AS we face into the main bulk of yearling sales in Europe, with two excellent renewals of the Arqana and Goffs UK versions under our belt, I felt it would be appropriate to carry out a mid-term (sort of) review of how the sires with their first northern hemisphere two-year-olds are doing.

Many of the stallions have featured in this column, thanks to enjoying some stakes wins with their first runners, while others have perhaps gone under the radar somewhat.

As ever with such a review, by the time these written words appear in print, the picture might have changed with regard to numbers, but the stakes results should be largely correct.

HAVANA GREY

(2015 by Havana Gold (Teofilo) ex Blanc De Chine, by Dark Angel (Acclamation)). Stands at Whitsbury Manor Stud. 2019 fee £8,000

The Group 1 Derrinstown Stud Flying Five winner, who beat Invincible Army to land the Group 3 Molecomb Stakes at two and ran second to Unfortunately in the Group 1 Prix Morny, Havana Grey has made a sensational start to his career at stud.

His winners in Britain, France, Ireland, Japan, Italy and Spain include listed scorers Cuban Princess and Lady Hollywood, group-placed Maylandsea (runner-up in the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes) and Havana Angel, and the valuable sales race winner Eddie’s Boy, in addition to five other stakes-placed juveniles.

He has already amassed an incredible 30 individual winners, and the breeders who supported him this season at just £6,000 have got themselves a bargain.

SIOUX NATION

(2015 by Scat Daddy (Johannesburg) ex Dream The Blues, by Oasis Dream (Green Desert)). Stands at Coolmore. 2019 fee €12,500

For many, Sioux Nation was the hot favourite to be the champion first-season sire. He has not disappointed, chasing Havana Grey and he is only narrowly behind his great rival. The pair were also opponents on the track, Sioux Nation running third to his rival in the Group 1 Flying Five Stakes,

Sioux Nation was already a Group 1 winner, notching that success at two when he followed up his win in the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot with victory in the Keeneland Phoenix Stakes at the Curragh. With a large first crop of some 165 foals, it is little wonder he was expected to deliver with his runners. He has sired 27 winners.

He has one up on Havana Grey in that both his blacktype winners have won group races, Lakota Sioux in England and Sydneyarms Chelsea in France, and a pair of his three stakes-placed horses have also been group performers. He has sired winners in Britain, Ireland, France, Italy, Norway, Hungary and Saudi Arabia.

KESSAAR

(2016 by Kodiac (Danehill) ex Querulous, by Raven’s Pass (Elusive Quality)). Stands at Tally-Ho Stud. 2019 fee €8,000

Two stakes performers, Ipanema Princess who was group-placed in France and Bold Action who was most recently placed in the Listed Roses Stakes at York, stand out at present among the 14 winners sired by Kessaar. He himself only raced at two when his three victories over six furlongs included the Group 2 Mill Reef Stakes and Group 3 Sirenia Stakes. It was no surprise that Tony O’Callaghan would be interested in such a son of his own standard-bearer, Kodiac.

Kessaar’s winners are made up of 10 in England, three in Ireland and one in France. One of his earliest winners was the Roger Varian-trained Tajalla, and her reappearance will be eagerly anticipated. This year Kessaar was available for €5,000, and a first stakes winner is surely due.

HARRY ANGEL

(2014 by Dark Angel (Acclamation) ex Beatrix Potter, by Cadeaux Genereux (Young Generation)). Stands at Dalham Hall Stud. 2019 fee £20,000

After his first two years at stud, Harry Angel’s fee fell to £12,500. Now he is up and running, and it will surely not be long until he delivers his first stakes winner. The world’s best sprinter at three when he won both the Group 1 Haydock Sprint Cup and the July Cup, he had broken his maiden at two in the Group 2 Mill Reef Stakes.

Kept in training at four, Harry Angel broke the six-furlong record at Haydock. He proved popular with breeders and has more than 100 juveniles. They number 11 individual winners in Britain, Ireland and France, and his son Marshman was runner-up in the Group 2 Gimcrack Stakes, having won both his previous starts. Another son, Vicious Harry, won at Chantilly on his debut, and in his subsequent starts has been runner-up in a pair of listed races and third in the Group 2 Prix Robert Papin.

