THE Weatherbys Return of Mares is required reading for professionals and pedigree buffs alike, featuring as it does breeding records for each and every thoroughbred broodmare in Britain and Ireland.

It details the identity of the mares’ foals and coverings in that season, as well as current and historical statistics on breeding activity in the two countries. The book provides an indispensable guide to the popularity of stallions, the latest news on top-class racemares and producers, and crucial clues to the health of the bloodstock business.

As a taster for the 2024 edition, which has just been published and is available to purchase on the Weatherbys Shop, here are five key pieces of information contained within its pages complied by Martin Stevens.

1. Order Of St George (Galileo) was the busiest sire in 2024, having covered 311 mares under the Coolmore National Hunt banner at Castle Hyde Stud. The champion stayer has always been popular, receiving 288 mares in 2022 and 238 in 2023, but an encouraging display with his first four-year-olds drove demand even higher this year.

Order Of St George supplied seven individual point-to-point winners including Buckna, who was sold at the Tattersalls Cheltenham Festival Sale for £350,000, while among his early runners under rules were impressive bumper scorers Gore Point and Seo Linn.

There was quality as well as quantity in the sire’s book this year, as it featured accomplished racemares Bonny Kate, Irish Roe, Maskada, Theatre Glory and Zuzka, as well as the dams of Angels Breath, Banbridge, Captain Teague, Flooring Porter, Loughglynn, Mister Blue Sky, Rock The Kasbah, The New One and Thunder Rock.

Behind Order Of St George, the next most active sires this year were Calyx (273 coverings), Santiago (251), Good Guess (250), Affinisea (246), Sioux Nation (246), Mehmas (244), Hurricane Lane (236), Triple Threat (225) and Poet’s Word (223).

2. Irish National Stud-based Irish 2000 Guineas hero Phoenix Of Spain (Lope De Vega) received one of the biggest year-on-year increases in book size. The grey covered 217 mares this season, up from 91 last year, on the back of making an encouraging start by delivering 20 winners at a clip of 39% among his debut crop of two-year-olds in 2023.

Phoenix Of Spain has justified breeders’ faith with another bold showing in his sophomore season, the highlight of which has been Haatem winning the Craven Stakes and Jersey Stakes and making the frame in two classics. His expanded book this year included the dams of Blue Point, Family One, Gold Phoenix, Jaameh, Katla, Layfayette, One Voice, Pandora’s Gift, Ship Of Dreams, Stratum and Thunderbear, as well as the dam of his star son Haatem.

Other sires who enjoyed a big upturn in business between 2023 and 2024 were King Of Change, who went from 52 mares to 131, and Awtaad, who went from 74 to 128.

3. Frankel joined Dubawi as the most expensive sire in the world when his fee was increased to £350,000 as reward for a sensational season in 2023 in which he was represented by 11 Group 1 winners, and was crowned Britain and Ireland’s champion sire by a wide margin. His book of 192 mares at Banstead Manor Stud this year contained wall-to-wall quality.

It included Group/Grade 1 winners Abscond, Al Husn, Alcohol Free, And Tell Me Nolies, Announce, Blowout, Caravel, Castle Lady, Emollient, Fallen For You, In Italian, Juliet Fox-trot, Kitesurf, Laurens, Lightening Pearl, Meditate, Midday, Muskoka, One Master, Pearls Galore, Polydream, Proviso, Saffron Beach, Sauterne, Sobetsu, Special Duty, Tenebrism, Teona, Urban Fox, Viadera and Wild Illusion. Furthermore, it contained the dams of 32 top-flight winners.

Frankel’s 2024 book also featured five special mares who won at the highest level and have also produced progeny who have done the same. They are Beauty Parlour (dam of Blowout), Daddys Lil Darling (dam of Savethelastdance), Dar Re Mi (dam of Too Darn Hot), Mecca’s Angel (dam of Content) and Quiet Reflection (dam of Lake Victoria).

4. Derby winner and European champion three-year-old Authorized (Montjeu) was given a warm welcome to Ireland, where he was born and bred by a partnership that included Michael Kinane, when he was repatriated from the Turkish Jockey Club to stand at Capital Stud in Co Kilkenny this year. The 20-year-old, source of Group 1 winners Ambivalent, Hartnell, Seal Of Approval and Santiago, but better known as the sire of dual Grand National hero Tiger Roll and top hurdler Nichols Canyon, covered 138 mares on his return.

They included good racemares Legacy Gold, Poetic Music, Sensulano and Zambella, and the dams of Bravemansgame, Champ, Rathvinden, Absolute Notions and Campeador. Authorized served a reminder of his talents as a National Hunt sire before the covering season began when Readin Tommy Wrong won the Grade 1 Lawlor’s of Naas Novice Hurdle in January, and another when I Am Maximus became his second winner of the Grand National at Aintree.

5. Lillie Langtry (Danehill Dancer) must rank as one of the brightest jewels in Coolmore’s treasure chest of broodmares. The 17-year-old was a dual Group 1 winner, taking the Coronation Stakes and Matron Stakes, and she has produced six winners including no fewer than three classic heroines, namely Minding, Empress Josephine and Tuesday.

Furthermore, she is granddam of a Group 1 winner, with Minding’s son Henry Longfellow. Remarkably, Lillie Langtry had produced no male offspring until this year, when the 11th foal she produced was her first ever colt. The son of Frankel is clearly a priceless commodity.