Pedigree Pointers: First season sire stock take as Mehmas leads the way

Even though the racing pattern has filtered almost completely back to normal after what feels like a deluge of constant quality, it is in fact our first week without a Group One race since the beginning of June.

48 European Group One races have passed us by in those 13 weeks, with 34 still to go including the remaining two Classics, 11 exclusively for juveniles, The Champion Stakes and the Arc.

Before all that though as we creep into September, it seems an appropriate time to have a quick stock take, if you will, on how the first-season-sires have been progressing.

The crop of stallions that have their first runners in 2020 were somewhat lacking an expensive star in comparison with the year before which had both Golden Horn and Gleneagles retiring at fees of £60,000 and €60,000 respectively. And Australia and Kingman at €50,000 and £55,000 the year before that.

In fact, the two highest priced stallions in this crop were ‘just’ €27,500 and €25,000, bearing in mind that many first-season-sires will never be as expensive as in their first year, ever again.

There are many races for juveniles at all levels still to come but so far there are six first-season-sires that have produced a Group winner and the Tally-Ho Stud resident and son of Acclamation, Mehmas, is leading the way in just about every category.

To be fair, with Acclamation being a source of precocious and speedy juveniles and Mehmas himself running solely as a two-year-old before retiring to stud, it would be expected that his progeny would be out early.

As well as that, Mehmas was the first-season-sire to cover the highest number of mares (187) and therefore has had nearly double the amount of starters than any of the other sires, but the quality of several of these is what is impressive.

Mehmas ran eight times in 2016, winning on four of those appearances including the Group Two July Stakes at Newmarket and Group Two Richmond Stakes at Goodwood (both over 6 furlongs), and also placed second to Churchill in the Group One National Stakes at the Curragh, third in the Group One Middle Park Stakes at Newmarket and second in the Coventry at Royal Ascot to Caravaggio.

From his 72 runners, Mehmas now has 20 winners including six black-type horses, two of those being Group Two winners.

We first sat up and took notice when Mehmas’ son Supremacy, the £65,000 yearling purchase by Clive Cox, emulated him by taking this year’s renewal of the Richmond Stakes by four lengths on just his third career start in July.

And now more recently Minzaal, who was sold for 85,000gns by his breeder as a foal and pinhooked by Glenvale Stud for 140,000gns as a yearling, added to Shadwell’s annus mirabilis when decisively taking the Group Two Gimcrack Stakes at York by two lengths last week, also on just his third start.

As well as these two promising youngsters, there is also Listed winners Acklam Express and Method, as well as Group Two Gimcrack-third Mystery Smiles and Listed placed Muker. Four of whom hold early entries in the Group One Middle Park Stakes, with a further two in the National Stakes.

Mehmas’ fee had dipped from his original €12,500, to €7,500 for the 2020 season, a figure which won’t be as low next year should the results continue to flow.

A sire who covered half the number of mares that Mehmas received, at less than half of his fee (€5,000), is one whom currently sits second behind him on the table.

That sire is Goken. A dual Group Three winning sprinter who also placed third in the Kings Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot, is the son of Kendargent, who once upon a time stood for just €1,000 in France before the Group winners began emerging.

So far, Goken has a 50% strike rate of winners to runners with 11 winners from just 22 starters.

And those figures include French Group Three and Listed winner Livachope, who was also sixth behind Campanelle in the Prix Morny last weekend; as well as the Group Three placed Axdavali and Listed placed Go Athletico.

One more sire who must be mentioned at this stage of the year, as he is the only first-season-sire with a Group One performer so far, is Prince Of Lir.

The Ballyhane Stud son of Kodiac also stood for €5,000 in his first season and from 25 starters, has delivered The Lir Jet. Emulating his father when winning the Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot, The Lir Jet also placed second in the Phoenix Stakes three weeks ago at the Curragh.

There are 18 Group One winners amongst this group of first-season-sires and it is so far three sires who did not manage to win at the highest level on the racetrack that have the most notable results.

But as discussed in this column before, that is not always necessary for a sire to go on and produce those that do. Kodiac, Danzig, Acclamation, Showcasing and Dansili, to mention just a few significant examples.

Similarly, the sire with the highest number of winners at the end of the season does not always reflect quality, as was the case in 2019 where Gutaifan led the table with 30 winners and one black-type horse, while Night of Thunder was behind with 28 winners and 11 black-type horses.

So will standings change drastically as the season progresses? Well let’s home in on the three most expensive within this bunch in particular, Shalaa, The Gurkha, and New Bay.

The Gurkha did not race as a juvenile himself before his two Group One wins at three, and he is by Galileo, so we can expect to see his number of both runners and winners increase as the weeks and months progress.

Much the same can be said for New Bay, the son of Dubawi who ran just once as a juvenile in November before his French Classic win and Arc placing at three (dual Derby hero Harzand fits into this bracket as well).

Shalaa however, the most expensive retiree, was top class at two, winning five straight races including the Group One Prix Morny and Middle Park Stakes as well as the earlier July and Richmond Stakes. He so far has six winners from his 35 starters and one stakes-placed individual, Saeiqa, who was third in the Coventry. We watch and wait for some magic of his own calibre here.

Quality is ultimately key and while Mehmas looks set for leading-first-season sire honours in terms of winners from his large crop, he is leading the way with regards quality so far too.

Will there be some competition as the season progresses? Predictably, and hopefully, so.