WORLD TOP 30 SIRES

A.P. Indy
(Photo : NYC/Karen Kasper)

“Top 5% of North American
and European Sires”

Bill Oppenheim Thoroughbred Daily NewsEach year there are between 1,000 - 1,100 sires in North America, Europe, and Japan who are assigned APEX ratings.

When we talk about a “World Top 12”, therefore - given that we do know we’re really only talking about North American and European sires on the world’s number one international circuit - we are essentially saying, these are the top two percent of sires. When we say “World Top 30,” practically speaking it is the top five percent of sires. I don’t mean to diss the top Southern Hemisphere and Japanese sires, but they aren’t really on this number one international circuit, so, practically speaking, the “World Top 30” is the top five percent of available proven sires in North America and Europe with foals three years old and up.

A.P. Indy sired 9.76 percent top-two-percent earners in the major racing countries covered; Galileo sired 7.50 percent top-two-percent earners; Dynaformer, 5.32 percent; Elusive Quality and Invincible Spirit 3.62 percent. The second figure is the career percentage of “unique” A Runners to named foals of racing age. So, since his first foals raced in 1996, 14.15 percent of the named foals of racing age by A.P. Indy became A Runners in at least one year. That’s an astronomical percentage. As you can see, most younger sires from the “Big-Book Era” have considerably lower percentages. A Runners roughly equate to listed winners and above. A few years ago, if you’ll remember, our research indicated “six percent is the new 10 percent,” and six percent is the yardstick I use now for this category.

I will note that all of the current World Top 12 have A Runner indices above 2.50, and, with a couple of exceptions, their percentage of unique A Runners to foals is above seven percent. The two exceptions are Coolmore sires Danehill Dancer (6.77 percent with huge crops starting with impossible mares - this is a lifetime statistic, remember) and Montjeu (6.63 percent, but with a severe colt bias). Obviously those numbers don’t guarantee you a spot among the World Top 12, but you just about can’t get there without them. They are what are called “necessary, but not sufficient” conditions for inclusion.

As you’ll see from my (admittedly subjective) table, the first four Kentucky sires I’ve listed in the “World Next 18” portion of the table all do have A indexes of 2.50 - plus, and all have eight percent-plus unique A Runners from foals. I can’t really explain the voodoo which tells me where a sire really rates, but there must be hundreds of industry professionals who are compiling similar lists, using their own voodoo. As noted last week, I now think the balance of power among the world top 12 has shifted from North America (now five of the top 12) to Europe (now seven). But in the second tier, I counted 12 Kentucky sires, against five from Europe. Oh yes, that means one slot is open for reader input. There are 30 slots in the World Top 30, and I have only filled 29 of them. Who else deserves to be in (and no, you can’t kick out some of mine to make more room - just one opening for now)?

It’s also interesting that the two F2005 sires (first foals now five-year-olds) are both European, top 12 sire Oasis Dream and top 30 sire Dalakhani. Then the four top F2006 sires (first foals now four-year-olds), all Top 30 sires at the moment, are all North American: Medaglia d’Oro, Speightstown, Tapit, and Candy Ride; and the two F2007 sires (first three-year-olds; rarely are sires from this category included in these lists), both Darley European sires, are: newest world top 12 sire Dubawi, and newest world top 30 sire Shamardal.

Interesting, too, that Coolmore (Galileo, Montjeu, Danehill Dancer, Giant’s Causeway) leads Darley (Street Cry, Dubawi) four to two among the World Top 12, but in the remainder of the World Top 30, there are four Darley sires (Elusive Quality, Medaglia d’Oro, Cape Cross, and Shamardal), but none for Coolmore.

THE WORLD TOP 12 STALLIONS

Sire	Farm	Index* Apex A	A’s-Fls Pct	2010 Fee	Ring	Sold 2010	$ Average Yearlings
A.P. INDY	Lane’s End	4.88	14.15	150,000	28	19	544,736
SMART STRIKE	Lane’s End	3.16	9.41	75,000	40	34	252,037
DISTORTED HUMOR	Winstar	2.69	10.69	100,000	29	26	381,153
GIANT’S CAUSEWAY	Coolmore	3.09	9.11	100,000	73	54	161,483
STREET CRY	Darley	2.96	9.90	150,000	40	34	282,752
GALILEO	Coolmore	3.75	8.91	private	62	47	422,698
MONTJEU	Coolmore	2.71	6.63	private	34	28	244,891
DANEHILL DANCER	Coolmore	2.68	6.77	private	42	38	186,145
DANSILI	Juddmonte	2.66	7.10	65,000	32	26	231,147
OASIS DREAM	Juddmonte	3.19	9.25	65,000	52	45	224,995
PIVOTAL	Cheveley Park	2.58	7.46	65,000	46	37	168,152
DUBAWI	Darley	2.76	7.63	20,000	37	33	174,257

REMAINDER OF WORLD TOP 30 STALLIONS

Sire	Farm	Index* Apex A	A’s-Fls Pct	2010 Fee ($)	Ring	Sold 2010	$ Average Yearlings
DYNAFORMER	3 Chimneys	2.66	8.42	150,000	25	18	277,284
UNBRIDLED’S SONG	Taylor Made	2.97	8.17	115,000	64	49	181,204
PULPIT	Claiborne	2.50	8.26	60,000	36	26	155,500
AWESOME AGAIN	Adena Springs	2.84	8.03	50,000	50	34	92,071
ELUSIVE QUALITY	Darley	1.81	5.90	75,000	72	54	93,292
INDIAN CHARLIE	Airdrie	2.04	5.76	70,000	56	41	137,231
MALIBU MOON	Spendthrift	2.24	5.92	40,000	81	57	157,184
TIZNOW	Winstar	2.53	6.84	75,000	70	49	159,285
MEDAGLIA D’ORO	Darley	3.68	8.33	100,000	57	43	148,383
SPEIGHTSTOWN	Winstar	4.08	9.74	35,000	57	38	93,311
TAPIT	Gainesway	3.58	12.07	50,000	43	34	120,470
CANDY RIDE	Lane’s End	3.70	5.99	25,000	24	14	93,035
MONSUN	Schlenderhan	3.72	10.16	private	11	8	207,928
CAPE CROSS	Darley	1.93	4.55	35,000	64	52	90,819
DALAKHANI	Gilltown	3.92	7.65	50,000	37	24	109,772
INVINCIBLE SPIRIT	Irish National	1.81	5.53	45,000	40	35	146,255
SHAMARDAL	Darley	2.87	6.78	20,000	51	41	101,056

Extract from Thoroughbred Daily News