High hopes for Starman

First-season sires lists typically contain many here-today-gone-tomorrow types, but the race for most winners, Stakes horses, Stakes winners and Group winners is intriguing nonetheless, as it may indeed contain an elite sire or two if we are very lucky. 

This year’s race has taken ages to build into something compelling but that’s now changing as we get into the autumn with all the prestigious races about to happen and where the new sires with more stamina in their runners’ pedigrees start to show what they are capable of. There is no question that Europe is currently well served when it comes to established commercial stallions and consequently the competition is intense, so it will take a really good one to earn the respect of breeders when it comes to next year’s covering season.

This year’s pacesetter Tally-Ho’s Starman, who entered stud at a fee of €17,500, has sired 26 winners at the time of writing, at a rate of 34.2 per cent. Both metrics are excellent in terms of the competition he’s faced this year. For context, Starman sits in third place by individual winners on the general two-year-old sires’ list, level with Havana Grey; three behind Wootton Bassett in second, and seven behind the leader Mehmas on 31. However, three years ago, when Havana Grey and Sioux Nation were fighting it out in their debut seasons, both had 33 winners with strike rates over 45 per cent at this stage of the season. So, it just goes to show that first-season sire numbers should never be judged in isolation. 

Into The Sky (Starman) makes a spectacular 71/2 length winning debut at Newbury. He returned to that track a month later in the Group 2 Mill Reef Stakes where he just failed to hold off the late challenge of Words Of Truth

While it may be hard to peg Starman’s as a potential top sire by winners and strike rate at this stage of the season, his case is altogether more compelling when we move on to Group and Stakes winners. When Into The Sky lined up for Newbury’s Group 2 Mill Reef Stakes last Saturday, he was bidding to become the fifth individual Stakes winner for his sire. Moreover, he was also trying to become Starman’s fifth pattern race winner. In the event, Into The Sky finished second after leading into the final furlong, but he proved he’s another Starman up to Group class and on what was just his second start. 

Starman’s tally of four Group winners heads the latest freshman group that contains a total of five sires that have already opened their Group winner accounts. Again, providing context here helps us understand the significance of this achievement. Three years ago, Havana Grey and Sioux Nation had only sired two Group winners apiece. More impressive though is Starman’s record viewed against all first-season sires this century which has him in second place alongside Fasiliyev, Oasis Dream, Lope de Vega and Too Darn Hot and behind only the great Frankel, who sired six Group winners in his first year back in 2016. Might Starman take full control of second place before the end of the season?

Starman’s Group winners are headed by Group 1 Prix Morny heroine Venetian Sun, who also scored in the Group 2 Duchess of Cambridge Stakes and Group 3 Albany Stakes, and finished third in the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes. The Group 2 Prix Robert Papin winner and Group 1 Phoenix Stakes third Green Sense, plus dual Group 3 scorer Lady Iman and Group 3 Tyros winner North Coast make up a strong supporting cast.

Royal Fixation (Palace Pier) captures the Group 2 Lowther Stakes at York, after having been narrowly thwarted by Venetian Sun in the Duke of Cambridge

Unsurprisingly, two other sires with later-developing stock have come into contention in recent weeks, namely Palace Pier and St Mark’s Basilica. This pair, along with Starman, did attract the best set of mares among this year’s cohort of freshman sires. St Mark’s Basilica had 100 Stakes horses or producers of Stakes horses among his 168 mares, 15 more than Starman, while Palace Pier, who stood at £55,000 in his first year, had 77 among his 152. Palace Pier, Kingman’s joint-top Timeform rated runner alongside Field Of Gold, has confounded his critics at last year’s yearling sales by producing three Stakes winners and two Group winners. Currently, he owns the highest Stakes-winner-to-runner percentage of any first-season sire standing in Britain or Ireland at 7.5 per cent, although he probably could do with a higher individual winner strike rate. His most accomplished runner so far is Royal Fixation, who followed up her second place to Venetian Sun in the Group 2 Duchess of Cambridge with a victory in the Group 2 Lowther Stakes. Meanwhile, the Palace Pier colt A Bit Of A Spirit landed the Group 3 Solario.

Like Palace Pier, Coolmore’s St Mark’s Basilica, who stood at €65,000 in his first year, ended his own successful racing career with a Timeform mark of 132, following a run of five consecutive Group 1 victories, starting with the Dewhurst and taking in the French Guineas and Derby, as well as the Eclipse and Irish Champion Stakes. Unsurprisingly, the son of Siyouni was the best supported of the 2022 retirees. His three Stakes winners so far are headed by the Group 2 May Hill heroine Aylin, who is sure to have a say on the outcome of the Group 1 Fillies’ Mile in due course. However, perhaps his most exciting juvenile so far is the Ballydoyle-trained and extremely well-bred Diamond Necklace – a half-sister to Group 1 winners Magic Wand and Chicquita – who maintained her unbeaten status when winning the Listed Ingabelle Stakes on Irish Champions weekend. She looks a ready-made Group winner for her sire.

The beautifully-bred Diamond Necklace looks a certain future Group winner for her sire, St Mark’s Basilica, after having overwhelmed her opposition in the Listed Ballylinch Stud Ingabelle Stakes

Another notable first-season sire performance has come from Darley’s Space Blues, who, together with Starman, are the only 2022 retirees to have sired their first Group 1 winner. Space Blues, with his sprinter-miler profile, having won at the highest level over a mile in the Breeders’ Cup Mile; seven furlongs in the Prix de la Foret, and six-and-a-half furlongs in the Maurice de Gheest, looked a very attractive proposition at €17,500, given that he is a son of Dubawi and also from Dubawi’s family. Rated a very hight-class colt by Timeform at 125, he relied on his very first runner Power Blue to deliver his first Group 1 win in the Phoenix Stakes, a feat prior to this season achieved by only eight British and Irish first-season sires in the past ten years. Power Blue is joined by the talented Do Or Do Not, who has been placed four times a Group 2 level, most notably when second to the unbeaten and European leading juvenile Zavateri in the July Stakes and behind another leading light Gstaad in the Coventry.

Finally, two more of the 2022 intake – Supremacy and Nando Parrado – must also be acknowledged for delivering their first Group winner and Stakes winner respectively. Supremacy’s 13 winners feature Group 3 Dick Poole winner Anthelia, while Nando Parrado opened his Stakes-winner account with Listed Harry Rosebery winner Chairmanfourtimes and sits third on the individual winners’ table.

FIRST-CROP SIRES BY WINNERS 2025
(Results received to Sep 21st)