THE recently published list of 2015 coverings in the USA show that Ashford Stud’s Uncle Mo leads the way, just as he does on the sire rankings for stallions with their first runners in 2015.

The Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner and unbeaten two-year-old has been quick out of the starting blocks as a sire and his first crop include the dual Grade 1 winning colt Nyquist, the Grade 1 winning filly Gomo, the Grade 3 winner Uncle Vinny who also placed in the Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes, and the stakes winners Forevamo and Uncle Brennie.

Standing alongside Uncle Mo is the Florida Derby winner Scat Daddy, a Grade 1 winner at two and three years and the best son of Johannesburg. Scat Daddy has sired a host of Grade 1 winners in both the northern and southern hemispheres and in Europe is possibly best known for the champion No Nay Never and the Royal Lodge Stakes and UAE Derby winner Daddy Long Legs. His current crop of juveniles includes the recent Grade 1 winner Nickname and a number of winners at Grade 2 level.

The Ashford stranglehold at the top of the popularity stakes is broken by the Spendthrift stallion Into Mischief. His fee for 2016 has already been announced and jumps 50% to $45,000. A Grade 1 winning juvenile who won or placed second in his six career starts, he sired the dual Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Goldencents in his first crop. That $3 million earner joined his father at Spendthrift and also joins his sire on the table of most popular sires in 11th place. Into Mischief is a half-brother to the outstanding Beholder.

The fourth stallion on the table to cover 200 plus mares was Ashford’s Shanghai Bobby and he, like Into Mischief, is a son of Harlan’s Holiday. Champion colt at two when he went unbeaten in five starts, he is the only horse ever to win the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, Champagne Stakes and Hopeful Stakes. His first foals are on the ground.

Spendthrift and Ashford provide all but one of the top 10 sires on the list and in fifth place is Temple City who is based at the first named farm. A son of Dynaformer, Temple City did not race at two and won his only start, a maiden, at three. It was not until he was five that he gained his sole stakes win in a mile and a half Grade 3 and he was denied a Grade 1 success by a head in the Hollywood Turf Cup Stakes. However he made a solid start at stud with his first runners in 2014 and built on that this year with five stakes winners and three of them have been Grade 1 placed.

Sons and daughters of Ashford’s Munnings have hit the track running in 2015 and this son of Speightstown is responsible for the Grade 1 winning three-year-old I’m A Chatterbox, graded stakes winners Om and Ben’s Duchess, as well as a number of stakes winning juveniles in his second crop. On the track Munnings was a multiple Grade 2 winner at six and seven furlongs.

It is hardly surprising that Declaration Of War should be so popular. Just completing his second year at stud, he is a dual Group 1 winning son of War Front and from a top-class female line. Unbeaten in two starts in France as a juvenile, he started his stakes-winning career when landing the Group 3 Diamond Stakes at Dundalk at three. As a four-year-old he was in the top league, winning both the Juddmonte International and the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot.

The most successful sire among the top 21 busiest sires in 2015 in North America is Kitten’s Joy, the champion sire two years ago and responsible for at least four millionaires. A grandson of Sadler’s Wells, he was a champion racehorse on the turf and has sired three champions to date. He stands at Ramsey Farm.

Making up the top 10 are Ashford’s Verrazano and Spendthrift’s Flat Out. Verrazano went to stud this year and this outstanding winner of the Grade 1 Wood Memorial Stakes and Haskell Invitational in the USA came close to adding a European Group 1, finding just Toronado too good in the Queen Anne Stakes.

Flat Out is well named. He covered 169 mares in his first season at stud in 2014 and followed up with 183 this year. He raced for six seasons and won more than a million dollars in each of his five, six and seven-year-old racing years. A grandson of A.P. Indy, he ran 29 times and 16 of these were at Grade 1 level. He won or placed 11 times at the highest level.

The only stallion in the top 21 standing outside Kentucky is Honorable Dillon and this son of Tapit set a record for New York when covering 170 mares in 2015 at $5,000. He will not be well known outside his home base as he won just three of his 15 career starts, his best effort coming when he won the Grade 2 Hutcheson Stakes at three. He is however a son of Tapit and a half-brother to a champion juvenile in Argentina.

Sire Stands 2015 fee Mares covered

1 Uncle Mo Ashford, Ky $25,000 221

2 Scat Daddy Ashford, Ky $35,000 217

3 Into Mischief Spendthrift, Ky $30,000 210

4 Shanghai Bobby Ashford, Ky $15,000 202

5 Temple City Spendthrift, Ky $12,500 199

6 Munnings Ashford, Ky $10,000 196

7 Declaration Of War Ashford, Ky $40,000 192

8 Kitten's Joy Ramsey, Ky $100,000 187

9 Verrazano Ashford, Ky $22,500 185

10 Flat Out Spendthrift, Ky $10,000 183

11 Goldencents Spendthrift, Ky $12,500 179

12 Tizway Spendthrift, Ky $15,000 178

13 Violence Hill 'N' Dale, Ky $15,000 177

14 Bodemeister WinStar, Ky $30,000 176

15 Honorable Dillon Rockridge, NY $5,000 170

16 Line Of David Spendthrift, Ky $3,500 166

17 Super Saver WinStar, Ky $35,000 165

18 Curlin Lane's End, Ky $35,000 162

19 Paynter WinStar, Ky $25,000 158

20= Flashback Hill 'N' Dale, Ky $7,500 157

20= Malibu Moon Spendthrift, Ky $95,000 157

Breeders, stallion masters and readers are invited to contact Leo Powell at leopowell@theirishfield.ie and visit our website www.theirishfield.ie with breeding news