Space Blues ready for lift-off

Darley’s multiple Group 1-winning sprinter/miler has a great launch pad for his stallion career, says John Boyce.

In this second part review of stallions standing at £15,000 or below this spring, it is the turn of those stallions whose debut crop will run this year. Who knows if there will there be another Mehmas or Havana Grey among them, but they are an interesting bunch. The leader of the group is Darley’s Space Blues, who started out €17,500 but has been available for €16,000 ever since so he just squeezed under our £15k threshold. 

This chesnut son of Dubawi has been very popular in his first three years at stud and, although it may require a leap of faith to use a stallion in his fourth year when he is about to have his first runners, Space Blues has everything going for him. A very high-class sprinter-miler (Timeform 125), he won three times at the highest level from six-and-a-half furlongs to a mile. He was the first of three consecutive Breeders’ Cup Mile winners for his sire and also won the Group 1 Prix de la Foret and Group 1 Prix Maurice de Gheest, as well as the Group 2 Lennox and Group 2 City of York, two more of Europe’s premier seven-furlong contests. Classy and consistent from two – when he won his only start – all the way to five, Space Blues won no fewer than 11 of his 19 races. 

Triple Group 1 winner Space Blues (nearside) wins the Breeders’ Cup Mile. His first three books have had unusual consistency in terms of quantity and quality.

Triple Group 1 winner Space Blues (nearside) wins the Breeders’ Cup Mile. His first three books have had unusual consistency in terms of quantity and quality.

From a pedigree perspective, he could hardly be better qualified for success at stud as a son of the inimitable Dubawi, who already has Night of Thunder (12.2 per cent Stakes winners to runners), Zarak (12 per cent Stakes winners), plus Too Darn Hot and New Bay representing him. Moreover, Space Blues is also from Dubawi’s family, which provided us with one of Sadler’s Wells’s finest stallion sons in the shape of In The Wings (11 per cent Stakes winners), who sired Singspiel, plus top German sires Soldier Hollow and Adlerflug. But perhaps the most compelling aspect of Space Blues’s profile is the rather unusual consistency of support from breeders in his first three years at stud, both in terms of quantity and quality. He will have 118 youngsters this year and 123 the following year, while his third book of mares exceeded his first in quantity. 

Darley can also claim to have the second-best prospect if average yearling price is any guide. The Haras d’Etreham-based Victor Ludorum, like Space Blues, is from the same family as his own sire, in his case the brilliantly influential Shamardal. His first three dams are all Stakes horses, while his third dam, Group 1 Irish Oaks winner Helen Street, is dam of the influential sire and broodmare sire Street Cry. Undefeated in three races at two, including the Group 1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere, Victor Ludorum also emulated his sire by becoming a French Classic winner, in his case by winning the Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Poulains.

One sire that must be at short odds to provide the most first-crop individual winners this year is Dutch Art’s son Starman. The Tally-Ho stallion’s first book, conceived at €17,500, featured 259 mares – the most ever by a European first-season sire – of which 181 were offered for sale as yearlings in 2024, so he’s going to have plenty of ammunition in his arsenal this year. Unraced at two, Starman was an impressive winner of the Group 1 July Cup, for which Timeform awarded him a career-high rating of 125, and he also took the Group 2 Duke of York, one of four occasions in an eight-race career he ran to a rating of Timeform mark of 120 or higher. Out of a winning Montjeu mare who stayed 10.5 furlongs, it will be interesting to see if this stamina manifests itself on his own runners this year and next. While he may have so many first crop foals there was is also plenty of quality there too, as 15 of his yearlings sold for £100,000 more, including his three best prices of 260,000gns, 240,000gns and 240,000gns, again all at Tattersalls October Book 1.

Starman covered 259 mares in his first season at stud, the most ever by any European first crop sire

Starman covered 259 mares in his first season at stud, the most ever by any European first crop sire

Lope de Vega has two stallion sons, Lucky Vega and Lope Y Fernandez, that could make a bold show this year with their first runners. Perhaps the more likely of the pair to succeed on mare quality is the Group 1 Phoenix Stakes winner Lucky Vega who stands at the Irish National Stud for €12,500. One of six Group 1-winning juveniles by Lope de Vega, the latest being Champion two-year-old Shadow of Light, the Timeform 121-rated Lucky Vega has already raised eyebrows with his first Australian crop, thanks to Listed winner Within The Law and Listed placed Vega For Lucky among his first four runners. 

