International freshmen ready to make a mark
With the first two-year-old stakes races of the season to be contested at Randwick on Saturday, we look at the shuttle sires with their first Australasian runners this season and how their first-crop progeny have fared in the northern hemisphere.
Darley’s Blue Point (Shamardal) is yet to have a runner on Australian soil, but the performance of his maiden northern hemisphere crop, plus some promising trials from his first local two-year-olds, including ruling Breeders’ Plate (Gr 3, 1000m) favourite Scampi, has expectations sky high.
As things stand, Blue Point has more named Australian-bred progeny – 41 – than any other first-season sire, while he has had four individual triallers, second only behind Pierata (Pierro) of Australian-based stallions.
Blue Point’s trialists include the impressive hit-out winners Scampi, trained by Ciaron Maher and David Eustace, and the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-prepared Gerringong, a leading hope for the Gimcrack Stakes (Gr 3, 1000m).
A fast start from the progeny of Blue Point, a three-time winner at two himself, would mirror the history he is writing in the northern hemisphere, where he has 38 winners already from his first crop. Among that selection are four stakes winners, including Group 2 winner Big Evs.
Thirty of those winners have come in Great Britain, nine more than any other freshman sire in that jurisdiction, while he has five winners in France and three in Ireland.
Blue Point is on track to become the most prolific first-season producer of winners in European history. He is chasing the mark of 56 set by Mehmas (Acclamation) in 2020, but Mehmas broke the previous record of 37, set by Iffraaj (Zafonic) in 2010, in mid-October, while Blue Point notched his 38th on September 23 at York.
At this point in his record-breaking season Mehmas had 33 winners from 88 runners, while Blue Point is striking at a higher rate with 38 from 90.
The 2023-24 season will be the first time the leading first-season sire on winners in Great Britain from that same year will have their first runners in Australasia since Zoffany (Dansili) in 2015-16.
Blue Point has an Australasian-bred first crop of 101 to lean on, the seventh most of any freshman stallion, but the highest of any shuttle sire.
Second on that list, with 85, is his Darley barnmate Too Darn Hot (Dubawi), who has 39 named progeny to date, and just the one trialist. Too Darn Hot’s first European crop has produced 17 winners to date, three of them stakes winners, including Moyglare Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) scorer Fallen Angel.
Coolmore’s Magna Grecia (Invincible Spirit) numbers 75 in his first Australian crop, 16 of which have been named. A Group 1 winner himself as a two-year-old, he has had seven winners to date in the northern hemisphere, including French stakes winner Myconian.
Omaha Beach (War Front) spent two seasons at the now defunct Spendthrift Australia and his first Australian crop has 71 members, ten of which have been already named. He has 11 winners to date from his first American-bred crop, including last month’s stakes winner Hot Beach.
Vino Rosso (Curlin) was another to shuttle two seasons to Spendthrift’s Victorian base, with his first Australian crop featuring 67 foals, 14 of them named. His first American crop already has ten winners from 57 runners, among them stakes winner The Wine Steward and the Grade 1-placed Next Level.
Ten Sovereigns (No Nay Never) had one season shuttling from Coolmore Ireland to Valachi Downs in New Zealand, from where he produced 46 foals. He has already had his first runner from that crop, Take The Crown, who is one of three to be named.
Ten Sovereigns’ first northern hemisphere crop has made a fast start, with 21 winners already across seven countries. That list includes two stakes winners, Inquisitively and Asean.
The other northern hemisphere shuttler with his first two-year-olds in Australia this season is Coolmore’s Calyx (Kingman), who stood two seasons at Jerrys Plains. His first crop numbers 44, 11 of which have been named.
Calyx has had 14 winners from 42 runners in the northern hemisphere to date in 2023, 14 of which have been winners, including Group 2 victor Persian Dreamer.
Shuttle sires with their first Australasian two-year-olds in 2023-24
| Stallion | SH 1st foal crop | SH 1st crop named | NH 1st crop runners | NH first crop winners |
| Blue Point | 101 | 41 | 90 | 38 |
| Calyx | 44 | 11 | 42 | 14 |
| Magna Grecia | 75 | 16 | 42 | 7 |
| Omaha Beach | 71 | 10 | 39 | 11 |
| Ten Sovereigns | 44 | 3 | 64 | 21 |
| Too Darn Hot | 85 | 39 | 46 | 18 |
| Vino Rosso | 67 | 14 | 57 | 10 |
Casting the net wider to take in all northern hemisphere first-season sires, we see that Blue Point, with those 38 winners, holds a commanding lead over Moanin (Henny Hughes), who has had 26 winners from his base in Japan.
A February Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) winner on the dirt, Moanin has made a fast start to his career as a stallion with all of those victories from his progeny coming on the NAR circuit. Japan Cup (Gr 1, 2400m) winner Suave Richard (Heart’s Cry), now at Shadai Stallion Station, is making an impression in JRA circles with 14 winners in total.
Ballyhane Stud-based Soldier’s Call (Showcasing) is another freshman whose progeny have made a considerable early mark. The stallion has 23 winners from 63 runners, 21 of which have come in Great Britain. His best-performed horse to date is Dawn Charger, who won a Group 3 race at Chantilly earlier this month.
Another Irish-based young stallion, Tally-Ho Stud’s Inns Of Court (Invincible Spirit), has made early inroads with 23 winners to date across six countries. His first stakes winner came at Fairyhouse last week when Megarry won the Blenheim Stakes (Listed, 7f).
The leading North American-first season sire on winners to date is Maximus Mischief (Into Mischief). The Spendthrift Stud-based stallion has 20 from 55 runners, with 19 of those coming in the USA and one in Kazakhstan. He has one stakes winner to date, Let Them Watch.
Other American-based freshman sires with more than ten winners to date are Mitole (Eskendereya) and Flameaway (Scat Daddy) with 12, and Omaha Beach, World Of Trouble (Kantharos) and Enticed (Medaglia D’Oro) with 11 apiece.
The stats for Blue Point indicate a strong start for his Australian-bred crops, but it is worth noting that while Justify (Scat Daddy) claimed champion Australian first-season honours last year, he was the first shuttle sire to do so since More Than Ready (Southern Halo) in 2004-05.
Last season’s leading first-season sire on winners in Australia was the Japanese-bred Brave Smash (Tosen Phantom), but he never shuttled. The last time a shuttle stallion was the leading freshman in Australia on winners was Ad Valorem (Danzig) in 2010-11, sharing it on eight with three locally bred sires.
In contrast, the champion first-season sires’ title for the past three seasons in New Zealand has gone to shuttlers; U S Navy Flag (War Front), Almanzor (Wootton Bassett) and Belardo (Lope De Vega).
Top 10 northern hemisphere first-season sires in 2023 by winners
| Stallion | Winners | Runners | Stakes Winners | W/R |
| Blue Point | 38 | 90 | 4 | 42.22% |
| Moanin | 26 | 64 | 0 | 40.63% |
| Soldiers Call | 23 | 65 | 1 | 35.38% |
| Inns Of Court | 23 | 75 | 1 | 30.67% |
| Ten Sovereigns | 21 | 64 | 2 | 32.81% |
| Maximus Mischief | 20 | 55 | 1 | 36.36% |
| Too Darn Hot | 17 | 46 | 3 | 36.96% |
| Calyx | 14 | 42 | 1 | 33.33% |
| Suave Richard | 14 | 43 | 0 | 32.56% |
| Land Force | 13 | 54 | 0 | 24.07% |