Baaeed
Given his incredible race record, it’s unsurprising that Baaeed commanded the highest fee of any of this year’s freshman sires, and was popular at £80,000, producing a first crop numbering 118.
Group 1 winners Deirdre, Nazeef, Persuasive, Search For A Song and The Fugue were among the highlights in an enviable first book of mares, along with the dams of Accidental Agent, Native Trail, Persian King and Ten Sovereigns.
Breeders were well rewarded for supporting the top-class son of Sea The Stars, with 30 yearlings fetching six-figure prices. Al Shira’Aa Racing paid the top price of €800,000, with other buyers including Amo Racing, David Ingordo, David Redvers, Federico Barberini, Jeremy Brummitt, Shadwell and Stroud Coleman.
Bayside Boy
A Group 2 winner and third in the Dewhurst Stakes and Futurity Trophy as a juvenile, Bayside Boy trained on to win the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes on his final career start. Now standing alongside his sire New Bay, the Ballylinch home-bred is a half-brother to multiple group scorer Forest Ranger.
Four of his first yearlings sold for between €120,000 and 300,000gns, with buyers including Alex Elliott, Blandford Bloodstock, Clive Cox, Ed Sackville, Hubert Guy, Peter and Ross Doyle, Rabbah Bloodstock and Richard Ryan.
Blackbeard
Blackbeard only raced as a two-year-old, but with eight starts yielding six wins, and two of them in Group 1 sprints, it’s safe to say that the son of No Nay Never made the most of his time on the track.
From the successful Scat Daddy line, the full-brother to Charles Darwin was popular with both breeders and buyers, his first yearlings’ average and median prices over three times his stud fee.
Eddie Linehan, MV Magnier, Ralph Beckett, Sackville Donald and Ted Durcan were among those who paid six-figure prices, with other buyers including Blandford Bloodstock, Eve Johnson Houghton, Highflyer Bloodstock, Karl and Kelly Burke, Richard Fahey and Sam Sangster.
Caturra
Caturra’s finest moment came when winning the Flying Childers Stakes - one of two stakes wins as a juvenile. A six-figure yearling himself, the son of Mehmas is out of a blacktype mare from the family of Al Riffa, Classic Cliché, Lightening Pearl, My Emma and Satono Crown.
His first yearlings sold to the likes of Bryan Smart, Con Marnane, Karl and Kelly Burke, Richard Hughes, Tally-Ho Stud, Ted Durcan and Tim Easterby.
With 60,000gns being the highest price paid, they may not have hit the headlines, but it’s worth noting that they achieved a 96% clearance rate and averaged over three times his opening fee.
Dubawi Legend
Dubawi Legend travelled to Germany for his Group 3 win, but his best performance came in defeat, finishing second to Native Trail in the Dewhurst Stakes. By sire of sires Dubawi and out of a listed-winning Raven’s Pass mare, he is a grandson of Falmouth Stakes heroine Macadamia.
With the smallest first crop of those featured, he is up against it in terms of numbers, but there was promise in his yearling buyers, including BBA Ireland, Highflyer Bloodstock, Peter and Ross Doyle, Richard Hughes, Sackville Donald, Sheila Lavery and Tally-Ho Stud.
Minzaal
A Gimcrack Stakes winner, like Blue Point and Sands Of Mali, Minzaal took third in the Middle Park Stakes, but missed most of his three-year-old campaign, placing on both starts, including in the British Champions Sprint.
The following season, the son of Mehmas chased home Highfield Princess on two occasions before gaining a deserved Group 1 victory in the Haydock Sprint Cup.
Support in the first season sire market is buoyed by his impressive yearling average price of €87,491, with Amo Racing paying his yearling top price of 550,000gns.
Others sold to the likes of Andrew Balding, Justin Casse, Highflyer Bloodstock, Karl and Kelly Burke, Peter and Ross Doyle, Richard Hughes, Shadwell, Stroud Coleman and Ted Durcan.
