It may be a joyous season, but it is also a time for reflection and there are many ways to look back on a first season sires' championship in Great Britain and Ireland that was ultimately dominated from start to finish by Whitsbury Manor Stud's Sergei Prokofiev.
The frigid thing about this year's championship was that none of the novel stallions seemed to stand out from the crowd like Blue Point (Ire) and Havana Gray (GB) did in previous years.
That may well be true, but Sergei Prokofiev deserves a little more credit for the performance of his first group of runners this year, as he is numerically well ahead of his nearest rival, Mohaather (GB), with 23 individual winners and 29 victories overall in Great Britain and Ireland achieved a remarkable performance with 19 winners and 24 victories respectively.
However, what some people seem to have missed about Sergei Prokofiev is that not only did he win the sire championship in his first season, but his record of two-year-old winners and victories compares favorably with some of the best stallions in the business .
In fact, Sergei Prokofiev ended the season in the top 10 most successful sires of two-year-old winners in Britain and Ireland, with his 23 individual winners comparing favorably with the likes of Starspangledbanner (Aus), No Nay Never and even Kingman (GB).
It has to be said that there is a large difference in the quality winners here, but the fact that Sergei Prokofiev exceeded expectations, being mentioned in the same breath as such vaunted stallions on this one metric alone, doesn't change that.
Sergei Prokofiev's only group winner came in the G3 Marble Hill Stakes at the Curragh when the Adrian Murray-trained Arizona Blaze (GB) – who had become his first winner on the opening day of the Irish turf season – wore the colors of Amo Racing in a hard-fought victory over the eventual Group 1 goalscorer, Camille Pissarro (Ireland) (Wootton Bassett {GB}).
Arizona Blaze nearly claimed his own Group 1 triumph when he finished second to Magnum Force (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}) in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at Del Mar. He remains a top-class colt looking ahead to next year.
It will be fascinating to see how his first runners fare overall next year, because if there is a question mark hanging over Sergei Prokofiev, it will be how his horses continue to train.
When he was trained by Aidan O'Brien, Scat Daddy's son was a top-class youngster in his own right. He managed to win at Listed level as a three-year-old but never really fulfilled his potential beyond his youth campaign.
However, it must be noted that Sergei Prokofiev throws good, large horses that look like they will go on and the fact that buyers such as Amo Racing, Ralph Beckett and Anthony Stroud have backed him at the yearling sale this year can only be taken as be viewed positively as moving forward.
Sands Of Mali (Fr), who, in addition to 16 winners and 23 victories, also enjoyed Royal Ascot success with the Kevin Ryan-trained Windsor Castle Stakes hero Ain't Nobody (Ire). The Ballyhane Stud stallion took second place overall in terms of prize money, just €70,000 behind Sergei Prokofiev and around €100,000 ahead of Darley's Pinatubo (Irish) in third place.
Sands Of Mali, who won the G2 Gimcrack Stakes as a two-year-old, developed into a top-class sprinter and won the G1 British Champions Sprint Stakes as a three-year-old.
Along with Ain't Nobody he was responsible for the 105-rated Time For Sandals (Ire), which was narrowly beaten to second place in the G2 Lowther Stakes at York for Harry Eustace.
Like Sergei Prokofiev, Sands Of Mali proved to be very capable of having highly rated soldiers on site with good ratings – nine of them had a rating of 80 or higher. The focus is clearly on the speed of his offspring, with most of these wins coming between five and six furlongs.
There is no doubt that Sands Of Mali has done enough in his debut season to suggest he has a place in the breeding stable in the UK and Ireland for years to come. However, the fact that he only had 50 registered yearlings and just 24 foals on the ground will make it tough for him to move on after an excellent debut year, at least in the compact term.
Mohaather | Shadwell
Mohaather is off to a mighty start
Until mid-season it didn't seem like it was going to be the case for Mohaather, but the way his offspring were successful in the second half of the season saw him climb up the table and at one point it looked like he might even make it Pushing Sergei Prokofiev out of his seat.
