John Ingles assesses how the sires with their first crops of two-year-olds are measuring up.
With Royal Ascot behind us and more than three months into the turf season, now seems a good time to check in on how this year’s crop of first-season sires are faring. At the time of writing, ten of them had at least one winner on the board in Britain and Ireland, though none has yet managed to sire the winner of a black-type race and only one has a youngster with a Timeform rating over 100. We’ll go through them in order of number of races won.
Persian Force was one of the most likely candidates to make a fast start so it’s no surprise to see him leading the way with eleven wins from as many different winners. That’s an impressive one in three of his runners who have been out so far, and he also leads the way by prize money which is how the title of leading first-season sire is traditionally decided.
A son of Mehmas who was himself the leading first-season sire in 2020, Persian Force was a rare winner of the Brocklesby to prove more than just an early-season two-year-old, going on to win the July Stakes (as his sire did) as well as finishing placed in the Coventry, Phoenix, Prix Morny and Middle Park. Also like Mehmas, Persian Force was sent straight to stud after his two-year-old season and joined him at Tally Ho Stud where his initial fee was set at €10,000.
Persian Force has a trio of two-year-olds who have a Timeform rating of 90 or more, headed by the filly Pershaada (95) who won a novice at Goodwood for Persian Force’s trainer Richard Hannon before finishing fourth in the Queen Mary Stakes. His other leading performers are last weekend’s Anglesey Stakes runner-up Immortal Guard (93p), a winner at the Curragh on his debut, and the Naas maiden winner Force Noir who runs in the same Amo Racing colours as his sire did.
It’s fair to say that Bayside Boy, next in the table with eight wins, is a more unexpected sire to be showing so prominently. With only around half the number of two-year-olds out so far compared with Persian Force, he’s at a numerical disadvantage, but seven of his 16 runners have been successful. As a son of New Bay, he doesn’t fit the typical early first-season sire profile, either.
Bayside Boy hadn’t even made his debut at this stage of his own two-year-old campaign, though he did win first time out over seven furlongs at Doncaster in mid-July and showed smart form later that year. He went on to win a muddling four-runner Champagne Stakes over the same course and distance before finishing third in the Dewhurst and Futurity Trophy, though his career-best effort came on his final start at three when a 33/1 winner of the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes. He was then retired to stud alongside his sire at Ballylinch Stud at a fee of €15,000.
Like Persian Force, Bayside Boy has three runners rated above 90. Sale Shark (93p) won on his debut at Hamilton before finishing fifth in the Windsor Castle Stakes, Barrow Boy (92p) won a maiden at Navan at the second time of asking, while Blessed Voyager (91p) had been his sire’s first winner when successful over five furlongs at Newbury in April but hasn’t run since. Bayside Boy’s dual winner is Arapaho Gold (87p) who made it two out of two at Thirsk earlier this week. If his own two-year-old career is anything to go by, Bayside Boy has scope for plenty more success for the remainder of the season.
High-class sprinter Minzaal, winner of the Gimcrack at two and Sprint Cup at four, was the other son of Mehmas expected to do well, though from the same number of runners as Persian Force (33), he’s lagging behind a little at this stage with five wins from as many winners, though plenty of his runners have a ‘p’ on their ratings indicating progress is expected.
For now, Minzaal’s runners are headed by a pair rated 92, though neither are winners yet. Both earned their ratings from runs at Royal Ascot where they were sent off at long odds, Kamaal finishing mid-division in the Coventry Stakes but Crownbreaker faring better in the Queen Mary where she was fifth. A half-sister to July Cup winner Mill Stream, Crownbreaker was also Minzaal’s highest priced yearling at 550,000 guineas. Another expensive filly, the Karl Burke-trained Minzelle (88p), is her sire’s highest-rated winner so far, comfortably landing the odds in a maiden at Catterick last time.
Coolmore’s contender for first-season sire honours is Blackbeard, an on-course rival to Persian Force whom he beat in the Morny and Middle Park. He too is by a former leading first-season sire, No Nay Never, and was another retired to stud straight after his two-year-old campaign. Blackbeard also has five wins on the board in Britain and Ireland and is notable for being the only first-season sire at this stage with a runner rated over 100. That’s Edward Thatch (101p) who won a Cork maiden in heavy ground for Robson de Aguiar by over five lengths on his second start, though coughing reportedly ruled him out of Royal Ascot.
The third son of Mehmas with winners on the board is the Flying Childers winner Caturra who stood his first season at stud at a lower fee than those named above. His runners are headed by Tim Easterby’s gelding Futurra (81) who has been busy with nine runs already, yielding wins in a seller at Musselburgh and a novice at Redcar.
Dubawi’s sons Dubawi Legend and Naval Crown are next in the list with a couple of wins apiece. Dubawi Legend, who finished a place in front of Bayside Boy in the Dewhurst and won Germany’s top sprint, the Goldene Peitsche at Baden-Baden at three, deserves credit as his two winners come from just seven runners to date. Much his best runner, though, is the filly Harlequin Sky (93) who has yet to win but excelled herself at huge odds to finish third in the Windsor Castle Stakes.
The other three first-season sires who are off the mark with one win each are Perfect Power, State of Rest and Good Effort. The most interesting of that trio is Good Effort, a son of Shamardal, who was a smart sprinter trained by Ismail Mohammed for owner Abdulla Al Mansoori and did most of his winning on the all-weather, including three listed races at Lingfield.
Operating on a small-scale private basis for his owner, Good Effort reportedly covered just six mares in his first season at stud, but from three runners to date has produced Magic Effort (81), a debut winner at Newmarket’s Craven meeting, and Power Effort (70p) who showed some promise when third on his debut at Salisbury this week.
Among those yet to sire a winner, Jersey Stakes winner Space Traveller is overdue a breakthrough success, having drawn a blank from 15 different runners out so far. Two of the highest-profile sires with their first crops this year are Baaeed and Stradivarius, though neither were likely to figure this early in the season.
However, both have had their first runners. Baaeed’s sole starter so far is Shiyam (71p), a Shadwell yearling purchase who showed plenty of promise, despite being green, when second in a novice at Yarmouth in May for John & Thady Gosden. Unlike Baaeed who didn’t run at all as a two-year-old, Stradivarius did win a mile maiden at Newcastle late in the year at two, though neither of his runners so far has made an impact.
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