WHAT a start at stud for Galileo Gold, and what a year for Tally-Ho Stud. The O’Callaghan’s Co Westmeath farm also houses Cotai Glory, another stallion whose first runners this year include a stakes winner among their number.
Galileo Gold’s best juvenile performance came this week six years ago when he beat Ibn Malik to land the Group 2 Vintage Stakes at Goodwood. The following year he established himself among the elite milers, winning the Group 1 2000 Guineas and the St James’s Palace Stakes, and finishing runner-up to Awtaad and The Gurkha respectively in the Group 1 Irish 2000 Guineas and Sussex Stakes. He had beaten both of his conquerors when landing his biggest wins.
A son of Paco Boy (Desert Style), he is the best runner for his sire who himself was a three-time Group 1 winner, capturing the Queen Anne Stakes, Prix de la Foret and Lockinge Stakes. Galileo Gold’s dam is a half-sister to dual Group 1 winning sprinter Goldream (Oasis Dream), and this is the family of champion racehorse and sire Montjeu (Sadler’s Wells).
Four of Galileo Gold’s seven winners to date have earned stakes status, Ebro River and System both winning listed races in England, while Oscula and Hellomydarlin have been group-placed.
Galileo Gold went to stud at €15,000, dropped to €10,000 and €7,500 for the next two years, while lucky breeders who used him at €5,000 this year will be happiest of all.
Cotai Glory
Marginally more popular with breeders during his first year at stud than Galileo Gold (they covered 180 and 140 mares respectively), Cotai Glory is blazing a trail when it comes to individual winners in his first crop.
He has 22 successful offspring already, almost a 50% strike rate, and they include Atomic Force, currently the top-rated juvenile in Europe according to Timeform.
Beaten on his debut in early April, Atomic Force was swiftly gelded, won at Hamilton in late May and has now been highly impressive when adding a pair of group races in France, most recently taking the Group 2 Prix Robert Papin at Chantilly.
He is one of four stakes performers for his sire, Gig Two and Eldrickjones both finishing second at Royal Ascot, while Sophie’s Star was placed in a listed race at Naas this week.
Raced for four seasons, in which he ran 30 times, Cotai Glory won the Group 3 Molecomb Stakes at two and another Group 3 at four, both over five furlongs. The speedy son of Exceed And Excel (Danehill) was runner-up to Profitable in the Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes and third, the following year, to Marsha in the Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes.
Cotai Glory began at €6,000 in his first year at stud, and has commanded €5,000 for each year since. His 2022 fee will not remain the same.
Caravaggio
With 217 mares covered in his first year at stud in Coolmore, Caravaggio was the busiest of the new stallions going to stud in 2018. Little wonder, given that this son of Scat Daddy (Johannesburg) was a Group 1 winner at two and three, most notably beating Harry Angel and Blue Point in the Commonwealth Cup over six furlongs at Royal Ascot.
This was his second win at the meeting, as he landed the Group 2 Coventry Stakes as a juvenile, beating Mehmas. Later that year he won the Group 1 Keeneland Phoenix Stakes. He won seven of his 10 starts, is by the sire of Justify, Lady Aurelia and No Nay Never, but he moved after three seasons in Tipperary to Ashford in Kentucky.
His fee rose from €35,000 to €40,000 while he was here, an unusual occurrence for a horse yet to have a runner, but American breeders look to have got a bargain this year when his fee was set at $25,000. Ten of his first crop are winners, his daughter Agartha landing the Group 3 Frank Conroy Silver Flash Stakes at Leopardstown on Thursday, Dizzy Bizu winning a listed race in France, while his son Andreas Vesalius was runner-up last weekend in the Group 3 Anglesey Stakes.
Profitable
Twelve runs at two and three for the son of Invincible Spirit (Green Desert) yielded a single juvenile success and a listed win at York for Profitable, both over five furlong. At four he was a revelation, beating another first-season sire, Cotai Glory, in the Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes and Mecca’s Angel in the Group 2 Temple Stakes.