Naval Crown
As a Group 1-winning sprinter, by sire of sires Dubawi, Naval Crown has plenty to recommend him, but his progeny may be seen to better effect with time, given that he himself progressed to win his Group 1 as a four-year-old.
That said, he was twice group-placed as a juvenile and he has his first runner entered in the Brocklesby today, a Jeff Smith home-bred trained by Ralph Beckett.
Naval Crown won his first stakes as a three-year-old and went on to finish fourth in the 2000 Guineas, but was at his best over sprint distances, winning the Jubilee Stakes.
Conor Quirke, Glending Stables and Kerri Lyons bought his three six-figure yearlings, while other buyers included Blandford Bloodstock, Highflyer Bloodstock, Johnny Murtagh, Peter and Ross Doyle, Powerstown Stud, Sackville Donald, Stephen Hillen and Tally-Ho Stud
Perfect Power
A six-figure breeze-up buy, Perfect Power announced himself as a talent when landing the Norfolk Stakes and went on to win both the Prix Morny and Middle Park Stakes, training on to win the Commonwealth Cup the following year.
An Ardad half-brother to last year’s Middle Park Stakes winner Wise Approach, he hails from the family of Japan, Saga City, Sagamix and Sageburg.
His number of two-year-olds - 57 - is lower than expected, but breeders were rewarded in the ring, his stock returning an average four times his opening fee, with two breaching 200,000gns.
Buyers included Blandford Bloodstock, Highflyer Bloodstock, Peter and Ross Doyle, Robson Aguiar, Tally-Ho Stud and Shadwell.
Persian Force
Persian Force was the first of these to have a runner, and Force Noir went close in the opening juvenile contest at the Curragh, in a maiden previously won by Arizona Blaze, Bucanero Fuerte and Power Blue.
The same connections - Robson Aguiar and Amo Racing - have declared two in the Brocklesby Stakes, a race Persian Force won himself, along with his next start.
He finished second to Bradsell in the Coventry Stakes next time, before placing in three Group 1s and concluded a consistent campaign with a fine fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint.
Amo Racing supported Persian Force strongly at the sales, while other buyers included Brown Island Stables, Dermot Farrington, Jason Kelly, John and Sean Quinn, Karl Burke, Kevin Ross, Peter and Ross Doyle, Powerstown Stud and Richard Fahey.
Space Traveller
Now standing at Starfield Stud after spending his first season at Ballyhane Stud, Space Traveller has the largest first crop of this year’s title chasers.
The son of Bated Breath won the Jersey Stakes and Boomerang Mile as a three-year-old and placed at Grade 1 level in the US and Canada as a five and six-year-old.
A half-brother to Group 1 sprinter Ain’t Nobody was his most expensive yearling by far at 240,000gns. Kevin Ryan, Middleham Park Racing, Peter and Ross Doyle, Highflyer Bloodstock, Karl and Kelly Burke and Con Marnane were among the buyers.
State Of Rest
Given that we’re focussing on early impressions, it’s worth noting that State Of Rest made a winning debut in June of his two-year-old campaign, but is best known for his later exploits across the globe.
The son of Starspangledbanner won the Saratoga Derby the following season, before gaining a landmark win in the Cox Plate. He returned to notch another Group 1 win in the Prix Ganay and later landed the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes.
Those exploits saw him debut at €25,000, which produced seven six-figure yearlings. Alex Elliott, BBA Ireland, Highflyer Bloodstock, Hurworth Bloodstock, Joseph O’Brien, Peter and Ross Doyle, and Stroud Coleman were among the buyers.
Stradivarius
With the market increasingly focussing on precocity and speed, it was refreshing to see top-class stayer Stradivarius prove popular at stud, covering 310 mares in his first three seasons.
Breeders’ £10,000 outlay produced an average return of £52,551 at the 2025 yearling sales. Two brought six-figure sums from Jeremy Brummitt and Stroud Coleman, with others knocked down to the likes of Andrew Balding, Highflyer Bloodstock, Hurworth Bloodstock, Joseph O’Brien, Kevin Ross and Lillingston Bloodstock.