TASLEET

(2013 by Showcasing (Oasis Dream) ex Bird Key, by Cadeaux Genereux (Young Generation)). Stands at Nunnery Stud. 2019 fee £6,000

While he doesn’t have as big a pool of juveniles as some of his rivals, Tasleet has got off to a cracking start at stud, with nine individual winners, all but one of them in Britain. The exception is Theresa and Con Marnane’s Saint-Cloud winner Texas Hold ‘Em.

A listed winner at two and a Group 2 winner at four, Tasleet was runner-up to Shalaa in the Group 2 Richmond Stakes as a juvenile and finished second to Harry Angel in the Group 1 Haydock Sprint and to The Tin Man in the Group 1 British Champions Sprint Stakes. He is closely related to another fine sprinter for Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum, Battaash.

Standing proudly as the best of Tasleet winners to date is the Archie Watson-trained, Group 2 Coventry Stakes winner Bradsell. He will surely add to that win and continue to fly the flag for his sire.

SAXON WARRIOR

(2015 by Deep Impact (Sunday Silence) ex Maybe, by Galileo Sadler’s Wells)). Stands at Coolmore. 2019 fee €30,000

Foaled in Japan where his dam, the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes winner Maybe was based, Saxon Warrior beat Roaring Lion in the Group 1 Racing Post Trophy at two, adding the Group 1 Qipco 2000 Guineas the following year. From an exceptional female line, he was expected to make an immediate impact at stud, and has.

To date Saxon Warrior is among the elite group of first-season sires whose tally of individual winners is in double figures. He has sired four each in Britain and Ireland and a pair in France.

Aidan O’Brien sent his daughter Victoria Road to Deauville to win a listed race recently, while Joseph O’Brien saddled Thornbrook to win on her debut and, on the same day that Saxon Warrior broke through at stakes level, she was beaten just a length when placed in the Group 2 Debutante Stakes.

CRACKSMAN

(2014 by Frankel (Galileo) ex Rhadegunde, by Pivotal (Polar Falcon)). Stands at Dalham Hall Stud. 2019 fee £25,000

For the past two seasons Cracksman has been used by breeders for just £17,500, down from his starting price. It is safe to say that there is only one way his fee will go now, thanks to an excellent start at stud. He won a maiden in mid-October in his own juvenile season, over a mile at Newmarket, and was champion at three and four in Europe, winning the Group 1 Champion Stakes at Ascot twice, in addition to the Group 1 Coronation Cup and Prix Ganay.

Cracksman’s 22 starters so far have given up nine individual winners in Britain, Ireland, Italy and Spain. His two stakes performers are headed by the unbeaten seven-furlong Listed Star Stakes winner Dance In the Grass, and she is out of a mare by Sir Percy.

With such early prowess shown by his runners, and the best surely to come, Cracksman looks set for a fine second career at stud.

EXPERT EYE

(2015 by Acclamation (Royal Applause) ex Exemplify, by Dansili (Danehill)). Stands at Banstead Manor Stud. 2019 fee £20,000

Before he had a runner, the stud fee for Expert Eye had been halved from his first season, and this year he was available at £10,000.

By a renowned sire of sires, and from an outstanding female line, he has hit the ground running and has sired winners in Britain, Ireland and Italy. All he lacks to date is a stakes performer among his 11 individual winners.

Winner of the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Mile on his final start, Expert Eye won his first two starts as a juvenile, putting himself forward as a leading contender for the Dewhurst Stakes with his defeat of Zaman in the Group 2 Vintage Stakes at Goodwood. Watch for his runners in the autumn, and in 2023.

ZOUSTAR

(2010 by Northern Meteor (Encosta De Lago) ex Zouzou, by Redoute’s Choice (Danehill)). Standing at Tweenhills Farm and Stud. 2019 fee £25,000

Okay, he is an established Group 1 stallion, but Zoustar makes it on this list thanks to his first northern hemisphere crop of juveniles. Seven of that crop, which numbers more than 100, have visited the winners’ enclosure in Britain and France.

