By Emma Berry
The first juvenile race won't be run until the end of next month, but the buzz and feedback on the stock of young stallions always starts early, and Fitzdares has already opened a market on the first-season sires' championship. We'll be asking a number of horsemen and women for their opinions over the coming weeks and today, trainer Ger Lyons gives us his view.
TDN: Who do you think will be leading first-season sire?
GL: Without a shadow of a doubt, Gleneagles (Ire) should be the class act among them all. He has the pedigree and the race record and should make a top-class sire.
TDN: Did you see/purchase many by first-season sires at the yearling sales?
GL: I've two 2-year-olds by Free Eagle (Ire) and I'm not saying they're going to be early but what attracted me to the sire is that Pat Smullen is no hypologist and he said that Free Eagle was the best horse he ever sat on.
I walked out of Doncaster and said that Outstrip (GB) would be the leading first-season sire this year. I bought what I considered to be the nicest of his yearlings there but I didn't see any others after that.
I found the sales difficult last year. I used to be renowned for buying yearlings by first-season sires but I can't really do it any more as there's no value there. In my opinion, in the last decade the business has turned around. When I was growing up the winner's enclosure was sacrosanct, it's where we all wanted to be, but now it's all about the sales. People are breeding horses thinking 'what can top the sale' instead of trying to breed a Derby or a Guineas winner. Retiring horses to stud at two is a complete no-no for me–it shouldn't be allowed.
TDN: Which stallion do you think will go on to be the best of this intake?
GL: If we say that an ounce of pedigree is worth a ton of feeding then Golden Horn (GB) and Gleneagles are head and shoulders above the rest.
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