Best sires on the big stage
As elite racing ramps up, we look at which of the current sires has the best rate of producing Group 1 winners and where their records sit historically.
A quick scan of the sires represented in the two Group 1 races at Rosehill and Caulfield on Saturday highlights the achievement and influence of a trio of sirelines.
The first one is Arrowfield’s champion sire Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice), who not only has three of his own progeny, Shinzo, Moravia and Snapback, in the field of 13 for the Golden Rose (Gr 1, 1400m), but also one grandson, General Salute, who is by Russian Revolution, in the feature three-year-old race.
Meanwhile, another of his sire sons, Shamus Award, has Duais engaged in the Underwood Stakes (Gr 1, 1800m) at Caulfield.
Yulong’s Written Tycoon (Iglesia) has his own colt, Butch Cassidy, in the Golden Rose, while his son, Newgate’s Capitalist, is also represented with Encap in the field.
The third ‘father-son’ sire representation occurs in the Underwood, where Darley’s Kermadec is represented by Tuvalu, while his sire, Teofilo (Galileo), has Without A Fight in the Group 1 weight-for age contest.
That last combination would not surprise anyone who follows the Group 1-winning rate of those two Darley stallions. Teofilo’s breeding career has seen him produce 23 Group 1 winners to date, second behind only Frankel on that count when it comes to sons of Galileo (Sadler’s Wells). Five of those Group 1 winners were sourced from his six seasons shuttling to Australia, including Kermadec.
Teofilo’s overall Group 1-winners-to-runners rate is at a very high 1.88 per cent – it is 1.82 per cent for his Australian-sired crops – putting him in the top 13 per cent of Group 1-producing stallions of the past 50 years.
Kermadec, whose fifth Australian crop is about to hit the track, is doing an even better job, with a Group 1-winning rate of 2.76 per cent, with four elite winners from 145 runners. That strike rate puts him in the top seven per cent of Group 1-producing stallions.
There are surprisingly few Galileo-line stallions active in Australia and New Zealand, just 18 in total, and of all of those, Kermadec has been the most successful when it comes to Group 1 winners. Adelaide has produced one, while Coolmore barn mate and fellow son of Galileo, Churchill, has two, both in Europe, but could get his first in Australia should Attrition win the Underwood.
Kermadec’s Group 1-winning rate is higher than any other active stallion in Australasia who has had more than 100 runners, but if we drop the filter back to include all active stallions, we find there are six with a higher strike rate.
Topping the list is Novara Park’s Staphanos (Deep Impact), who produced the Manawatu Sires’ Produce (Gr 1, 1400m) winner Pignan from his first crop, of which there have been only 16 runners to date, giving him a Group 1 strike rate of 6.25 per cent.
Then follows Santos (I Am Invincible), a new addition to Highview Stud, whose daughter Ulanova claimed the Sistema Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) giving her sire a Group 1 strike-rate of 4.35 per cent, having only had 23 runners to date.
Newgate’s sensation Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt) is in third. His three elite winners from 75 runners – giving him a Group 1-winning rate of 4.00 per cent – can be added to on Saturday should Don Corleone win the Golden Rose.
Widden’s Gold Standard (Sebring) can also lean on an early star, in his case Sheeza Belter, to give him an impressive Group 1-winning strike rate of 3.85 per cent, while another in that category is Windsor Park Stud’s Vanbrugh (Encosta De Lago), who had Mustang Valley claim Group 1 success as one of only 31 runners and a strike rate of 3.23 per cent.
Similarly, Worthy Cause’s (Choisir) career at Clear Mountain Fairview has been boosted by his star daughter Hinged, a Surround Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) winner who gives him a Group 1-winning rate of 3.13 per cent.
Highest Group 1 winners-to-runners rate of active Australasian stallions
| Sire | Runners | Winners | G1 winners | G1w/R |
| Staphanos | 16 | 4 | 1 | 6.25% |
| Santos | 23 | 6 | 1 | 4.35% |
| Extreme Choice | 75 | 49 | 3 | 4.00% |
| Gold Standard | 26 | 12 | 1 | 3.85% |
| Vanbrugh | 31 | 14 | 1 | 3.23% |
| Worthy Cause | 32 | 19 | 1 | 3.13% |
| Kermadec | 145 | 81 | 4 | 2.76% |
| Rebel Dane | 37 | 19 | 1 | 2.70% |
| Savabeel | 1242 | 908 | 32 | 2.58% |
| Proisir | 244 | 152 | 5 | 2.05% |
As mentioned, Kermadec is the most successful active stallion with more than 100 runners to date and leads Waikato Stud’s Savabeel (Zabeel) in that regard. Savabeel has 32 Group 1 winners from 1242 runners, a rate of 2.58 per cent.
