2023 Flat preview: Six first-season sires to note including Blue Point, Too Darn Hot and Advertise
John Ingles profiles six of the sires likely to make the most impact with their first crop of two-year-olds this season, including Blue Point.
Blue Point (Ire) (131)
Shamardal (USA) – Scarlett Rose (Royal Applause)
Sky Bet's Leading First Season Flat Sire 2023 odds: 5/2 joint-favourite
Godolphin’s top-class sprinter Blue Point will probably be best remembered for his unbeaten campaign as a five-year-old. After landing a hat-trick in Dubai early in the year in the Group One Al Quoz Sprint, he went on to complete a rare double at Royal Ascot, wearing down Battaash for the second year running over the stiff five furlongs in the King’s Stand Stakes and then following up in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes four days later.
While it was disappointing that Blue Point was then retired mid-season at the height of his powers, he had achieved plenty already, winning Group races in all four seasons that he raced. He was smart at two, winning the Gimcrack impressively by three lengths in between second places in the Richmond Stakes and Middle Park Stakes and ran a respectable third to Churchill in the Dewhurst Stakes on his only try at seven furlongs.
As well as his later Royal Ascot victories, as a three-year-old he was third to Caravaggio and Harry Angel in a deep edition of the Commonwealth Cup and gained Group Three wins at the same course in the Pavilion Stakes and Bengough Stakes.
A notably speedy son of Shamardal, he joined his late sire at Kildangan Stud at a fee of €45,000 resulting in a huge first crop of 161 two-year-olds, six of those with Blue Point’s own trainer Charlie Appleby. Among his yearlings who went through the ring, M. V. Magnier paid €420,000 for a filly out of a half-sister to King’s Stand Stakes winner Profitable.
Big Time Rascal, trained by George Boughey, will be Blue Point's first runner on the ground in Saturday's Brocklesby Stakes at Doncaster.
Advertise (Highest Timeform rating 125)
Showcasing – Furbelow (Pivotal)
Sky Bet's Leading First Season Flat Sire 2023 odds: 16/1
There were obvious excuses for the only two occasions that Advertise didn’t give his running – the trip in the 2000 Guineas and the soft ground in the British Champions Sprint Stakes. Otherwise, Advertise was a model of consistency, finishing first or second in all his other starts.
At two his big wins came in the July Stakes and Phoenix Stakes, while he ran well in defeat behind Calyx in the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot and when finding only champion two-year-old Too Darn Hot too strong in the Dewhurst.
That good effort over seven furlongs prompted his 2000 Guineas bid the following spring, but it was when blinkered and back at sprint trips that Advertise ran his best races at three, winning the Commonwealth Cup and Prix Maurice de Gheest and coming second to Ten Sovereigns in the July Cup in between.
Advertise began his stud career at the National Stud for £25,000 but this year he returned to Martyn Meade’s Manton Park as part of his former trainer’s new stallion operation. By the Gimcrack winner Showcasing, Advertise has a reported 103 two-year-olds to go to war with so seems sure to make an impact even if that’s the smallest crop of the six stallions profiled here.
His stand-out yearling in terms of price was a colt out of the Nell Gwyn Stakes runner-up Squash who fetched 500,000 guineas at Tattersalls, while he also had a filly out of a half-sister to the smart French miler Stunning Spirit sell for €300,000 at Goffs.
Inns of Court (Ire) (124)
Invincible Spirit (Ire) – Learned Friend (Ger) (Seeking The Gold (USA))
Sky Bet's Leading First Season Flat Sire 2023 odds: 9/2
A Group One win eluded Inns of Court in a career that saw him win his only start at two, over seven furlongs on Chantilly’s polytrack, and race on for Andre Fabre and Godolphin until the age of five. But he went very close on two occasions, beaten a short head by stablemate Al Wukair in the Prix Jacques le Marois at three and going down by the same margin to the filly One Master in the Prix de la Foret a year later.
While Inns of Court had good form at a mile, all his wins came at shorter trips, including a couple of Group Three victories over seven furlongs at three and another, in the Prix de Ris-Orangis at Maisons-Laffitte, over six furlongs at four. Inns of Court ended up sprinting full-time, with the last of his seven wins coming in the Group Two Prix du Gros-Chene at Chantilly over five furlongs, as good as any performance he put up in his career.
With the exception of one run in Hong Kong, Inns of Court raced entirely in France but being a son of Invincible Spirit no doubt accounts for the considerable support he’s had from Irish breeders. Inns of Court has a reported 168 two-year-olds conceived at a fee of €7,500 which gives him every chance of emulating fellow Tally-Ho Stud stallions Cotai Glory and Mehmas who have both been leading first-season sires in recent years.
