THE championship title for broodmare sires was a somewhat close race in 2014 and the stallion who achieved the highest number of stakes winners, and of blacktype contests won, had to settle for second place.
Sadler’s Wells’s (by Northern Dancer) earnings total of €8.6 million came from 201 winners of 292 races. There were 19 stakes winners among them including the Group 1 stars Baltic Baroness (by Shamardal), Cursory Glance (by Distorted Humor), Taghrooda (by Sea The Stars), and The Fugue (by Dansili).
Danehill (by Danzig) accumulated over €8.15 million and his 26 stakes winners of 41 races featured the Group 1 scorers Belardo (by Lope De Vega), Dick Whittington (by Rip Van Winkle), Integral (by Dalakhani), Noble Mission (by Galileo), and Tapestry (by Galileo).
Treve contributed almost 54% of Anabaa’s (by Danzig; 3rd) total for the year, and his four stakes winners do not include the two Australian and one South African Group 1 stars that he also had in 2014.
There were no European Group 1 winners for Darshaan’s (by Shirley Heights; 4th) daughters, but his nine stakes winners included the Group 2-winning pair Estimate and Telescope.
The triple Group 1 star Australia (by Galileo) contributed almost 67% of Cape Cross’s (by Green Desert; 5th) earnings, and the Kildangan Stud stallion finished just ahead of Rainbow Quest (by Blushing Groom; 6th), broodmare sire of the Derby-placed Group 1 St Leger hero Kingston Hill (by Mastercraftsman).
Indian Ridge’s (by Ahonoora; 7th) total of 11 stakes winners was the third highest of the year and that figure includes the Group 1 Middle Park Stakes scorer Charming Thought (by Oasis Dream).
The Grade 1 four-timer of the newly crowned dual Eclipse Award winner Main Sequence (by Aldebaran) is not part of Pivotal’s (by Polar Falcon; 8th) earnings, of course, and the best of his six European stakes winners included the dual Group 2 scorer Gospel Choir (by Galileo).
Monsun (by Konigsstuhl; 9th), Mark Of Esteem (by Darshaan; 10th), Linamix (by Mendez; 11th), Highest Honor (by Kenmare, 15th), and Barathea (by Sadler’s Wells; 16th) each got nine stakes winners.
Monsun’s included the Group 1 winners Sea The Moon (by Sea The Stars) and Sirius (by Dashing Blade), and Mark Of Esteem’s granddaughter Avenir Certain (by Le Havre) was a dual Group 1 classic star.
The other three who made the top 16 are the Sadler’s Wells trio Montjeu (12th), Galileo (13th) and Entrepreneur (14th), each of whom had earnings of over €2.5 million.
STAKES WINNERS
Their 15 stakes winners included the multiple Group 1 star Charm Spirit (by Invincible Spirit; Montjeu), the Group 1 2000 Guineas scorer Night Of Thunder (by Dubawi; Galileo), and the dual Group 1 hero The Grey Gatsby (by Mastercraftsman; Entrepreneur).
Six broodmare sires outside of these top 16 notched up at least 6 individual stakes winners, and the highest total was eight for Alzao (by Lyphard; 23rd), maternal grandsire of the Group 1 Lockinge Stakes and Group 1 Prix de la Foret scorer Olympic Glory (by Choisir).
Kingmambo (by Mr Prospector; 26th) and Zafonic (by Gone West; 27th) got seven apiece, with the latter represented by the Group 1-winning fillies Vazira (by Sea The Stars) and Sultanina (by New Approach).
The other trio were Selkirk (by Sharpen Up; 17th), Royal Academy (by Nijinsky; 21st), and Big Shuffle (by Super Concorde; 28th). Of them, only Big Shuffle was the broodmare sire of a European Group 1 scorer in 2014, the classic-placed Lucky Lion (by High Chaparral), and it is worth noting that Royal Academy had a triple Grade 1 scorer in Brazil and top-level winners in New Zealand and the USA during the year.