ENGLISH TEXTS breds are still thoroughbreds, even when they are by the best stallions and for both Coolmore greats 25 % of their foals never reached a racecourse and only around 50 % won a race. The odds may look better when you reason that one out of every seven Galileo’ s who managed to win a race went on to be placed in a Group 1. In the period we are looking at only 21 stallions managed to produce 1 % or more European Group 1 winners to foals. After Galileo and Sadler’ s Wells the top five are completed by the German sires Monsun and Adlerflug and another Coolmore sire in Danehill, next come the two leading active stallions Frankel and Dubawi, with the top ten completed by Danzig, Montjeu and Kingmambo. The highest placed French based sire is Linamix, in fourteenth with 12 Group 1 winners( 1.4 %) and 28 placed( 3.3 %), although both Wootton Bassett and Dalakhani, who stood in France and Ireland, are among the top twenty. After Frankel and Dubawi the leading active sires by European Group 1 winners to foals are Sea The Stars, Wootton Bassett, Teofilo, Nathaniel, Lope de Vega, Camelot and Kingman. Some Group 1 races are of course more equal than others and if we narrow the lens further and look only at the twelve major European Classic races run in Britain, Ireland, and France the same names come out on top with a significant edi- tion. The leading sires of European Classic winners with eight each are Frankel and the Haras de Bonneval’ s Siyouni who reached this level in May with Zarigana’ s victory in the Poule d’ Essai des Pouliches. They are followed by Dubawi with seven, Sea The Stars and Nathaniel on four, and then Lope de Vega, Kingman and Camelot with three each. In terms of age and numbers the two with the most to come are Kingman and Camelot who each have about 900 foals of three years old or older from seven and eight crops respectively and so still relatively young. The exception on this list is Newsells Park’ s Nathaniel who stands at only £ 20,000 despite the four Classic winners of the caliber of Enable, Desert Crown, You Got Me and Channel. Looking to the future the stallions most likely to join this elite sooner rather than later are headed by Coolmore America’ s Justify who is already the most significant American sire for European breeders since Kingmambo stopped covering fifteen years ago. The 2,000 Guineas winner Ruling Court is Justify’ s second European Classic winner and fourth European Group 1 winner from only three crops to race. Among the Europeans the current leader in percentage terms is Bonneval’ s Zarak who retired to stud in 2018 and is sire of three Group 1 winners from the 226 foals in his first three crops, or 1.3 %. His fourth crop, the last from a 12,000 euro stud fee, could still produce another Group 1 winner before the products of more expensive coverings reach the track. Ballylinch’ s New Bay and Tally Ho’ s Mehmas both retired to stud in 2017 and have three and four European Group 1 winners to date at 0.7 %, with in New Bay’ s case the Classic contenders Pride of Arras and Falakeyah to run for him this year. Darley’ s Night of Thunder retired in 2016 and has four European Group 1 winners including the unbeaten Classic winner Desert Flower, also at 0.7 %. The Haras de Colleville’ s Galiway retired the same year in 2016 but has had many fewer horses to race so far with 338 aged three or older compared with 585 for Night of Thunder and his two Group 1 winners is already an achievement for a horse who didn’ t win a Group race himself and started his stud career at a 3,000 euros fee.
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By Katherine Ford
CHARLIE APPLEBY: THE ART OF HITTING THE MARK
It was a sea of blue during the first weekend of May, with a remarkable quartet of
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