Conor Hoban, Beechlea Bloodstock
We have a Blackbeard colt going to the Guineas, and I’m absolutely mad about him. He’s a very, very nice colt, so straightforward and does everything that’s asked of him. We’re looking forward to selling him, and I’m sorry I didn’t buy another one on the back of having him.
We have one by Space Traveller that’s going to Tattersalls Ireland. He has a good attitude, a good mind. He might take a little bit of time, but from what he’s shown us so far, I couldn’t knock the sire.
We had a very nice Minzaal filly for breaking, she seemed to have plenty of class. She mightn’t be the most precocious, but certainly a nice type for the back end of the year.
We had a colt by Baaeed who was pretty similar; he had a very good mind, and I’d say he’ll do better in the second half of the year, but I really liked him.
I broke a Naval Crown filly for Johnny Murtagh - she was really nice and I’m hearing good reports about her. We also had one by State Of Rest for Joseph O’Brien; he was a gorgeous, big action horse, with a good attitude.
Ellie Whitaker, EMW Equine
Inevitably, the ones that they were spending money on - the Blackbeards, the Minzaals, they’re already shining through. The Minzaals, for me, probably wouldn’t be as precocious as we anticipated, but their class is certainly shining through, on what we have and what I’ve broken. They’ll probably be better three-year-olds.
We have a lovely Blackbeard heading to Arqana. He’s a big boy. Very trainable attitude, just wants to get on with the job, grubs well.
I would have said at Book 2, buying him, he’ll be precocious enough, but I gave him a quiet month last month, and he’s probably grown two or three hands since the sale. He’s a beast, and he’s still very bum-high, and if I’d actually kicked on early, he probably wouldn’t have been in the best shape.
I’ve really had to look and sort of gauge where he needs to be. I don’t drill the heads off them; I try to let them come to me and then step them up,
The Caturras are hardy and they’ll make racehorses. There could be a bit of value for money there, with that Mehmas line. I was with Roger [Marley] at the time that he had Mehmas, and he’s putting his stamp on them.
I have one by State Of Rest for the staff that I bought from Rathbarry Stud, and she’s an absolute queen. I didn’t anticipate buying State Of Rest, because it was a tricky one, in that they may or may not be that precocious type.
She’s heading to the Guineas, and she’s done everything right. She’s the only one I’ve had by the sire, and I’ve broken in 160 this year, and she’s been very straightforward, very uncomplicated.
Ian McCarthy, Grangecoor Farm
I had two Baaeeds and they look like they’ll progress with time, like he did. They were lovely models, with great attitudes, and plenty of size about them, but they will probably need a bit of time; probably back-end two-year-olds, or more three-year-olds.
The Bayside Boys actually look like two-year-old types. I have a filly who’s going to the Craven; she’s very genuine, has a great attitude and I think she’s a two-year-old type. He himself was very good at two, seemed to have a turn of foot over a mile, and I’d like his stock.
Malcolm Bastard
The Baaeeds weren’t particularly fashionable at the sales, but we’ve had some very nice home-breds by him. They’re nice individuals, strong, good temperaments, move nicely. They look to have a nice amount of pace, but I assume they’re going to be mostly autumn horses. He was a fantastic horse, and he’s had a good book of mares, so you would expect him to do pretty well, really.
Then we’ve got a couple of Minzaals to breeze, and both of them are very nice. Two different types of horse - we’ve got a big, strong filly with a good pedigree; she’s in the Craven. She probably wants a little bit of time, but she goes pretty well. She should be a middle of summer type of individual.
And then we’ve got a colt that goes to Doncaster that’s very speedy. He’s got a very good action, and he’s got a good mind on him as well. I’d be pretty high on him.
We had three by Stradivarius; very neat horses, very good in their minds, nice and genuine. The three that we had moved well. You would assume that they’re going to start off over a stiff seven or a mile. But I’d be very comfortable with Stradivarius as well.