The stallion who last season ended Savabeel’s long reign at the top of the New Zealand sires table, Rich Hill Stud’s Proisir (Choisir), then follows on 2.05 per cent, with five elite winners from 244.
The other active stallion above that two per cent mark is the legendary Coolmore stallion Fastnet Rock (Danehill), who has been previously highlighted in this column when it comes to his propensity for producing Group 1 winners, 43 in all from 2127 runners.
Highest Group 1 winners-to-runners rate of active Australasian stallions (more than 100 runners)
| Sire | Runners | Winners | G1 winners | G1w/R |
| Kermadec | 145 | 81 | 4 | 2.76% |
| Savabeel | 1242 | 908 | 32 | 2.58% |
| Proisir | 244 | 152 | 5 | 2.05% |
| Fastnet Rock | 2127 | 1517 | 43 | 2.02% |
| Tarzino | 109 | 46 | 2 | 1.83% |
| Wootton Bassett | 437 | 254 | 7 | 1.60% |
| Dundeel | 460 | 283 | 7 | 1.52% |
| Shamus Award | 333 | 216 | 5 | 1.50% |
| Per Incanto | 529 | 352 | 7 | 1.32% |
| I Am Invincible | 1059 | 850 | 14 | 1.32% |
Running a comparison with other champion Australian stallions this century, Danehill’s (Danzig) career Group 1-winners-to-runners rate finished at an amazing 4.03 per cent, while his son Redoute’s Choice, whose last crop have just turned four, also soars at 2.5 per cent.
Encosta de Lago (Fairy King) finished at 1.6 per cent, Street Cry (Machiavellian) 1.5 per cent and Flying Spur (Danehill) 0.86 per cent. I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit), at 1.32 per cent, Snitzel at 1.3 per cent, Lonhro (Octagonal) at 0.91 per cent and Exceed And Excel (Danehill) 0.72 per cent all have a chance to add to that record with more crops coming through.
Those last four sires mentioned all have Group 1 runners engaged in Australia this weekend.
Zabeel (Sir Tristram), a champion sire in New Zealand on four occasions and in Australia three times, had a Group 1 winners-to-runners rate of 3.02 per cent (46 from 1525).
O’Reilly (Last Tycoon), the top Kiwi sire from 2011-12 until 2013-14, had 15 Group 1 winners from 1405, a strike rate of 1.07 per cent, while Volksraad (Green Desert), an eight-time Grosvenor Award winner in the first decade of the 2000s, produced 14 Group 1 winners from 966 runners, at a rate of 1.45 per cent.
The list of global sires with more than 100 runners with the highest Group 1 strike rate is dominated by those who have been based in South America.
At the top of the list is Argentinian-based Roy (Fappiano), at 7.06 per cent, or 50 from 708, then follows Nugget Point (Nureyev), who had eight Group 1 winners from 134 runners – a rate of 5.97 per cent, with most of his success coming in Brazil.
Sam M. (Mr Prospector), whose greatest impact as a sire came in Chile, had a Group 1 strike rate of 4.76 per cent, while Japanese-bred Agnes Gold (Sunday Silence), on 4.47 per cent, was another who dominated in Brazil.
Of more recent stars, Frankel’s Group 1-strike rate is 4.1 per cent, just superior to his own sire Galileo, who has had 3.98 per cent of his race progeny win at Group 1 level. Dubawi (Dubai Millennium) is on 3.47 per cent, just ahead of Deep Impact (Sunday Silence), on 3.44 per cent. That Deep Impact figure is quite extraordinary when you consider the relative lack of Group 1 races in Japan, where he stood.
Monsun (Konigsstuhl), on 3.43 per cent, Kingmambo (Mr Prospector), on 3.25 per cent, and Scat Daddy (Johannesburg) on 3.06 per cent all feature prominently.
Multiple champion American sire Into Mischief (Harlan’s Holiday) is on 1.36 per cent, while heir apparent Curlin (Smart Strike) is on 2.4 per cent.
Strike rate of Group 1 winners-to-runners for selected international sires
| Sire | G1w/R | Sire | G1w/R |
| Frankel | 4.10% | Curlin | 2.40% |
| Danehill | 4.03% | Street Cry | 1.50% |
| Galileo | 3.98% | Volksraad | 1.45% |
| Dubawi | 3.47% | Into Mischief | 1.36% |
| Deep Impact | 3.44% | I Am Invincible | 1.32% |
| Monsun | 3.43% | Snitzel | 1.30% |
| Kingmambo | 3.25% | O’Reilly | 1.07% |
| Scat Daddy | 3.06% | Lonhro | 0.91% |
| Zabeel | 3.02% | Flying Spur | 0.86% |
| Redoute’s Choice | 2.50% | Exceed And Excel | 0.72% |