HAVING reached the half-way point of the 2019 flat season, it is an opportune time to examine the progress of the first- and second-season sires. Perception may be everything in the making or breaking of a young sire; however it is important to delve into the numbers too.

While it is still early to make any concrete conclusions on how well a sire is performing, it is motivating to see how their stats are stacking up.

Let’s start with the first season sires. Although the first Group 1 for juveniles is not for another few weeks, there has still been 16 group races for two-year olds up to Thursday. Two of those have been won by first-season sires – Gleneagles and American Pharoah. On the accompanying table, the sires are sorted by stakes horses produced and then by number of winners. Only those with at least two winners are included.

Gleneagles is leading the way. Four of his 22 starters are stakes horses already. Group 2 winner Royal Lytham, Royal Ascot stakes winner Southern Hills, Group 2 performer Precious Moments and stakes-placed Highland Chief have all contributed to their sire’s pre-eminent position. Gleneagles has surpassed his father at the same point in his stud career. At this stage, Galileo had a stakes-placed horse but was yet to have a winner. So, whilst his progeny are expected to be progressive, classic types like himself and his father, champion two-year-old Gleneagles is bringing early speed and class to the table.

Cable Bay is next with three stakes-horses from his 36 starters. His stakes winner Liberty Beach was also fourth in the Queen Mary Stakes. Cable Bay is matching his father Invincible Spirit exactly so far, both with over 30% winners to runners and three stakes horses at the same points in their careers. Brazen Beau’s stakes winner was in Italy, while Dubai Station ran third in the Norfolk Stakes.

By leading Australian juvenile sire I Am Invincible, Brazen Beau has big shoes to fill, but both he and Cable Bay have made very promising starts.

Three sires with one stakes winner each are Sidestep, Outstrip and Due Diligence.

On Thursday night, Muharaar, prominent as a juvenile and a son of Oasis Dream who had four stakes horses at this stage in his career, boosted his figures when Unforgetable ran second in the Group 3 Silver Flash Stakes at Leopardstown.

Gutaifan is leading the table by number of runners and winners, having also covered the largest book of mares among this group, 203. Like his father, Gutaifan retired from racing at two and is matching Dark Angel’s number of winners at the same stage, though his sire had two stakes horses at this point.

Moving on to the sophomores, or second-season sires, and enthralling is an understatement to describe the table. Focusing on quality again, the sires are listed by total number of stakes winners, while also breaking down their two-year-old and three-year-old runners. The juvenile category includes both 2018 and 2019 combined, while only sires with at least one stakes winner have been included.

It is an aggressive race at the top, but leading the way is champion first-season sire No Nay Never. He is dominating in every juvenile category and was one of only two first-season sires to produce a Group 1 winner. He silenced any doubters of the ability of his progeny to train on when his son Ten Sovereigns stole the Group 1 July Cup in devastating fashion.

Kingman is shadowing No Nay Never with 12 stakes winners and is leading the three-year-old division by number of winners, stakes winners and group winners. Persian King supplied him with a classic success in the French 2000 Guineas, and there are a number of other Group 1 contenders in the pipeline, including King Of Comedy who is a leading fancy for the Sussex Stakes.

Australia is operating at a consistent pace, with five stakes winners and three of those placed at Group 1 level. His top four colts all hold Group 1 entries in the coming months and it is likely a matter of time before the dual-Derby winner becomes a Group 1 sire too.

Surprising some last year with the precocity of his two-year-olds, Sea The Moon is continuing his upward trajectory as the season develops, with four stakes winners, three group winners and the German Derby-placed Quest The Moon.

There are eight sires who have produced two stakes winners each. Olympic Glory is leading this octet with his Group 1 Coronation star, Watch Me.

Garswood and Anodin made promising starts last year with Group 3 winning two-year-olds, while Bungle Inthejungle operates off a high level of juvenile winners and was given a fee hike after the exploits of Rumble Inthejungle, a Group 3 winner and Group 1 Middle Park Stakes-placed. All three are still to make a stakes impact with their three-year-olds.

Ruler Of The World is still cementing his class from his extremely small crop numbers due to a stud injury, with his Group 1 winning two-year-old Iridessa following up this year in the Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes. Although small in terms of numbers, he is supplying the highest percentage strike rate for three-year-old winners.

Slade Power caught everyone’s attention with his Queen Mary Stakes winner Raffle Prize, and she reinforced that performance in the Group 2 Duchess of Cambridge Stakes.

With the second half of the season still ahead, all is to play for both in terms of achieving champion first- and second-season status and proving the heritability of the sire’s own racecourse successes.