Lady Aurelia denied him a second King’s Stand Stakes at five, while Battaash was the only one better than him in the Group 2 Temple Stakes. For his first three years at Kildangan, Profitable stood for €12,000, only dropping this year to €10,000.
He covered 185 mares in his first year at stud, only Caravaggio and Churchill covering more among the new intake of stallions in 2018.
Victory for Quick Suzy in the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot has been the highlight among the performances of his first runners, nine of which have won to date. Thunder Love and Bosh are dual winners.
Churchill
Winner of the Listed Chesham Stakes at Royal Ascot as a maiden, Churchill progressed as the year went on, being rated the best in Europe as a juvenile after victories over Lancaster Bomber and Blue Point in the Group 1 Dubai Dewhurst Stakes, and over Mehmas in the Group 1 Goffs Vincent O’Brien National Stakes.
The following year he won the 2000 Guineas in England and Ireland.
Priced at €35,000 for his first two years at Coolmore, and €30,000 since, he was second only to Caravaggio in terms of popularity among the sires who went to stud in 2018. His eight winners to date have been trained by eight different trainers, four in Ireland, two in Britain, and one each in France and Italy.
On Wednesday, at Naas, he had his first stakes winner when Ladies Church won the Listed Arqana Irish EBF Marwell Stakes at Naas, and a day later Unconquerable was group-placed at Leopardstown.
El Kabeir
Another son of Scat Daddy off the mark with a stakes winner in his first crop is Yeomanstown Stud’s El Kabeir. A Grade 2 winner in the USA as a juvenile, he was third to Frosted in the Grade 1 Wood Memorial Stakes at three. Sent to stud at a fee of €8,000, this dropped by 25% this season.
Obviously well-priced, attracting nearly 150 mares in his first crop, he is responsible already for seven winners, three of them in Italy where all his runners have won. The best of that trio is Don Chicco, a listed winner, while nearer to home another son, Masekela, won on his debut, finished fifth in the Chesham Stakes at Royal Ascot, and was runner-up recently in the Group 2 Superlative Stakes.
Ardad
The Tally-Ho Stud influence is felt again in the case of the seventh sire to get a stakes winner among the first crop of two-year-olds racing in Europe in 2021. Ardad is a son of Kodiac (Danehill), the three-parts brother to Invincible Spirit.
Best at two when he beat the subsequent Group 1 winner The Last Lion in the Group 2 Flying Childers Stakes, Ardad also won the Listed Windsor Castle Stakes at Royal Ascot. Attracting over 130 mares in his first season at Overbury Stud at a fee of £6,500, and maintaining that price for two more years, breeders this year could use him for just £4,000. Not again.
His 14 winners to date include a dozen in Britain, and he had a good Royal Ascot.
His son Perfect Power beat subsequent group winner Go Bears Go to win the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes, while dual winner Vintage Clarets was third in the Group 2 Coventry Stakes.
Six European-based stallions who are catching the eye
Aclaim
This son of Acclamation (Royal Applause) is from the same family as Galileo Gold (Paco Boy), the classic-winning sire of two stakes winners in his first crop of juveniles. Aclaim won his sole start at two, progressed to become a Group 2 winner in his second season, and crowned his career with victory in the Group 1 Prix de la Foret over seven furlongs at four.
Some 160 mares visited him in his first season at the National Stud in Newmarket, at £12,500, but that dropped immediately to £9,500 for the most recently completed three seasons. His fans will be thrilled with the start he has made, siring 11 winners to date, eight in Britain, two in Italy and one in France. His daughter Cachet has been stakes-placed.
Al Wukair
Winner of a listed race over a mile when unbeaten in two starts as a juvenile, Al Wukair went on to land the Group 1 Prix Jacques Le Marois in his second season, after chasing home Churchill and Barney Roy in the Group 1 2000 Guineas. The son of Dream Ahead (Diktat) went to stud at Haras de Bouquetot. He stood for €8,000 in his first two seasons, dropping €1,000 in each season since.
All of his three winning progeny have been successful in France and include the dual winner Al Wakrah, and the useful looking Wagged. Al Wukair had strong books of mares, about 120, in each of his first two seasons at stud.
Birchwood
Four winners of five races in France, where he stands at Haras de la Huderie, is a good start at stud for Birchwood, a son of Dark Angel (Acclamation) who was at his best when a two-year-old.
At that age he won three of his seven starts, notably the Group 2 Superlative Stakes over seven furlongs. He finished third in both the Group 1 National Stakes, to Air Force Blue, and the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf over a mile, behind Hit It A Bomb.
Based at Huderie since he went to stud, his fee has been unchanged throughout at €5,000. This year he has covered more than 100 mares for the first time, though he had more than 90 in each of his first two seasons.
Ribchester
The early success of Wootton Bassett at stud was a help to another son of his sire Iffraaj (Zafonic), Ribchester, when he retired to Kildangan Stud in 2018 at €30,000.
That fee has decreased in increments each year since, to €17,500 this year. Winner of the Group 2 Mill Reef Stakes at two, Ribchester went on to win the Group 1 Prix Jacques Le Marois at three, and add three more Group 1 wins at four. He finished in the first three on 14 of his 16 starts, and 10 of these were Group 1 races.
His four winners in Britain include Flaming Rib who was second in the Woodcote Stakes at Epsom, while Ruthin has won in the USA for Wesley Ward, having been the highest-priced yearling by a first-season sire in 2020, realising 350,000gns.
Time Test
Another stud farm with a second first-season stallion making waves in 2021 is the National Stud in England.
Time Test, a Juddmonte-bred son of Dubawi (Dubai Millennium), was a maiden winner over seven furlongs in three juvenile starts, and he went on to win a couple of times at Group 2 level, beating the likes of Decorated Knight and Mondialiste, both successful first-season sires this year, in the process.
Four of Time Test’s 10 runners to date have won, his son The King’s Horses being group-placed in Italy. He has just completed his fourth season at stud, and his fee has never moved from £8,500.
Zelzal
Haras de Bouquetot has two stallions on this list, Al Wukair and Zelzal. The latter is by Sea The Stars (Cape Cross) and he has three winners of four races among his first runners, which number just eight to date. Three more of these have been placed.
Zelzal stood for €6,000 this year, down from the €8,000 he started out at in 2018.
He has had relatively small books of mares, averaging about 70 in his first three seasons at stud, and he did not race himself at two. Zelzal won four of his six starts at three, setting a track record for a mile at Chantilly when he won the Prix Jean Prat. His stock are likely to get better with time, and he could be a sleeper among this group.
Gun Runner best as Mohaymen is the surprise package
CARAVAGGIO (Scat Daddy), now based at Ashford Stud, is the leading first season sire standing in the USA, thanks to his repatriation there after spending his first three seasons at Coolmore. He has 10 individual winners, two stakes winners, from over 40 runners.
With less than half that number of starters, Three Chimneys’ Gun Runner (Candy Ride) is the pro tem leader among the American sires who started their stallion career in the USA and who have their first runners in 2021.
He stood this year for $50,000, twice the fee of Caravaggio, and this Horse of the Year and six-time Grade 1 winner of almost $16 million can be expected to do better as his progeny age.
Pair of wins
Gun Runner won two of his three starts at two, a maiden special and an allowance race, was a Grade 1 winner at three, and at four and five he took on and beat the best runners about, suffering his only defeat at those ages when runner-up to Arrogate in the Dubai World Cup.
Gun Runner’s eight winners from 18 runners include a stakes-placed daughter.
The surprise name among the leaders in the first-season sire race in the USA is Shadwell Farms’ Mohaymen, a son of Tapit (Pulpit).
He looked a real star when he was unbeaten in his first five starts, four of them Grade 2 races, and he went to stud with those five wins and no placed efforts in 13 starts.
As a son of Tapit and a half-brother to the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner New Year’s Day (Street Cry), he is value at his $7,500 fee.
Now Mohaymen has sired seven winners from 13 runners, a great strike rate, and recently had an impressive debut winner in Japan.