THE 2025 racing season in Europe was dominated, among those stallions with their first runners, by the David Ward-bred and raced Starman (Dutch Art). He had the most runners and winners of any sire in the northern hemisphere, and with four group winners, including a Group 1 winner, he was also the most successful in both of those measures.

Retired to stud at a fee of €17,500, Starman was available to breeders at an advertised €10,000 for the last two seasons, but it comes as no surprise that his fee has quadrupled for the upcoming season at the O’Callaghan family’s Tally-Ho Stud, and that could still look to be good value if the fine start to his career in the covering shed continues apace. He is fully booked.

It is ground well covered, but it is remarkable that Starman’s phenomenal year was enjoyed by a horse who himself did not race at two, and it was not until four that he achieved his greatest success in the Group 1 July Cup. If his offspring improve at the pace he did, we could be witnessing the seeds of a memorable career for the sire.

Venetian Sun’s Group 1 Prix Morny victory was the year’s crowning glory for Starman, with pattern race successes recorded by Lady Iman, his first winner, North Coast and Green Sense. In all he got five stakes winners and 11 juveniles who earned some blacktype.

Yaupon

The leading freshman sire last year in the USA outperformed Starman in a couple of areas, but the quality of those winners did not match those of the Westmeath-based stallion. Yaupon (Uncle Mo) mirrors the racing career of Starman in that he did not race at two, and took until the age of four to land his Grade 1 success, in the seven-furlong Forego Stakes at Saratoga. Racing on dirt, all his other starts were over six.

Much was expected of Yaupon when he retired to Spendthrift at $30,000, and his fee this year has doubled from that starting point. He sired 30 juvenile winners, two-thirds the number got by Starman, but his strike rate of blacktype horses was a better 16%. Yaupon got eight stakes winners last year, and a total of 13 blacktype earners. Incredibly, none of his runners were even placed at graded stakes level.

Among Yaupon’s stakes winners was Yaupon De Replay, trained by Joseph O’Brien, and that filly won the Listed Ballyhane Blenheim Stakes at Fairyhouse on her racecourse debut.

Quality sires

It was a fine year for European-based first-season stallions in 2025. St Mark’s Basilica (Siyouni) was a top-class juvenile, winning the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes, and he went on to enjoy two classic wins in France at three. It will be expected that his classic crop this year will feature prominently. His first runners are headed by the unbeaten Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac winner Diamond Necklace.

There was some surprise when St Mark’s Basilica’s fee for 2026 was announced, as it remains unchanged at €40,000. He started out at €65,000.

Kildangan Stud’s Space Blues (Dubawi) is yet another sire who started well, in spite of being a progressive runner himself who won on his only two-year-old start, and that was in November of his juvenile year. His son Power Blue won the Group 1 Keeneland Phoenix Stakes, but even so breeders can avail of his services for a low of €15,000 this year, slightly down on his initial fee of €17,500.

Darley has yet another promising young sire on its books, this one based at Dalham Hall. Three of the four stakes winners by Palace Pier (Kingman) won group races, and are headed by the Group 2 Lowther Stakes winner and Group 1-placed Royal Fixation. Palace Pier won both his starts at two, a maiden and a novice event, and like others among his peers he got better at three and four. He remains at £32,000 for 2026, having begun at £55,000.

Darley duo

Back to the sires in the USA who followed Yaupon in terms of first-crop earnings, and the next two on the list are Darley stallions. Maxfield (Street Sense) edged out Essential Quality (Tapit) on the table, but they stand at very different fees in 2026.

Grade 1 Breeders Futurity winner Maxfield had a curtailed second season, but was back to winning at the highest level at four. He sired a single stakes winner at two, in addition to the Grade 1 Frizette Stakes-placed Five Bars and eight other stakes-placed horses. Many are knocking at the door of winning in blacktype company.

Maxfield commands a fee of $50,000 this year, up from the €40,000 he began stud duties at. He stands at Jonabell alongside Essential Quality.

The latter, a champion at two and three when his wins included the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, Belmont Stakes and Travers Stakes, is slated to cover at $25,000, a third of his fee when he retired to stud. This is in spite of siring three juvenile stakes winners.

Lost to Korea is the best horse in the world in 2021, Knicks Go (Paynter). He was purchased as a yearling by the Korea Racing Authority and won the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic. He stood for four seasons at Taylor Made Farm, starting at $30,000 and standing for $12,500 last year. In October it was announced that he would move to Korea for 2026, in spite of an excellent start to his stud career.

Knicks Go

Like Maxfield, Knicks Go sired a single stakes winner, but this was the Grade 2 Saratoga Special Stakes winner Ewing, while five other blacktype earners included the Grade 1 Natalma Stakes-placed filly, La Culasse.

Two sires, one each in the USA and Ireland, who sired a group/graded winner in their first crop were Rock Your World (Candy Ride) and Supremacy (Mehmas). The former resides at Spendthrift where his fee had halved to $5,000 last year, but has recovered a little and moves to $7,500 this year. This is on the back of siring six blacktype earners. Just a single one of these was victorious at this level, Taken By The Wind winning the Grade 3 Pocahontas Stakes at Churchill Downs.

Yeomanstown Stud’s Supremacy had 18 juvenile winners last year, and by far the best was Anthelia, Bred by the farm, and sold for only £6,000, she won more than £210,000 in prizemoney thanks to five successes in eight starts. They included the Group 3 Dick Poole Stakes, Listed National Stakes, and the Weatherbys Super Sprint Stakes. Even so, Supremacy sees his fee fall to €5,000 this season, down from an opening €12,500.

In Japan

A sire whose trajectory is on the up is the brilliant Contrail (Deep Impact). Based at Shadai Stallion Station, his fee for the coming season is approximately €100,000 for the second year, and he started at an opening €65,000 or so. A Group 1 winner at two, he was the Japanese Triple Crown winner the following year, and won the Group 1 Japan Cup at four. His first runners included a stakes winner and a pair of Group 3-placed horses.