the Group 1 Sussex Stakes over the same trip at Goodwood, a performance that drew rave reviews, and was achieved in a faster time than that recorded by Kingman to win the same race,

Mohaather is a full-brother to the Grade 1-placed dual Grade 2-winning sprinter-miler Prize Exhibit (Showcasing), and a half-brother to the dam of Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes scorer Accidental Agent (Delegator). He has yearlings for sale at all three venues in October.

Ballyhane Stud

Joe Foley’s ability to identify sire talent has been confirmed again following the excellent start Sands Of Mali (Ballyhane Stud) has made with his juvenile runners. A dozen winners in Britain, and a couple more in France and Italy, takes his tally to 14, and rising. His first season fee of €6,500 dropped for the conception of the current yearlings to €5,000, and it has remained at that fee since.

The dream start for Sands Of Mali (Panis) included having a winner at Royal Ascot, Ain’t Nobody winning the Listed Windsor Castle Stakes, and for good measure the sire’s daughter Aviation Time was third in the same race. Sands Of Mali has a third stakes horse, and a good one, his daughter Time For Sandals being beaten just a neck in the Group 2 Lowther Stakes at York.

Sands Of Mali is, like the typical Ballyhane stallion, all about speed. He was Timeform-rated 116 at two after he beat Invincible Army easily in the Group 2 Gimcrack Stakes, and that figure rose to 125 at three. He won a Group 3 sprint in France, beat Invincible Army again in the Group 2 Sandy Lane Stakes, was a half-length runner-up to Eqtidaar in the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup, and crowned a great season when he defeated the brilliant Harry Angel by a length in the Group 1 Sprint Cup at Haydock.

Sands Of Mali was trained by Richard Fahey who described him as “a brilliant sprinter, a true Group 1 horse”. He will have plenty of yearlings for sale at Goffs and Tattersalls.

Earthlight

Darley has a number of stallions with their first runners this year, among them Earthlight (Kildangan Stud). The runners from his first crop, when he stood for €20,000, contain 11 winners, spread between Britain, Ireland and France. His yearlings, available to purchase in Ireland, England and France next month, are the result of a fee of €18,000, and for the past two seasons his price has settled at €15,000.

The sole stakes winner for Earthlight (Shamardal) to date is the very smart Daylight, and in addition to winning the Group 3 Prix de Cabourg at Deauville, she was third last time out to Whistlejacket and Rashabar in the Group 1 Prix Morny. Michael Appleby trains Earthlight’s son Mr Lightside, a dual winner who ran third in the Group 3 Molecomb Stakes at Goodwood.

Earthlight was the unbeaten champion juvenile in France in 2019 and was one of the three best juveniles in Europe that season. Trained by André Fabre for Godolphin, he made a winning debut at Maisons-Laffitte, and he followed up with a three-length success over six furlongs at Deauville. He then completed a Deauville hat-trick, coming home four lengths clear in the Group 3 Prix de Cabourg in July (a race now won by his daughter), before adding the Group 1 Prix Morny in August, with three Royal Ascot winners, including Raffle Prize and Arizona, in arrears.

In September Earthlight made his only visit to England, starting favourite for the Group 1 Middle Park Stakes and scoring comfortably from subsequent Group 1-winning sprinter Golden Horde, setting a new record time for the race.

Earthlight did not reappear at three until July, scoring his sixth consecutive win by two and a half lengths in the Listed Prix Kistena over six furlongs at Deauville, before finishing a close fourth there to Space Blues in the Group 1 Prix Maurice de Gheest. Moving up to seven furlongs for the first time, he scored in the Group 3 Prix du Pin at Deauville, before ending his illustrious racing career with a close second in the Group 1 Prix de la Foret at Longchamp on Arc day, beaten only a neck by One Master.

Another Shamardal

Pinatubo (Dalham Hall Stud) is another first-season sire who stands under the Darley banner, and for all his four seasons at stud he has commanded a fee of £35,000. Numerically he outstrips Earthlight with 14 winners, between Britain and France, but all that Pinatubo (Shamardal) now needs is his first stakes winner.

He does have three stakes performers, Wolf Of Badenoch finishing second in the Group 2 Vintage Stakes at Goodwood, Cavallo Bay running third in the Grade 3 With Anticipation Stakes at Saratoga, while his daughter Qilin Queen was runner-up in the Listed Ascendant Stakes at Haydock. Another worth mentioning is Hallasan, and on his most recent start he landed the valuable Weatherbys Scientific 300,000 Stakes at Doncaster.

Timeform made Pinatubo their European champion two-year-old, rating him on 134, an astonishing 14lbs above all his contemporaries, comparing him with such other unbeaten legendary juveniles as The Tetrarch, Tudor Minstrel and Frankel. He easily won his first two starts, including the Woodcote Stakes at Epsom. He was then sent to Royal Ascot for the Listed Chesham Stakes over seven furlongs, and cantered home more than three lengths clear of Lope Y Fernandez in a new juvenile track record time.

Stepping up to Group 2 status for the Qatar Vintage Stakes at Goodwood, he added another victory by five lengths from subsequent Solario Stakes winner Positive. Travelling to Ireland for the Group 1 Goffs Vincent O’Brien National Stakes at the Curragh, Pinatubo passed the post a remarkable nine lengths ahead of group winners Armory and Arizona. In his final outing that season, the Group 1 Darley Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket, he beat Arizona by two lengths.

As a three-year-old in 2020, Pinatubo raced four times, always in Group 1 events. Racing over a mile for the first time, he finished third in the 2000 Guineas behind Kameko. At Royal Ascot he was a close second to Palace Pier in the Group 1 St James’s Palace Stakes, before returning to winning form in the Group 1 Prix Jean Prat at Deauville. Finally, Pinatubo was second to Persian King in the Group 1 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp, with Circus Maximus third. Pinatubo has four yearlings at Arqana, two at Goffs and many in Newmarket.

Hello Youmzain (Haras d’Etreham) stood his first two seasons at €25,000, and the most recent two at a slightly reduced €22,500. He has a few yearlings at Goffs and Tattersalls, but will be well represented at Arqana. Eight of his 13 winners have been in France, four in Britain, one in the Czech Republic, and while he had been doing well, in the recent weeks he has sired a pair of Group 3 winners, both colts, Electrolyte and Misunderstood. They won the Prix Eclipse and Prix des Chênes respectively, while the former was runner-up in the Group 2 Coventry Stakes.

A dual Group 1 winner, Hello Youmzain (Kodiac) won the Haydock Sprint Cup and the Diamond Jubilee Stakes, beating The Tin Man and Dream Of Dreams respectively, and chased Space Blues home in the Group 1 Prix Maurice de Gheest. He is one of three stakes winners out of a Shamardal mare.

Among the many sires with multiple winners worth mentioning are: