Pierro Tops First-Season Sires

During the final weeks of the 2016/17 season in Australia, the sustained struggles for the riders' premierships in both Melbourne and Sydney remained a focus of attention for many Australian racegoers. Equally engrossing was the duel for numerical supremacy in Australia's first-season sires' standings, with Your Song (Aus) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) and All Too Hard (Aus) (Casino Prince {Aus}) trading punches right up to the final weekend of the campaign, when the former edged into a slender and decisive lead by taking his total number of winners to 11. In a country which does not have the volume of 2-year-olds races which are a feature of many other jurisdictions, both horses deserve respect for having posted a double-figure total of winning offspring. Huge plaudits, of course, also go to the nation's champion first-season sire Pierro (Aus) (Lonhro {Aus}). With progeny earnings of A$872,635, Pierro's excellent season has been spearheaded by 'TDN Rising Star' and G3 Magic Night S. heroine Tulip, whose third place in the G1 Golden Slipper S. made a notable contribution to her sire's progeny earnings.

It is fitting that Pierro and All Too Hard should have both made such excellent starts with their first juveniles because they were the two most notable 2-year-olds of their generation when they were racing. Their rivalry was an engrossing feature of the autumn of 2012 and it then carried on through the following season. Now they are clearly rivals at stud too.

The G1 Golden Slipper S. had already been and gone by the time that Pierro and All Too Hard first met on the racecourse in April 2012. They were already established as the stars of their generation by that time, notwithstanding that All Too Hard's trainer John Hawkes had elected not to pitch his charge into the crucible of the Slipper, reasoning that that high-pressure melting pot might represent too early a baptism of fire for his still-unseasoned star. Pierro, on the other hand, was already battle-hardened by this stage. Having already taken the G2 Silver Slipper S. and the G2 Todman S., Pierro duly won the Slipper, defeating Snitzerland (Aus) (Snitzel {Aus}) and G1 Blue Diamond S. heroine Samaready (Aus) (More Than Ready) in impressive style.

By this time All Too Hard had kept his record unblemished by justifying favouritism in the G2 VRC Sires' Produce S. and the G2 Pago Pago S., winning in such impressive style that when his eagerly anticipated first clash with Pierro came in the second leg of Sydney's 2-year-olds Triple Crown, the G1 AJC Sires' Produce S., it was All Too Hard, rather than the Golden Slipper winner, who headed the betting. In what was viewed as a two-horse race, they duly filled the quinella, with major honours going to Pierro.

All Too Hard headed off to the spelling paddock after the Sires' Produce while Gai Waterhouse duly gave Pierro one more run that season, the mighty colt strolling home as the long odds-on favourite in the G1 Champagne S. to complete the Triple Crown and ensure himself undisputed championship honours. Both sets of connections were clearly itching for their charge's 3-year-old campaigns, which was easy to understand on pedigree. Pierro's sire Lonhro had improved significantly as he matured, graduating from top-class juvenile to Horse of the Year at four, while the colt hailed from a family which had previously thrown out several high-class older horses for the late Sheikh Maktoum al Maktoum. All Too Hard's team had at least as much reason to hope for continued improvement. Not only did the horse's physique promise significant further progress, but his pedigree gave massive encouragement bearing in mind that he is a half-brother to a horse who had developed into a world- champion in maturity: the sublime sprinter Black Caviar (Aus) (Bel Esprit {Aus}).

It turned out that the rivalry between the pair continued through their Classic season, most notably when they finished first and second in the G1 Caulfield Guineas (with All Too Hard winning) and then when they filled the minor placings (with All Too Hard again faring better) behind Ocean Park (NZ) (Thorn Park {Aus}) at weight-for-age in the G1 Cox Plate. Both horses held their form at the very highest level right through to the autumn before each retired to stud (Pierro to Coolmore, All Too Hard to Vinery), having proved themselves to be thoroughly admirable champions in solid racing careers reminiscent of a bygone and less cautious age. It is now hugely pleasing that both are shaping as if they might be as successful at stud as they were on the racecourse.

The achievement of Your Song in edging out All Too Hard in the numerical standings should not be underestimated. Trained by Anthony Cummings, the son of Fastnet Rock boasts form which put him not far behind the best of his generation. Most notably, he split Pierro and Epaulette (Aus) (Commands {Aus}) in the G3 Run To The Rose (with All Too Hard back in fifth) early in his 3-year-old campaign. Ultimately he recorded a splendid big-race victory towards the end of the season with a terrific five-length triumph in the G1 BTC Cup over 1200 metres at Eagle Farm, beating some top-class older sprinters. He subsequently retired to Widden, and his first-season results put him potentially in the top bracket of stallions. He actually has so far come up with the most stakes performers (four) of the trio, all of whom have been represented by one black-type winner.

The other two first-season sires to have come up with a stakes winner have been Excelebration (Ire) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}) and Needs Further (Aus) (Encosta De Lago {Aus}). The former has made a good start to his stud career in both hemispheres. In Europe G1 St. James's Palace S. hero Barney Roy (Ire) has been Excelebration's flag-bearer, while his Australian star to date has been Saint Patricks Day (Aus). Winner of a listed race in Brisbane in April, Saint Patrick's Day ranks as one of four winners from only 14 individual runners for the Coolmore shuttler during the campaign. Needs Further, winner as a 3-year-old of the G3 Carbine Club S. over 1600 metres at Randwick, did well to come up with a stakes winner from even scantier representation, dual Tasmanian listed winner Pateena Arena (Aus) being only one of 13 runners for her sire, who stands in Tasmania at Armidale Stud.

Among the other four first-season sires with a 2-year-old stakes performer to his credit during the season, one stands out as having made a notably promising start: Animal Kingdom (Leroidesanimaux {Brz}), who shuttles between Jonabell Stud in Kentucky and Arrowfield in New South Wales. The mighty chestnut needs no introduction, having proved himself a true champion both in the U.S. and the UAE, with his best triumphs having come when he landed the GI Kentucky Derby as a 3-year-old and the G1 Dubai World Cup at five. It is almost a given that Animal Kingdom's stock will generally progress as they mature, so it is eye-catching that he has come up with six Australian first-crop winners from only 18 runners, headed by Lord Cecil (Aus) and 'TDN Rising Star' Earth Angel (Aus).

A winner on debut at Muswellbrook, Lord Cecil held his own when stepped up to black-type company, being placed in the G3 Ken Russell Memorial Classic at the Gold Coast before running well in the G1 J. J. Atkins S. at Doomben. Earth Angel gained TDN Rising Star status when winning impressively on debut at Ballarat in March. Animal Kingdom is also responsible for a 'TDN Rising Star' in the U.S., Untamed Domain having created a huge impression when winning a maiden special weight on the turf at Saratoga on July 22. Along with Debutante S. heroine Sunny Skies, who currently holds an unblemished two-from-two record, Untamed Domain (who is in the care of Animal Kingdom's former trainer Graham Motion) is ensuring that Animal Kingdom's career in the Northern Hemisphere is starting as promisingly as it has done Down Under.