ENGLISH TEXTS
in numbers was greater but Frankel , Kingman and Dubawi bring in a lot of revenue . Another significant difference between France and the other countries is that Coolmore , Darley and Juddmonte , who make up around 60 % of the European stallion business between them , are hardly active in the French market . The success of French sires has been achieved by syndicated stallions with a broad group of breeders and investors sharing the profits generated by horses like Siyouni , Wootton Bassett , Le Havre and others . As the fees of the top sires increase in real terms so do the risks for commercial breeders , unless of course they are themselves owners of stallion shares ensuring access to the best commercial stallions at the price at which the shares were purchased . The main players in the Irish and British stallion markets rarely if ever offer shares for sale in their new sires .
THE POPULARITY OF STALLIONS LIKELY TO PRODUCE FAST AND EARLY- MATURING HORSES IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND IS EVIDENT , UNLIKE IN FRANCE .
The racing program also influences the stallion population . After the number of mares covered , the price and the geographical location of a stallion the final factor with a strong influence on the stallion market is the programme of races . This is perhaps more obscure , even if every trainer deals with the programme every day when looking for races to run in and to try to win , but without going into the changes over the last twenty five years there are marked differences between each of the three countries we are concerned with . In France 77 % of flat races are run on turf , so 23 % on all weather surfaces , it is much the same in Ireland where the split is 75 / 25 %, but Britain is very different with only 59 % of all races run on turf and 41 % on all weather tracks . In Britain and Ireland 18 % of all races are for two year olds and 34 % and 32 % for three year olds alone . France is different with only 12 % of races for two year olds but much the same with 34 % of races for three year olds . In all three countries about 50 % of all races are for two and three year olds , and there is a marked emphasis on two year old races in Britain and Ireland . And then in Britain and Ireland these races for young horses are run over shorter distances than in France . For the races restricted to three year olds in France 35 % are run at 1600 metres or less , 64 % at 2000 or less , and then 36 % at over 2000 metres . The British programme is very different with the same figures being 63 %, 83 % and 17 %. A large proportion of flat races in Britain are sprint races on the all weather for two and three year olds , which goes a long way to explaining the success of the stallions whose progeny are suited by such conditions . In Ireland there are more middle distance races than in England and the same figures are 57 % at 1600 or less , 80 % at 2000m or less and 20 % over 2000 . The popularity of sires likely to produce fast and precocious horses in Britain and Ireland is self evident , in France it is of course different .
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SPOTLIGHT ON THE NEW GENERATION
The stallions who will have their first runners in 2025 are , in terms of racing ability , headed by St Mark ’ s Basilica and Palace Pier , both top horses at three and in Palace Pier ’ s case at four too , with Racing Post Ratings of 128 and 127 . They won the races which have counted in the past for identifying future top stallions , the Poule d ’ Essai des Poulains and Prix du Jocky-Club for the first and the Jacques le Marois for the second . However , their first yearlings were not greeted with great enthusiasm by the market . Both returned a yearling median price which was lower than the same crop had achieved as foals in 2023 . St Mark ’ s Basilica ’ s yearling median was 1.9 times his stud fee , while for Palace Pier it was only 1.3 times . As soon as their progeny starts to run these figures will of course be irrelevant and there are plenty of top sires whose progeny the market didn ’ t like at first from Danehill and Dubawi through to horses like Le Havre , Siyouni or Lope de Vega . In terms of ratings these two are followed by Japan , Starman and Space Blues , rated 125.124 and 123 at their best . A top rating of less than 120 is far from a disqualification for a future top stallion as horses like Havana Grey and Showcasing , both rated 115 , as well as Mehmas and Dark Angel , both top rated 114 . Those with the most runners in 2025 are very likely to be Starman and Supremacy who had 170 and 109 yearlings go through the ring this year respectively .
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