Leading the way among his European juveniles is Lezoo, a filly who thrives on racing. She was purchased for €110,000 in May at the Arqana breeze-up sale, and has won three of her four starts, a novice, a listed race, the Group 3 Princess Margaret Keeneland Stakes at Ascot, and she was only beaten half a length in the Group 2 Duchess of Cambridge Stakes at Newmarket. She could be the first Group 1 winner for Zoustar in this part of the world.

JUSTIFY

(2015 by Scat Daddy (Johannesburg) ex Stage Magic, by Ghoztzapper (Awesome Again)). Stands at Coolmore America. 2019 fee $150,000

This Ashford Stud-based sire makes it on to this list as, apart from being one of the leaders of his generation, both racing and as a sire, in the USA, his daughter Statuette is an unbeaten Group 2 winner in Ireland. She is in addition to his unbeaten Grade 3-winning daughter Just Cindy and unbeaten stakes-winning daughter Justa Warrior in the USA, while his son Tahoma is a stakes-placed winner.

So far Justify, an unbeaten Triple Crown winner who did not race at two, is the sire of eight individual winners, one less than his fellow first-season sire companion at Ashford, Mendelssohn (Scat Daddy).

UNFORTUNATELY

(2015 by Society Rock (Rock Of Gibraltar) ex Unfortunate, by Komaite (Nureyev)). Stands at Springfield House Stud. 2019 fee £7,500.

The Group 1 Prix Morny winner, and champion juvenile in France, Unfortunately stood a single season at his owner’s Cheveley Park Stud before moving to Reddy and Linda Coffey’s Roscrea farm. He has a small crop of just over 30 two-year-olds, but his 11 runners so far have yielded a hugely impressive six individual winners, five in Britain and one in Turkey.

Looking For Lynda has shown soundness as a well as ability, winning twice and finishing in the first four on five occasions from seven starts. A number of Unfortunately’s other runners have been placed, he is a horse who deserves more support, and was a giveaway at €3,500 this season.

U S NAVY FLAG

(2015 by War Front (Danzig) ex Misty For Me, by Galileo (Sadler’s Wells)). Standing at Coolmore. 2019 fee €25,000

Standing this season at half the fee he started out at, breeders who used this European champion two-year-old and sprinter will be delighted to see that his first runners include listed winners in the USA and France, and this is from six winners to date.

What is surprising is that a horse who won a pair of Group 1 races at two, including the Dewhurst Stakes in record time, and captured the Group 1 July Cup at three, should have only 72 two-year-olds to represent him this year.

Furthermore, he is by an outstanding stallion and out of a mare who won the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes and Prix Marcel Boussac at two and was a classic winner at three. What more could you ask for in a stallion?

MASSAAT

(2013 by Teofilo (Galileo) ex Madan, by Acclamation (Royal Applause)). Stands at Mickley Stud. 2019 fee £5,000

One of the first-season sires who has been quietly making news, perhaps to the surprise of some, is Massaat. He has 69 foals of racing age, five winners, and his son Mascapone last month gave his sire some blacktype.

In fact, it should be no surprise that this Shadwell-bred would make an impact at stud. He was runner-up at two to Air Force Blue in the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes, won the Group 2 Hungerford Stakes over seven furlongs, and was placed behind Ribchester in the Group 1 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp.

In addition, he is a half-brother to the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup winner Eqtidaar (Invincible Spirit), and from a great female family. His sire, Teofilo, was the champion juvenile in Europe and at stud has been responsible for more than 20 Group 1 winners.

OTHERS TO NOTE

There are a number of sires who are ‘bubbling under’, and likely to climb the first-season sire table as the season progresses. Tweenhills is represented by Zoustar above, but they had really pinned their hopes on Roaring Lion (Kitten’s Joy); sadly he sired just a single crop. His four winners include the dual scorer Lion Of War, but he is more likely to start piling up winners from now on.

Rathbarry Stud’s James Garfield (Exceed And Excel) has done something that many of the more prolific winner-getters have not yet achieved, he has sired a stakes winner. Maria Barnwell won the Listed National Stakes at Sandown before finishing third in the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot. She is one of the stallion’s three winners to date.

I recently wrote in praise of Rajasinghe (Choisir), and his three winners so far have come from just six runners. He is also sire of a stakes-placed winner, but has only 25 juveniles on the ground, and smaller crops to come. Any opportunity to buy a son or daughter should be fully explored.