WITHOUT doubt, the most high-profile addition to the stallion ranks in Ireland in 2022 is Coolmore’s new recruit, St Mark’s Basilica.

The best of his generation, this son of Siyouni (Pivotal) was champion at two following his success in the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes. That was just an appetiser for what was to come.

This year he was unbeaten in four Group 1 outings, being a dual French classic winner, beating older horses in the Eclipse Stakes and, finally, defeating Tarnawa in the Irish Champion Stakes. He joins his half-brother Magna Grecia (Invincible Spirit) on the Coolmore roster in Fethard.

St Mark’s Basilica is not the only new sire standing this season under the Coolmore banner.

Santiago (Authorized) stands at Castlehyde Stud in Fermoy and the Group 1 Irish Derby winner, who won over a mile at two, was also successful in the mile and six-furlong Group 1 Queens Vase at Royal Ascot He comes from the family of the successful sire Tamayuz (Nayef).

Santiago is yet another top-class winning son of the champion three-year-old and Derby winner Authorized (Montjeu). Those latter two stallions have had a major impact on jump racing too.

Meanwhile, the McCarthy’s The Beeches Stud adds two new sires for 2022, In Swoop and Mogul. In Swoop is a son of the leading German stallion Adlerflug (In The Wings) who also sired the recent Arc winner Torquator Tasso. In Swoop beat that Arc hero when he won the Group 1 German Derby.

Classic win

After his classic win, In Swoop ran Sottsass close in the 2020 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. An own-brother to Group 1 winner and German champion Ito (Adlerflug), In Swoop never finished out of the first four in nine career starts.

Another race in which In Swoop finished second was the Group 1 Grand Prix de Paris, and his conqueror that day was Mogul (Galileo) who will now stand alongside him at The Beeches Stud. A 3,400,000gns yearling and full-brother to Group 1 winner Japan, Mogul was a Group 2-winning juvenile and dual Group 1-winning three-year-old.

In the Grand Prix de Paris Mogul also beat the Epsom Derby winner Serpentine, while in the Group 1 Hong Kong Vase he had three lengths to spare over Hong Kong Horse Of The Year Exultant.

Thoroughbred county welcomes four stars

THE Irish National Stud is home to one of the country’s leading stallions, Invincible Spirit, though they recently suffered disappointment with the news that his son National Defense, who made such a fine start last year with his first runners, will not be returning from Australia for the 2022 season.

As a two-year-old Lucky Vega beat, among others, St Mark’s Basilica when he won the Group 1 Keeneland Phoenix Stakes by three and a half lengths. He was twice runner-up at Group 1 level, including to Poetic Flare in the St James’s Palace Stakes, while he also placed in the 2000 Guineas. Lucky Vega (by Lope De Vega) joins another son of Lope De Vega, Phoenix Of Spain, at the INS.

Nando Parrado may have been something of a shock winner of the Group 2 Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot as a juvenile, but he proved it was no fluke when he later ran second in a pair of two-year-old Group 1 races, the Prix Morny to Campanelle and the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere to Sealiway.

A son of Kodiac (Danehill), another sire whose sons are emerging as huge talents at stud, Nando Parrado is from a very successful female line in South America, his first three dams being Group 1 performers and/or producers.

Lucky Vega chased home Supremacy in the Group 1 Middle Park Stakes over six furlongs at two, and now the pair are standing just a few miles apart. Supremacy is based at Gay and David O’Callaghan’s Yeomanstown Stud.

Supremacy was the breakthrough top-level winner for Mehmas (Acclamation) and both father and son won the Group 2 Richmond Stakes at Goodwood. On his dam side, Supremacy is out of a half-sister to the dam of the champion Harry Angel, a son of Dark Angel (Acclamation).

Space Blues

The aforementioned Harry Angel stands at Darley’s Dalham Hall, but it is at their Irish wing, Kildangan Stud, that Space Blues has retired for the 2022 season. Space Blues holds the distinction of being the fastest stallion son of Dubawi (Dubai Millennium) and he’s also from the same female family as his sire. His Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Mile success on his last outing added to a sensational win in the Group 1 Prix de la Foret on Arc day. In 2020 he was successful in the Group 1 Prix Maurice de Gheest. Space Blues is the best offspring of the Group 2 Challenge Stakes winner Miss Lucifer (Noverre), and she is also responsible for the multiple group winner Shuruq (Elusive Quality), a champion in the UAE.