In the end, Mohaather was only four individual winners and a total of five wins behind the sire champion of the first season. His mighty debut season was led by the success of G3 Molecomb Stakes winner Massive Mojo (Ire), and there is a good case to be made that Mohaather's progeny will do even better beyond their juvenile years, considering his success later in life developed into a top-class miler and recorded his career-best success in the G1 Sussex Stakes as a four-year-old.
Kameko A Class Act
Although Kameko couldn't match the win list of Sergei Prokofiev and Co., he certainly came up trumps in terms of quality and ended the year as the only newcomer sire to produce a winner at the highest level with Qatar Racing's Modern Century taking over Grade I Summer Stakes at Woodbine for trainer Andrew Balding.
This success didn't go unnoticed either, with Godolphin spending 1 million gns to secure Modern Century's brother during Book 2 of the October Yearling Sale at Tattersalls. This was the sales result of an unforgettable trade. Talk about two large feathers in the newborn stallion's cap.
When you look at the numbers, 12 individual winners and 17 wins from a total of 46 runners in Great Britain and Ireland is extremely respectable reading for a sire whose offspring should continue to develop over time and in racing. As well as Modern Century, Kameko has a genuine Derby contender in the form of G2 Royal Lodge Stakes winner and 114-rated Wimbledon Hawkeye (GB), while Rajeko (Ire) also secured a triple-digit 100 rating for this stallion this season.
Good vibes on Ghaiyyath
Massive things were expected from Darley's Pinatubo, Earthlight (Ire) and Ghaiyyath (Ire), and although the latter didn't bring as many winners to the list, he strangely defined the best of the trio in many people's eyes.
Six individual winners and wins from just 30 runners in Great Britain and Ireland were led by 111-rated and G3 Autumn Stakes runner-up Stanhope Gardens (Ire). Ghaiyyath's second crop yearlings have sold for up to 500,000 grams and, perhaps most interestingly, a number of leading pinhookers have moved to secure foals from the stallion this year.
Bookmakers were pegging Pinatubo as the ante-post favorite to be named first-season sire at odds of 6-4, and few would have disagreed with such an assessment.
With a record of 18 individual winners and 23 wins in Great Britain and Ireland, he is just one step behind Mohaather on both counts and has 16 fewer runners. There's no denying that more was expected of Pinatubo, such a brilliant youngster in his own right, this year, with his two Group 1 wins part of an unbeaten season for two-year-olds that spanned six races.
Nonetheless, he finished third in both the prize money table and the European table (behind Sergei Prokofiev and Hello Youmzain) with his 22 individual winners and 30 overall victories, which were only five and four, respectively, below the numbers of the first season Fathers Champion in each category. His runners may need more time than many expected.
Meanwhile, another son of Shamardal, Earthlight, celebrated 14 individual winners and 15 victories in Britain and Ireland with the 103-rated Mr Lightside (Ire), who finished third behind Massive Mojo in the Molecomb, the highest-rated of this group.
Earthlight's best was undoubtedly seen in France, where his daughter Daylight (Fr) scored points in Group 3 before finishing third behind Whistlejacket (Ire) in the Prix Morny, followed by a good second place behind Lake Victoria (Ire) (Frankel {UK). }) at G1 Cheveley Park.
Electrolyte: a quality horse for Hello Youmzain this year | Scoop Dyga
Hello Youmzain, here to stay
Speaking of France, one cannot be surprised by the achievements of Haras d'Etreham resident Hello Youmzain (Fr). A quick look at the table of leading first-time sires in this country shows that his tally of 13 individual winners left Wooded (Ire) behind by a single winner, but the difference in prize money of €200,245 between the two illustrates where these victories were achieved .
Hello, Youmzain managed to record eight wins and nine wins in the UK and Ireland, but far more impressive was the fact that he had two group winners – Electrolyte (Ire) and Misunderstood (Fr) – in his debut season. His prowess has already been felt in the southern hemisphere, where Remala produced an impressive first winner in Modern Zealand for a sire who really looks to be the real deal.
The best of the rest
An honorable mention goes to Without Parole (GB), who had two black horses in his first crop – Fiery Lucy (GB) and Sea To Sky (Ire) – while King Of Change (GB) performed similarly well from a miniature crop, to produce a listed winner in Lady With The Lamp (Ire).
