By John Boyce
The great mares of the modern era not only produce multiple top-class racehorses; the very best of them will also prove adept at passing on their genes to future generations through their sire sons. Remarkably, there are three mares since pattern racing commenced that have produced five sons that have gone on to sire at least one Group 1 winner. Strange as it may sound, producing multiple Group 1 sires, while being noteworthy for the mare, may not end up being so for the breed. To construct a more meaningful ranking, our mares must have sired two or more stallion sons each responsible for at least five Group 1 winners. Influential sires are key.
The full-brothers Sadler's Wells and the once-raced Fairy King have their dam Fairy Bridge at the top of our list. Fairy Bridge, a May foal who cost Robert Sangster only $40,000 as a yearling, went unbeaten in her only two races, both at two, earning a 115 rating from Timeform. Two other sons, Perugino and Tate Gallery, have also contributed to her tally of 91 Group 1 winners. A mere 13 Group 1 winners behind Fairy Bridge is the great Urban Sea, dam of the equally great Galileo and Sea The Stars. It's only a matter of time–most likely sometime in 2018–that this Arc heroine takes over at the top.
The next three mares–Weekend Surprise, My Charmer and Glorious Song–all belong to eras when foal crops were much smaller. So, whilst their numbers are less impressive, their achievements are still remarkable. Weekend Surprise produced five sons that sired at least one Group 1 winner, while Glorious Song is the only mare among the group to have had three sons sire five or more winners at the top level.
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