Ticking all the right boxes

WHEN it comes to ticking all the boxes, Fifty Stars does just that.

Commencing his first season covering at Michael Hickey’s Sunnyhill Stud, this Group 1 winning son of Sea The Stars (Cape Cross) is also a half-brother to the Grade 1 winning hurdler Whiskey Sour (Jeremy). Their dam Swizzle Stick (Sadler’s Wells) is a half-sister to the champion Viztoria (Oratorio).

In addition to being a brilliant racehorse, one of the best ever, Sea The Stars has enjoyed phenomenal success at stud, and now his son Sea The Moon is a successful Group/Grade 1 sire, including over jumps.

Eoin Banville’s Arctic Tack Stud in Co Wexford has a new stallion for 2022 in the shape of the Group 3 winner and multiple Group 1-placed Dee Ex Bee. The son of Farhh (Pivotal) is free of Sadler’s Wells blood.

Dee Ex Bee was trained by Mark Johnston and won on his debut over seven furlongs at two. He found only Masar too good in the Derby, and at four he ran to Stradivarius to within a length in the Group 1 Gold Cup at Royal Ascot.

Influential mare

Dee Ex Bee descends from one of the most influential mares in the stud book over the last half a century, the Grade 1 Matron Stakes winner Fall Aspen (Pretense). He is out of an own-sister to Dubai Millennium (Seeking The Gold), sire of the world-class Dubawi.

Paul Rothwell in Lacken Stud has a proven record with sires and now he has a most interesting replacement for Grade 1 sire Sandmason. This is the Group 1 Derby runner-up Khalifa Sat, a son of Free Eagle (High Chaparral). A Goodwood maiden winner on his second start at two, Khalifa Sat won a listed race back there at three and had Kameko, Mogul and Pyledriver in arrears when second to Serpentine in the Derby.

Blacktype winners abound in the pedigree of Khalifa Sat. His three-parts sister Unsung Heroine (High Chaparral) was also runner-up in a classic, the Group 1 St Leger.

Showcasing son standing in Kilkenny

HUNTING Horn retired to Castlefield Stud in Bennettsbridge, Co Kilkenny last year. Jack Tuohy and Ger O’Neill will have their hands full as two more sires have joined that Group 2 winner.

Alkumait is a son of Showcasing (Oasis Dream) and he won the Group 2 Mill Reef Stakes in the fastest time ever for the contest, and the race has been won in recent years by such as Harry Angel, Ribchester and Kessaar.

Purchased for 220,000gns as a yearling by Shadwell, the good-looking Alkumait is from the immediate family of the Group 2 Lowther Stakes winner Living In The Past (Bungle Inthejungle) and the 2021 Group 3 juvenile winner and Group 1 runner-up Castle Star (Starspangledbanner). This is a family packed with speed and precocity.

A Group 1 winner in Australia, third in the Caulfield Cup, and a Group 2 performer in England, Mirage Dancer will be joining Alkumait as a newcomer for 2022 at Castlefield. The son of Frankel (Galileo), the first to stand in Ireland, is the best offspring of the dual Grade 1 winner Heat Haze (Green Desert.

Heat Haze is one of five Group/Grade 1 winners for her dam Hasili (Kahyasi), the others all being by Danehill (Danzig). They are Champs Elysees, Cacique, Banks Hill and Intercontinental. For good measure, Heat Haze also bred the Group 2 winner and outstanding sire Dansili (Danehill).

Knockhouse Stud is the chosen home for a new sire with an intriguing race record and pedigree. One of the best of his generation at three in Germany where he won the Group 2 Oppenheim Union-Rennen, as well as the Listed Derby Trial, Boscaccio is a son of Mount Nelson (Rock Of Gibraltar).

Latterly at Boardsmill Stud, Mount Nelson was a Group/Grade 1 sire under both rules, and his son Berkshire is proving to be exceptionally popular too.