THIRTEEN stallions with their first European runners this year have been making an early impact, and this week I will take a quick gallop through the list. Given copy deadlines, it is likely that some of the numbers mention will have been improved on by the time you read this, but the race to be leading first season sire is still a live one.

At the time of penning this piece, Kildangan Stud’s Blue Point (Shamardal) leads the way with 25 individual winners, three of whom have been stakes winners. Big Evs added the Group 3 Molecomb Stakes to success in the Listed Windsor Castle Stakes, while the unbeaten Rosallion and dual winner Action Point are stakes winners. Going to stud at €45,000, but available for €35,000 this year, Blue Point is odds on to be a big riser when 2024 fees are announced.

Winner of the Group 2 Gimcrack Stakes at two, Blue Point was unbeaten at five, and ended his career with wins in the Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot for the second time, the Group 1 Diamond Jubilee Stakes and the Group 1 Al Quoz Sprint.

Soldier’s Call (Showcasing) is hot on the heels of Blue Point, and he had his 20th individual winner of the year recently. He has hit the crossbar three times in stakes races, with World of Darcy (second in National Stakes), Dorothy Lawrence (second in Marygate Stakes) and King Collector in Italy all missing out on a stakes win by one place. It is only a matter of time.

Crowned champion

The best colt in France at two when he was crowned champion, Soldier’s Call had to give best to Battaash in the Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes at three and to Blue Point and Battaash in the Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes. He kept the best of company, was great value in his first season at €10,000, but looks a steal now at €7,500.

Inns Of Court (Invincible Spirit) went to Tally-Ho Stud at a fee of €7,500, dropped to €5,000, but has been quickly off to a good start, already clocking up some 15 individual winners. His best performer, on stakes form, is the Irish and French listed-placed runner Gaenari, who has yet to win, but was fifth at the weekend in the Group 1 Keeneland Phoenix Stakes.

A multiple Group 2 and 3 winner, Inns Of Court was runner-up twice at Group 1 level in France, and he will add many more winners to his tally before the season is out.

A listed-placed juvenile winner in Turkey will not set many hearts beating among breeders in Britain or Ireland, but Velox is one of 11 winners from the first runners sired by Highclere Stud’s Land Force (No Nay Never), the Group 2 Richmond Stakes winner and from the amazing female family of a host of stars, including this year’s classic winner Auguste Rodin (Deep Impact). Land Force stood this season for £5,000, down from an opening £6,500. A European stakes horse is not far away.

Ten Sovereigns

Level with Land Force on individual winners, and also a son of No Nay Never (Scat Daddy), Ten Sovereigns has three stakes performers already to his credit, and they have gained these placing at Royal Ascot, the Curragh and Naas. One of the fastest winners of the Group 1 Middle Park Stakes, and conqueror of Advertise and Fairyland in the Group 1 July Cup at three, expect a deluge of winners for the Coolmore sire who covered at €17,500 his year, after starting at €25,000.

If Calyx (Kingman) is one winner behind his fellow Coolmore stallion Ten Sovereigns, he has one up on him in that he has already sired his first stakes winner. Persian Dreamer bounced back to winning ways when she landed the Group 2 Duchess of Cambridge Stakes, while Forest Flower and Malc are both Group 2-placed, the latter when runner-up on the Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot.

The Group 2 Coventry Stakes winner Calyx took quite a fall from an opening fee of €22,500 to €10,000 this year, but the future looks bright for him.

City Light (Siyouni) stands at Haras d’Etreham, and his fee has been unchanged since he retired at €7,000. He was not a stakes winner himself until the age of four, but that year he was second to Merchant Navy in the Group 1 Diamond Jubilee Stakes. At five he was runner-up to One Master in the Group 1 Prix de la Foret.

He has made a promising start with six of his eight winners being successful in France. One to watch.

Bright start

The runners by Too Darn Hot (Dubawi), a champion at two and three, have been some of the most anticipated of 2023, and he has made a very bright start. Standing under the Darley banner at Dalham Hall, he got off the mark in May when the filly Fallen Angel won at Haydock. After running second in a listed race at Sandown, she got back to winning ways and gave Too Darn Hot his first stakes and group winner, winning the Group 3 Sweet Solera Stakes at Newmarket. She is one of eight first crop winners for her sire. His fee this year was £40,000, having started at £10,000 more.

A third Coolmore stallion among the leading 13, and the second to have a stakes winner, is Magna Grecia (Invincible Spirit). The Group 1-winning juvenile and classic-winning three-year-old half-brother to St Mark’s Basilica (Siyouni) has sired seven individual winners, with his son Myconian winning a listed race in France. Magna Grecia cost €15,000 to use this year, less than his initial fee of €22,500.

Lope De Vega (Shamardal) is one of Europe’s leading sires, and his Irish National Stud-based son Phoenix Of Spain has matched the achievement of Calyx and sired a Group 2 winner in his first season. Haatem stepped up on his runner-up effort in the Group 2 Superlative Stakes to land Goodwood’s Vintage Stakes. One of half a dozen winners for the Irish classic hero, when he beat Too Darn Hot, Haatem was conceived at a fee of €15,000, but this year Phoenix Of Spain could be used for €12,000.

Three sons

A third son of Invincible Spirit (Green Desert) among the leading 13 is Yeomanstown Stud’s Invincible Army. A pattern winning sprinter in each of his three seasons racing, Invincible Army is another with six individual winners.

Best Solution (Kodiac) stands at Gestut Lunzen in Germany and he was a smart juvenile, finishing second to Waldgeist in the Group 1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud. With only 45 juveniles, great credit to him with four winners already, in Britain, Germany and Italy.

Finally, Study Of Man (Deep Impact), from a handful of runners, has been responsible for three individual winners, with Deepone heading the list at present.