A son of the unraced Cape Cross mare Queen of Carthage, Lucky Vega’s granddam is Group 1 Prix de l’Opera winner Satwa Queen, also granddam of two triple Group 1 winners in Nations Pride and top Australian juvenile Militarize. With very nearly 150 mares covered in each of his first two books, both almost identical quality, Lucky Vega should certainly be able to sustain any momentum he creates this year with his first runners. 

Lucky Vega is one of six Group 1-winning juveniles by the outstanding sire, Lope de Vega

Lucky Vega is one of six Group 1-winning juveniles by the outstanding sire, Lope de Vega

Lope Y Fernandez, meanwhile, was every bit as good on ratings as Lucky Vega, even though he didn’t win at the top level. A Group 3 winner at two with a stack of Group 1 placings at three and four, including the Breeders’ Cup Mile, Prix Jean Prat, and Irish 2,000 Guineas, he too will have plenty of runners this term, with an equally strong second crop to follow in 2026.

The stallion with the greatest numerical advantage behind Starman is Yeomanstown’s Supremacy, who attracted 183 mares in his first book on the back of being his sire, Mehmas’s most accomplished first-crop two-year-old. Winner of the Group 1 Middle Park and Group 2 Richmond, the Timeform 118-rated Supremacy was one of Mehmas’s record-breaking 56 first-crop juvenile winners. Since then Mehmas has set a new single-season world record of 70 two-year-old winners in 2024 and also sired nine Stakes winners last year, including his second, third and fourth juvenile Group 1 winners. So, providing Supremacy makes his presence felt during 2025, there are plenty of rewards on offer and there were a good number of high-priced Supremacy yearlings last autumn to bolster confidence in the Middle Park winner, including a Tatts October Book 1 filly for 270,000gns and 220,000gns colt at the same venue, both incidentally consigned by Yeomanstown.

There were plenty of high-priced Supremacy yearlings sold last autumn, suggesting his first progeny will make a significant impact on the course this year

There were plenty of high-priced Supremacy yearlings sold last autumn, suggesting his first progeny will make a significant impact on the course this year

Another stallion with a 100-plus first book was Newsell’s A’Ali, who stands at a fee of £5,000, having started out at £7,500. This son of Society Rock was a model of consistency at two, winning at Group 2 level three times, taking the Norfolk at Royal Ascot, the Prix Robert-Papin and Flying Childers. He added further lustre to his race record the following year with three excellent performances during the summer, winning the Group 3 Coral Charge, the Group 2 Sapphire and was a creditable fourth to top-class sprinter Battaash in the Group 1 Nunthorpe. Like many a stallion in his price range, A’Ali struggled to maintain the same quantity and quality of mares in years two and three, but he has enough should things go his way with his first crop this year.

FIRST-SEASON SIRES BY AVERAGE YEARLING PRICE 2024
(Standing at £15k and below in 2025. 10+ sold)

Form TFR Name Sire Fee 25 Sold Max £ Avg £ Med £ In Profit In Profit% AvgX22Fee
G1w 125 Space Blues Dubawi €16,000 72 349,787 58,241 37,800 36 50.0 4.0
G1w 120 Victor Ludorum Shamardal €15,000 64 358,285 47,221 26,826 28 43.8 3.7
G1w 125 Starman Dutch Art €10,000 144 273,000 42,351 24,500 49 34.0 2.9
G1w 126 Japan Galileo €9,500 17 117,769 39,598 30,284 9 52.9 4.3
G1w 121 Lucky Vega Lope de Vega €12,500 56 189,000 39,513 24,000 24 42.9 3.1
G1w 118 Supremacy Mehmas €8,000 88 283,500 34,851 18,900 31 35.2 3.3
G2w 118 A'Ali Society Rock £5,000 36 210,000 34,052 25,200 15 41.7 4.5
G3wG1p 120 Lope y Fernandez Lope de Vega £7,500 61 147,000 30,515 17,000 20 32.8 3.6
G3wG1p 111 Armor No Nay Never €5,000 13 72,510 26,093 22,486 6 46.2 6.2
G2w 105 Ubettabelieveit Kodiac £5,000 40 73,500 20,816 16,500 12 30.0 4.2

About the author

John Boyce

John Boyce grew up on a stud farm and is a bloodstock journalist and former editor of Pacemaker and of The Thoroughbred Breeder. He was part of the Darley/Godolphin team from 2001 to 2022 as Group Marketing Head and then Group Head of Research. He is currently a partner in a data analytics company based in London.

Why Advertise Your Stallion

Each Advertised Stallion comprises:

An Overview • Stud Record • Sales Record • Race Record • Pedigree Record