DROMAHANE brought the curtain down on the 2025 calendar year of four-year-old races on December 30th, with the Mallow venue’s post-Christmas fixture once again providing the very last opportunity of the year to secure a last-gasp victory within this all-important age division.
The importance of results within this age category can prove to be particularly influential within the stallion ranks, where, rightly or wrongly, reputations can so easily be won and lost.
Victories in this division are hard won. No fewer than 140 different stallions sired a runner within the four-year-old maiden division, although only 62 of them can lay claim to have produced at least one four-year-old winner in 2025.
The numbers quickly become concentrated among an elite few, with only 28 siring two or more winners, as the top of the standings once again had a familiar look.
That was because Walk In The Park maintained his position at the top of the leaderboard and, in fact, further enhanced his figures by bettering his 2024 tally of 15 winners by siring 17 four-year-old winners in 2025.
Rewinding to the beginning of February, it was Bud Fox who secured the opening honours for Walk In The Park at Bellharbour, and that effectively set the tone for the months that followed, as he was responsible for almost double the number of winners in the age group of any other stallion, supplementing his crown as 2025 champion point-to-point sire by once again producing the goods in this all-important division.
Runner-up honours
The Gold Cup and Grand National-winning sire was also the only stallion to reach double figures in 2025, with Crystal Ocean and Maxios sharing runners-up honours with nine winners each.
The value of early four-year-old success was particularly evident with Crystal Ocean. 2025 brought his first crop of four-year-old runners, and the former Group 1 winner hit the ground running when Cristal d’Estruval supplied him with an initial success between the flags at Lisronagh in February.
That victory and the subsequent sale of Colin Bowe’s bay for £400,000 at the Cheltenham Festival sale, earning him the tag of the highest-priced pointer traded at public auction in 2025, was certainly a spectacular start for Crystal Ocean’s runners in the pointing fields, and it was followed by further wins in the division for his off-spring trained by Ross Crawford, Paddy Turley, Cormac Doyle, Eamonn Doyle, Ellen Doyle, Robert Tector, Aidan Fitzgerald and John Murphy to highlight his appeal.
Jet Away was the only stallion from outside of the Coolmore fold to break into the top six
2025 also brought the first Coolmore NH crop of four-year-old runners for Maxios. He too sired nine four-year-old winners, which, coupled with the Grade 1 exploits of his flag-bearer under rules, Gaelic Warrior, have earned him an increased stud fee of €6,000 for 2026.
The year’s results are sure to make for particularly pleasant viewing for the Coolmore team, whose stallions accounted for five of the six most successful producers of four-year-old maiden winners in 2025, with Getaway and Wings Of Eagles also making that elite top six.
Outside stallion
Jet Away was the only stallion from outside of the Coolmore fold to break into the top six, in what was a particularly fruitful year for the Arctic Tack Stud resident.
Seven four-year-old winners in 2025 represented a more than doubling of his 2024 figure, with a larger pool of runners, encouragingly seeing a much-increased winners-to-runners percentage also.
Jet Of Stars was his standout winner at Oldtown for Denis Murphy, having defeated two subsequent track winners in a performance, which saw him sell to Lucinda Russell for £230,000.
Outside of the top six, a number of stallions posted eye-catching strike rates with smaller pools of runners. That was particularly the case with Jukebox Jury.
Although siring two fewer four-year-old winners in 2025 compared with 2024, he had just nine four-year-olds run for him last year compared with 23 in 2024, ensuring that his 44% strike rate of winners to runners stands out as a particularly strong performance in 2025.
Jukebox loss
It also further reinforces the impact of his loss last summer; however, with his stores and foals selling strongly throughout 2025, his offspring look likely to figure strongly in the four-year-old division for a couple more years yet.
Ballycurragh Stud's Snow Sky once again delivered a notable strike rate \ Healy Racing
His near neighbour, Snow Sky, had stood out in 2024 with an even smaller pool of runners and, despite his number of four-year-old runners only increasing slightly in 2025, the Ballycurragh Stud resident stallion once again delivered a notable strike rate.
Two four-year-old winners from just four runners in the age division, Krystal Sky and Snow Is In The Sky, further enhanced his reputation in 2025, whilst Kilbarry Lodge Stud’s Harzand sired three winners from just nine runners in the category.
French-bred
The impact of French-bred horses was also evident, with FR-suffixed horses winning 28 four-year-old maiden races, with two of their stallions posting particularly standout performances.
Cokoriko was responsible for just three four-year-old point-to-point runners in 2025. However, strikingly, all three - namely Katkoriko, Lultimatom and Coq Noir - won their maidens first time out.
With those results, it is easy to see how he has commanded increasing stud fees, which have risen from €2,000 in 2018, the year of his first three-year-old runners, to a current fee of €15,000.
Similarly, Doctor Dino was also responsible for a trio of first-time-out four-year-old maiden winners in 2025, with Heldam, Lime On Gin and Wyoming Line, with only Louange’s second preventing him from also boasting a 100% strike rate.