THE EUROPEAN SIRES CHAMPIONSHIP : CLASS IS PERMANENT

Dansili
(Photo : Juddmonte/Europmap) 

“THE TIMEFORM 120 BRACKET”

Some years ago, Summerhill put down a marker. Our observations were that the single most important ingredient in sire success was racing class. Our history is replete with Champion sires of superior racing performance, and singularly lacking in those that were not good racehorses. While there are exceptions, that’s pretty much the story of the world.

Relatively modern times recall DrumBeat (Timeform 131,) High Veldt (126) Sybil’s Nephew (121,) and Fairthorne (120) – they belong to the 50’s and 60’s, while the “in-between” era remembers Persian Wonder (118,) Royal Prerogative (117) and Foveros (120). Jungle Cove was American and therefore beyond the clutches of Timeform, but he was a competent runner and a Grade Two winner.

This decade, we’ve been graced by some of the best South African sires ever, and they include 8-time Group One winner, Jet Master, Fort Wood (117) and while Western Winter was American, the lack of a Timeform assessment doesn’t detract from a narrow 2^nd in one of his homeland’s “stallion-makers” the Met Mile (Gr.1). While they weren’t quite in the same racing league, both Al Mufti and Jallad were honest Graded Stakes campaigners.

A glance at our latest Stallion brochure reveals that, to a man, our barn is occupied by Group winners, all of whom reside in the 120 plus bracket.

Now turn your attention to the table below, the current European Sires Premiership, and you find exceptional racehorses occupying every one of the top 15 slots. No exceptions. That tells its own story, not only of how valuable class is, but how competitive the stallion business has become. It’s an arguable proposition that this could be Europe’s best line-up of all time.

While Galileo, Montjeu, Pivotal and Danehill Dancer have been around for some time, the two rising stars on the firmament are the Juddmonte pair, Oasis Dream and Dansili. While the former kicked off at a proper commercial fee of £25,000, Dansili has done it the hard way, starting out at £7,500, and now boasts the world’s highest ranked racehorse of 2010, Harbinger. Yesterday we posted a piece on Sadler’s Wells as a Broodmare sire phenomenon. If you’re a Ready To Run fan, you’ll have noticed our draft included a Dansili colt from a very well related Sadler’s Wells mare.

LEADING SIRES IN EUROPE 2010

	Sire	Grandsire	BT Wins	Total GBP
1	GALILEO	Sadler’s Wells	15	3,741,878
2	OASIS DREAM	Green Desert	19	2,746,959
3	DANSILI	Danehill	20	2,584,048
4	DANEHILL DANCER	Danehill	13	2,523,214
5	DUBAWI	Dubai Millennium	12	2,264,731
6	PIVOTAL	Polar Falcon	20	2,086,179
7	KING’S BEST	Kingmambo	6	1,965,908
8	SHAMARDAL	Giant’s Causeway	8	1,945,002
9	MONTJEU	Sadler’s Wells	9	1,895,848
10	CAPE CROSS	Green Desert	9	1,865,669
11	INVINCIBLE SPIRIT	Green Desert	14	1,601,040
12	ANABAA	Danzig	6	1,530,757
13	ROCK OF GIBRALTAR	Danehill	9	1,458,228
14	REFUSE TO BEND	Sadler’s Wells	4	1,436,558
15	VERGLAS	Highest Honor	4	1,309,271
16	CHOISIR	Danehill Dancer	4	1,308,258
17	INTIKHAB	Red Ransom	9	1,270,939
18	HAWK WING	Woodman	5	1,192,260
19	NOVERRE	Rahy	4	1,151,884
20	HIGH CHAPARRAL	Sadler’s Wells	6	1,130,911
21	KINGSALSA	Kingmambo	2	1,096,071
22	SINGSPIEL	In The Wings	4	1,050,811
23	PEINTRE CELEBRE	Nureyev	5	1,032,004
24	MEDICEAN	Machiavellian	6	1,031,876
25	HALLING	Diesis	8	1,026,267
26	TIGER HILL	Danehill	7	1,014,551
27	MONSUN	Konigsstuhl	5	988,865
28	DIKTAT	Warning	4	987,803
29	GREEN TUNE	Green Dancer	6	980,750
30	EXCEED AND EXCEL	Danehill	4	973,896
31	KYLLACHY	Pivotal	2	973,173
32	FOOTSTEPSINTHESAND	Giant’s Causeway	4	934,650
33	ACCLAMATION	Royal Applause	3	934,134
34	DUBAI DESTINATION	Kingmambo	2	892,657
35	SADLER’S WELLS	Northern Dancer	13	889,026
36	FASLIYEV	Nureyev	3	887,644
37	SINNDAR	Grand Lodge	2	574,229
38	TAGULA	Taufan	3	863,493
39	SLICKLY	Linamix	1	861,800
40	BARATHEA	Sadler’s Wells	5	859,334
41	GIANT’S CAUSEWAY	Storm Cat	3	844,838
42	GREEN DESERT	Danzig	2	829,486
43	ONE COOL CAT	Storm Cat	0	819,504
44	CAPTAIN RIO	Pivotal	3	816,176
45	BERTOLINI	Danzig	1	802,228
46	ORPEN	Lure	5	802,021
47	OBSERVATORY	Distant View	2	799,870
48	ELUSIVE CITY	Elusive Quality	0	795,214
49	MUHTATHIR	Elmaamul	0	781,885
50	RED RANSOM	Roberto	2	775,587

Statistics courtesy of European Bloodstock News