A big weekend of racing around the world and confirmation that in this crazy COVID-19 year we have an abundance of promising first-season sires in the northern hemisphere.
In North America we had Gr1 winners for Nyquist and Not This Time, the first Graded winner for Brody’s Cause as well as Listed winners for Vancouver and Outwork and another winner for Frosted.
In Europe, Goken sired his second Group winner with Go Athletico winning the Gr3 Prix la Rochette at Paris Longchamp, Pride Of Dubai added a new Listed winner, Territories added a new stakes performer and there were new winners for Mehmas and Shalaa.
In Japan Mikki Isle sired his first stakes winner and Maurice sired a 1,2 while Duramente nearly had his first stakes performer with Gr3 Niigata Nisai Stakes fourth Fervore.
Nyquist is known primarily as a Kentucky Derby winner but he was unbeaten at two where his wins included the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and Del Mar Futurity and he’s by a champion juvenile in Uncle Mo so it should come as no surprise to see him doing well.
The Spinaway Stakes for fillies at Saratoga was won by Vequist with Lady Lilly third and to date Nyquist has three stakes performers from 20 runners.
Grade 1 Wood Memorial Stakes winner Outwork is also by Uncle Mo and he has seven winners headed by the Saratoga Listed winner Samborella.
There has been a buzz around Not This Time (pictured) since his offspring looked slick at various breeze-up sales and one of those, Princess Noor, won the Del Mar Debutante Stakes impressively.
Bred and raced by the Albaugh family, Not This Time (Giant’s Causeway) only raced four times, all as a juvenile, winning the Gr3 Iroquois Stakes at Churchill Downs and runner-up to Classic Empire in the BC Juvenile, serving his first book of mares at TaylorMade at $15,000.
Like Not This Time, Brody’s Cause is by Giant’s Causeway and won at Gr1 level at two and three, notably the Blue Grass Stakes and Breeders’ Futurity and runner-up to Nyquist in the BC Juvenile.
Like Into Mischief, he went to stud cheap at Spendthift however, following Sittin On Go winning the Gr3 Iroquois Stakes at Churchill Downs and two other stakes performers from 14 runners to date it’s a fair bet he’ll command more than the $7,500 he was advertised at in 2020 before the season began.
Frosted can hardly be described as a precocious racehorse but he was a damn fine one at three and four so it’s encouraging to see he has started well with four winners and four placegetters from just 15 runners and he will have his first runners in Australia this season.
In Europe Goken and Mehmas have both started in fine style, Mehmas leading the first-season list with 24 winners to date and both horses with Group winners.
Mehmas (Acclamation) was seen by many as an obvious pick for leading first-season sire in the UK. A high-class juvenile himself, he was never out of the first three in eight starts and covered in his first-season at Tally-Ho Stud.
To date he has 24 winners and a further seven placegetters from 76 to race, headed by four stakes winners, notably Gr2 winners Minzaal and Supremacy.
Goken sired his second Group winner at the weekend with Go Athletico winning the Gr3 Prix la Rochette over 1400m at Paris Longchamp. Standing alongside his sire Kendargent at Haras de Colleville, Goken has two stakes winners and 12 winners from 25 runners to date so he looks certain to be standing for more than his advertised €3,000 next season.
Japan’s Champion 3YO of 2015 Duramente (King Kamehameha) has made a promising start with 12 winners and nine placegetters from 42 runners with the expectation of more to come from the Tokyo Yushun winner.
His Shadai Stallion Station barnmate Mikki Isle (Deep Impact) was something of a late bloomer, winning at Group 1 level over 1600m at three and five and rated Champion Sprinter Miler in Japan in 2016.
He currently has four winners, headed by the Gr2 Kokura Nisai Stakes winner Meikei Yell and his fellow Shadai barnmate Maurice (Screen Hero) was another at his best as an older horse and he has nine winners including the promising Kaiser Nova.
While COVID-19 has kept Mikki Isle and Maurice in Japan, a similar run of results when their first Australian offspring start running can only see their stocks rise.
Group 1 winners Vancouver and Pride Of Dubai no longer shuttle however, a slew of positive results in the northen hemisphere could see that decision reversed.
With the championship races still to come it will be fascinating to watch how these young stallions progress through the autumn of this crazy year.