Australasia’s top winner-getters
Which Australasian stallions provide the best chance for getting a winner? A look at the combined Australian and New Zealand sires’ tables for the recently completed racing season points the way.
Much has already been written about another record-breaking season for Yarraman Park’s juggernaut I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) in 2022-23.
The undisputed current star – both statistically and commercially – of the Australian stallion scene broke through the 200-winner mark (202) in Australia for the second time, etched a new record for the total amount of racetrack wins, 338, and claimed his second straight Australian sires‘ title, which is decided on prize-money.
If there was a trophy for combined earnings across Australia and New Zealand, he would have won that as well, with his progeny earning $24.2 million last season, $3 million more than Waikato Stud’s Savabeel (Zabeel).
It’s interesting that, despite the interwoven nature of Australian and New Zealand bloodstock and racing, a combined sires’ table is not often published.
The case of Savabeel, who had his best season in Australia, finishing third on the sires’ table, while he was second in the sires’ title in New Zealand, is an example of why it is useful to look at the combined results. His success has been divided between the two countries, something which tends to statistically undermine his impact when it comes to key metrics in the individual jurisdictions.
The major one is when it comes to his total of winners. Savabeel had more individual winners than any other sire in New Zealand last season, 53, while he was 20th on that list in Australia, with 98. His combined total of 151 winners put him fifth overall across both countries on that measure.
Top of that list on individual winners was, you guessed it, I Am Invincible with 208, 14 ahead of Zoustar (Northern Meteor) on 194, with Written Tycoon (Iglesia) on 164 and Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) on 158. Level with Savabeel on 151 was Spirit Of Boom (Sequalo).
The other New Zealand-based sire to feature in the Top 20 when it came to individual Australasian winners was the late Cambridge Stud resident Tavistock (Montjeu). He had 93 in Australia and 37 in New Zealand for a total of 140 winners.
Combined 2022-23 sires table for Australia and New Zealand
| Sire | Prize-money ($AU) | Winners | Runners |
| I Am Invincible | $24,162,223 | 208 | 386 |
| Savabeel | $21,145,338 | 151 | 291 |
| So You Think | $19,470,938 | 140 | 321 |
| Snitzel | $18,815,675 | 158 | 303 |
| Zoustar | $16,873,382 | 194 | 371 |
| Dundeel | $13,875,293 | 131 | 288 |
| Pride Of Dubai | $13,217,851 | 94 | 207 |
| Written Tycoon | $12,780,102 | 164 | 347 |
| Deep Field | $12,723,013 | 147 | 303 |
| Street Boss | $12,011,856 | 72 | 147 |
But what about measuring success compared to opportunity? A look at the leading Australasian stallions indicate that the top three on winners are also the top three on starters.
That’s where the time-honoured stallion metric of winners-to-runners comes in. When you look at the Top 20 Australasian sires by winners in 2022/23, only nine had winners-to-runners percentages of 50 per cent and above.
Leading the way for those stallions was … drumroll … I Am Invincible, with 53.9 per cent winners-to runners across Australia and New Zealand, just ahead of Newgate’s Capitalist (Written Tycoon), on 53.8 per cent. Zoustar (52.3 per cent) and Snitzel (52.2 per cent) also featured prominently, while Savabeel was on 51.9 per cent.
Extending that filter down the line and we unveil some clear stars when it comes to that winners-to-runners percentage.
Star Turn’s (Star Witness) prodigious winners-to-runners record has been highlighted in Vinery Stud’s marketing ahead of the 2023 breeding season and rightly so. Across Australia and New Zealand, he had 65.4 per cent winners-to-runners in 2022-23.
Filtering by sires with 20 winners or more, Star Turn, who had 89 Australasian winners from 137 runners, was the top-ranked stallion, ahead of one-time Coolmore shuttler Air Force Blue (War Front), with 64.7 per cent (22 from 34).
Third was another shuttle stallion who spent just the one year in Australia, Darley’s Night Of Thunder (Dubawi), on 61.1 per cent (22 from 36). Kingstar Farm’s Bull Point (Fastnet Rock) is fourth on that metric, on 59.7 per cent (37 from 62) while Frankel (Galileo) is fifth. His 58.9 per cent seasonal strike rate with his horses in Australasia (33 from 56) compares to 48.4 per cent for his progeny globally over the same period.
