THE 2018 class of first-season sires has the makings of a group that may well prove to be above average, and it is likely that many of those at the top of the sire list this season will become household names.

We all know about the sensational start made by Coolmore’s No Nay Never (Scat Daddy), and the success enjoyed by his first runners means that his fee has rocketed from €25,000 this season to €100,000 in 2019. With six stakes winners and a baker’s dozen of stakes performers, including the unbeaten Group 1 Middle Park Stakes winner Ten Sovereigns, he towers ahead of his peers and his progeny earnings are twice that of his nearest rival. Another remarkable feature of his first year’s runners is that almost half of his starters have won a race.