He had a half-sister to Phoenix Stakes winner Ebro River sell for 175,000 guineas at Tattersalls, while Amo Racing went to €170,000 at Goffs for a half-brother to their useful two-year-old sprinter of last year Persian Force.
Soldier’s Call (119)
Showcasing – Dijarvo (Iceman)
Sky Bet's Leading First Season Flat Sire 2023 odds: 9/2
Unlike the other son of Showcasing profiled here, Advertise, there was never any temptation to try Soldier’s Call over longer trips. He was an out-and-out five furlong performer whose four career wins for Archie Watson all came at two. As well as beating a huge field in the Windsor Castle Stakes at Royal Ascot, he also made all in the Prix d’Arenberg at Chantilly and the Flying Childers Stakes, though gained as much credit for taking third against older rivals in a very tight finish to the Prix de l’Abbaye won by Mabs Cross.
While Soldier’s Call failed to add to those wins at three, he showed he’d trained on by being placed in two more top sprints, finishing third to Blue Point and Battaash in the King’s Stand Stakes and runner-up to the latter when he broke the course record in the Nunthorpe Stakes.
Soldier’s Call stood his first season at Ballyhane Stud at a fee of €10,000 and is another who will have plenty of ammunition with 121 two-year-olds in his first crop who should ensure that he’s one of the quickest first-season sires to get winners on the board. His highest-priced yearlings included a colt from the speedy family of King’s Stand Stakes winner Dominica bought for £105,000 at Doncaster and a half-sister to useful sprinter Last Crusader, a listed winner at York last season, who sold for €120,000 at Goffs.
Ten Sovereigns (Ire) (126)
No Nay Never (USA) – Seeking Solace (Exceed And Excel (Aus))
Sky Bet's Leading First Season Flat Sire 2023 odds: 5/2 joint-favourite
No Nay Never had a tremendous season with his two-year-olds last year that included the likes of Little Big Bear, Blackbeard and Meditate but he was also the leading first-season sire of 2018 thanks in no small part to the exploits of his smart two-year-old Ten Sovereigns who, like Blackbeard, ended his juvenile campaign with victory in the Middle Park Stakes.
Ten Sovereigns was unbeaten in three starts at two having only made his debut about a month before the Middle Park but he was stretched by the longer trip when sent off favourite for the 2000 Guineas, finishing fifth to stablemate Magna Grecia. Reverting to six furlongs for the rest of the year, Ten Sovereigns ran a career best when putting up a high-class performance to win the July Cup when he stayed on strongly to give a two and three-quarter length beating to Advertise.
Starting his stud career at Coolmore at a fee of €25,000, Ten Sovereigns continues the theme of very large crops with 149 two-year-olds to run for him. His top-priced yearling, sold at Goffs for €500,000, is a speedily-bred colt out of a half-sister to the Flying Childers winner Sand Vixen while a filly who fetched €300,000 is another sharp type on pedigree as she’s closely related to Ballydoyle’s smart sprinter Cadamosto (by No Nay Never), but Ten Sovereigns covered a number of more stoutly-bred mares too, plenty of them by Galileo.
Too Darn Hot (127)
Dubawi (Ire) – Dar Re Mi (Singspiel (Ire))
Sky Bet's Leading First Season Flat Sire 2023 odds: 4/1
Too Darn Hot has less of a speedy profile than the above-named first-season sires but that didn’t stop him becoming the champion two-year-old in an unbeaten campaign in 2018 which included wins in the Solario Stakes and Champagne Stakes before giving a two-and three-quarter-length beating to Advertise in the Dewhurst.
A strong favourite over the winter for the 2000 Guineas, Too Darn Hot had to miss that race after a setback in the spring and reappeared instead with a second place in the Dante Stakes. But rather than taking the Derby route from there, Too Darn Hot was dropped back in trip for the rest of his campaign, and while a beaten favourite again in the Irish 2000 Guineas and St James’s Palace Stakes, he restored his reputation with a couple more Group One wins in the Prix Jean Prat at Deauville and in the Sussex Stakes where he turned the tables on his Royal Ascot conqueror Circus Maximus. The Breeders’ Cup Mile was his intended end-of-year target but a hairline fracture brought his racing career to an end.
Retired to Dalham Hall Stud at a fee of £50,000, Too Darn Hot has 120 two-year-olds in his first crop, and while he might not be the fastest into his stride, he’s sure to get his fair share of winners in the second half of the season. His highest-priced yearling was a colt out of the May Hill Stakes winner Turret Rocks bought by David Redvers for 600,000 guineas at Tattersalls, while a filly out of a half-sister to Group One winners Japan and Mogul was a 320,000 guinea purchase by Shadwell.
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