second-crop sires

It is a question that has long fixated the bloodstock industry: which stallion can be caught as he rises to the top? As we know, those good stallions can be hard to find. Opportunity is naturally a key element to early success, but a stallion still needs to make the most of the chances afforded to him and for every one that lives up to expectations, there will be also be plenty who flop. As often said, horses are a great leveller and with that in mind, there is also...

For all the round-the-clock pedigree scrutiny and conformation analysis that goes into finding a stallion that will produce a winner on the first Saturday in May, it took a horse standing for $5,000 and lacking that coveted Grade I win on their race record to get the job done. Of the 26 fifth-year stallions standing in Kentucky today, Protonico was one of five to breed less than 20 mares last year. And yet, here he is now sitting atop the Leading Second-Crop Sires list after his son Medina Spirit charged...

When all was said and done in the first-season sires' race in Europe in 2019, it was undoubtedly the year of Night of Thunder (Ire). Darley's G1 2000 Guineas and G1 Lockinge S. winner was out in front on his own not only in terms of quantity-he sired the winners of the most races (44), stakes winners (seven), stakes horses (11) and group winners (three) and had the highest earnings (£879,457/€1,034,567) of any sire in his intake-but also quality. As detailed by John Boyce at the tail-end of the season,...