IT is early days yet, but a look at the top dozen sires in Europe who had their first runners last year, based on their numbers of winners, probably suggests to me that many will continue to be successful in the years ahead.

With 51 individual winners, Blue Point (Shamardal) was the clear leader in the first-season sire championship for 2023, and all but two of the winners were in Europe. Standing at Kildangan Stud, under the Darley banner, his fee for 2024 is €60,000, a healthy jump from the €35,000 he cost breeders last year.

Given that Blue Point is the first European stallion since Sadler’s Wells to sire two Group/Grade 1 winners in his first crop, he warrants the rise in fee. His son Big Evs won at the Breeders’ Cup, Rosallion landed the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere, while three others won stakes races.

His percentage of winners to runners was 44%, his yearling half-brother to Battaash sold to Godolphin for 1,500,000gns, and given that Blue Point himself was at his career best at the age of five, it is probably a safe bet that we have yet to see the best of his offspring.

Inns Of Court

Westmeath-based Inns Of Court (Invincible Spirit) notched up 28 individual winners at two, but he remains at a fee of just €5,000 at Tally-Ho Stud this season. One stakes winner and three stakes-placed juveniles were not enough to induce an increase in his fee, but he is showing himself to be a real value stallion for breeders with a limited budget.

A winner over seven furlongs at two, and a pattern winner in each of the three other seasons he raced, Inns Of Court gained his most important win at the age of five, and this was when he dropped back to five furlongs and won the Group 2 Prix du Gros-Chene. Twice runner-up at Group 1 level, he chased home Al Wukair in the Prix Jacques Le Marois, while just One Master denied him in the Prix de la Foret.

Soldier’s Call

Soldier’s Call (Showcasing) has moved to the newly-established Dullingham Park from Ballyhane Stud, and 2024 sees him covering at a fee of £8,500. He sired 26 individual juvenile winners in his first crop, with the Group 3 winner Dawn Charger and three stakes-placed runners among them. This was no surprise given Soldier’s Call’s own precocity at two, a quality that earned him the title of champion juvenile colt in France.

That was largely attributed to the fact that he took on the older horses in the Group 1 Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp, finishing third to Mabs Cross, and he won the Group 2 Flying Childers Stakes too. Though he failed to win at three, Soldier’s Call was runner-up, in record time, to Battaash in the Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes and placed behind Blue Point in the Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes.

Ten Sovereigns

With the exception of Blue Point, who was streets ahead of his peer group, the nine stallions after him, based on numbers of winners, recorded between 19 and 28 individual first crop winners in 2023. Coolmore’s Ten Sovereigns (No Nay Never) commands a fee of €17,500 this year and his 25 winners last year were headed by the Group 3 Cornwallis Stakes winner Inquisitively.

Unbeaten at two when he won the Group 1 Middle Park Stakes, Ten Sovereigns added the Group 1 July Cup at three when he beat Advertise. With three stakes winners, and a healthy tally of eight other juveniles who were group or listed-placed, Ten Sovereigns could be facing into a rewarding year ahead with his runners.

Too Darn Hot

Apart from Blue Point, the only first season stallion whose progeny won in excess of €1 million last year was Too Darn Hot (Dubawi), and the quality of his runners explains why the Darley sire stands for £65,000 this spring. Leading the way among his 24 winners was the filly Fallen Angel, triumphant in the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes. She was one of four group winning juveniles by Too Darn Hot, and no other European sire has ever sired more.

The best two-year-old in Europe when his unbeaten season culminated with victory over Advertise in the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes, Too Darn Hot was the best miler of his generation after he added the Group 1 Sussex Stakes and Prix Jean Prat to his tally of wins. Here is a sire who could yet be a superstar.

Calyx

A second Coolmore sire to do very well, and record a winners to runner return of 40%, was Calyx (Kingman). What a pity that we did not see more of this Group 2 Coventry Stakes winner. He won three of his four starts, all over six furlongs, and his sole defeat was at the hands of Hello Youmzain in the Group 2 Sandy Lane Stakes.

Representing great value at €12,500, Calyx ticks all the boxes for success as a stallion. A strong sire line and an outstanding Juddmonte female line, he made one of the best starts among his peers last year, getting three pattern winners. Classic Flower and Persian Dream won at Group 2 level, Zona Verde was successful in a Grade 3 in the USA, while his sons Malc and Eben Shaddad were runner-up in the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes and placed in the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes respectively.

Land Force

No Nay Never (Scat Daddy) had two stallions among this top dozen, and Highclere Stud’s Land Force was the second. Winner of the Group 2 Richmond Stakes at Goodwood for Ballydoyle, he stands for £5,000. He piled on the winners all year, getting 21 in all, but his sole stakes performer was Velox in Turkey.

The Irish National Stud’s Irish classic-winning Phoenix Of Spain (Lope De Vega) made a very solid start to his second career, and the Group 2 Vintage Stakes winner Haatem was the best of his 20 winners. In spite of this, his fee has actually reduced to €10,000 this year, and breeders who use him in 2024 could look very smart in the time to come.

Phoenix Of Spain’s 20 juvenile winners was matched by the French-based City Light (Siyouni) who stands at Haras d’Etreham for €7,000. One of the surprises of the year, he had a remarkable strike rate of 48% winners to runners. Just one stakes-placed horse, Rock The Kasbah, will not be the case for long and City Light was a horse who himself was better with time.

Advertise (Showcasing) joins Soldier’s Call as a second representative of their sire on this list. He got a pair of stakes-placed performers, 19 winners in all, and his fee for 2024 at Manton Park Stud is £10,000. There is much expected to come of this triple Group 1 winner.

Invincible pair

The influence of the Irish National Stud’s veteran Invincible Spirit (Green Desert) will live on for a very long time, and he has three stallions on this list. Inns Of Court got 28 winners up in 2023, while Yeomanstown Stud’s Invincible Army and Coolmore’s Magna Grecia sired 13 and 12 respectively. All three had a stakes winner.

Invincible Army heads into the new breeding season at a fee of just €5,000. His daughter Kitty Rose was a listed winner and group-placed, while his sons Love Billy Boy and James’s Delight were both placed in valuable sales races in Britain and Ireland.

Magna Grecia beat Phoenix Of Spain in a Group 1 at two and captured the Group 1 2000 Guineas the following spring. The half-brother to St Mark’s Basilica stands for €10,000 this year, and last year’s juveniles included the French stakes winner Myconian.

Just missing out on the top dozen, but a most honourable thirteenth on the list, is Lanwades Stud’s Study Of Man (Deep Impact). He shone when it came to getting quality among his nine individual winners, Deepone winning the Group 2 Beresford Stakes, while Ghorgan won a valuable sales race in Germany and was group and listed-placed also.