Top five sires on winners-to runners across Aus/NZ in 2022-23
| Sire | Winners | Runners | W/R |
| Star Turn | 89 | 136 | 65.4% |
| Air Force Blue | 22 | 34 | 64.7% |
| Night Of Thunder | 22 | 36 | 61.1% |
| Bull Point | 37 | 62 | 59.7% |
| Frankel | 33 | 56 | 58.9% |
*more than 20 winners
Star Turn’s progeny were already tracking quite well in the first two seasons he had progeny at Australasian racetracks, with 50 per cent winners-to-runners prior to the start of the 2022-23 campaign. They have elevated to another level over the past 12 months.
His first crop of horses, as four-year-olds last season, were particularly successful with 50 winners from 71 runners, a W/R rate of 70.4 per cent. In comparison, his contemporary Capitalist, had 60 four-year-old winners from 102 runners (58.8 per cent).
Capitalist is the benchmark, in terms of overall success, from the crop of stallions which went to stud in 2017. He had 141 winners across Australia and New Zealand last season and has had 186 from 299 runners in his first three seasons (62.2 per cent). Star Turn’s comparative record is 106 from 151, giving him a superior W/R rate of 70.2 per cent.
Arrowfield’s Shalaa (Invincible Spirit), now standing at Woodside Park in Victoria, is also part of that class, and his record last season was 86 winners from 181 runners (47.5 per cent), while his overall record in Australasia is 117 from 204 (57.3 per cent).
Star Turn’s career rate is also superior to another contemporary Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt), who has accelerated to prominence off the back of his extraordinary record of producing star horses.
Extreme Choice’s stakes-winners-to-runners in Australasia is at a lofty 13.9 per cent, compared to Star Turn’s 3.3 per cent, but when it comes to producing winners, Star Turn leads that stat 70.2 per cent to 63.8 per cent.
Looking back through the most prolific winner-getters from each crop of stallions is an interesting exercise.
If we go back a year further, to those who entered stud in 2016, we see Pride Of Dubai (Street Cry) had the most Australasian winners last season with 94, three more than Spill The Beans (Snitzel). Night Of Thunder and Bull Point, already highlighted as high performers on the winners-to-runners metric, are also part of that crop.
The previous crop is headed by Deep Field (Northern Meteor) with 147 winners, one more than Better Than Ready (More Than Ready), while New Zealand champion sire Proisir (Choisir) led the season on W/R for that cohort on 53.7 per cent.
Zoustar (194 winners from 371 runners) was the top-performed of the 2014 alumni on both total wins and W/R, while All Too Hard (Casino Prince) led the 2013 class on total winners (138) and Barbados (Redoute’s Choice) led on W/R on 57.1 per cent.
Going back to the 2012 entrants and we see So You Think (High Chaparral) on top for seasonal winners (140) and Helmet (Exceed And Excel) on top for W/R (49.4 per cent). Star Turn’s sire Star Witness (Starcraft) had the most seasonal winners of the 2011 crop, with 103, while the leading sire on W/R (more than 20 winners) from that year was Zebedee (Invincible Spirit) on 54.4 per cent.
That brings us back to the 2010 induction, which is dominated by I Am Invincible, who was unsurprisingly, the leader in both categories.
Leading sire from each crop on winners and W/R for 2022-23 season – combined Aus/NZ
| Year to stud | Most wins | W/R |
| 2019 | Brave Smash (11) | Sioux Nation (55.6%) *** |
| 2018 | Russian Revolution (73) | Menari (55.6%) ** |
| 2017 | Capitalist (141) | Star Turn (65.4%)* |
| 2016 | Pride Of Dubai (94) | Night Of Thunder (61.1%)* |
| 2015 | Deep Field (147) | Proisir (53.7%)* |
| 2014 | Zoustar (194) | Zoustar (52.3%)* |
| 2013 | All Too Hard (138) | Barbados (57.1%)* |
| 2012 | So You Think (140) | Helmet (49.4%)* |
| 2011 | Star Witness (103) | Zebedee (54.4%)* |
| 2010 | I Am Invincible (208) | I Am Invincible (53.9%)* |
* more than 20 winners
** more than 10 winners
*** more than five winners