Sales Sires Snapshot

Not including Arqana's August v. 2 sale yesterday, through their Book 1 August yearling sale which ended Monday, plus another solid edition of the NY-bred sale last weekend makes it a good time to take a snapshot of the sales season so far: Fasig-Tipton July, Saratoga, and NY-bred sales, plus Arqana August Book 1. It's very early in the sales season–these four sales have brought in a bit more than $130-million in revenue, versus nearly $800-million by the end of the 2014 yearling sales season.

So it's early days, yet nearly 800 yearlings (791, to be exact) have been sold in the four sales so far, so there are some early trends to observe. Three of the sales were in the U.S. (all Fasig-Tipton sales), yet four of the top five sires with five or more yearlings sold so far are European, so sold in Arqana Book 1. A Dubawi colt consigned by France's leading commercial farm and Arqana consignor, Ecurie des Monceaux, broke the Arqana record when selling to John Ferguson for E2,500,000 ($2,880,000) in Sunday's red-hot session, but he is the only Dubawi to sell so far this year. The overall leader with 5+ sold so far is Gainesway's Tapit, the U.S. Leading Sire in 2014 and so far in 2015 (click here YTD TDN General Sire List–NA only), who's had nine yearlings sell for an average, so far, of $925,466.

Juddmonte's Frankel, who stands at their Banstead Manor Stud near Newmarket, has his first yearlings this year and, considering he was the highest-rated racehorse of all time, he is certain to be the wide-margin leader among first-crop yearling (F2014) sires. His six catalogued at Arqana all sold, averaging $629,510, which ranks him as not only top first-year sire of yearlings, but also ranks him #2 among all NA/EU sires with 5+ sold. The Irish National Stud's Invincible Spirit ranks third (10, avg. $522,123), followed by 10 yearlings from the first Northern crop by Redoute's Choice (avg $407,144), who stood two seasons at the Haras de Bonneval; then the first seven yearlings of the season by the World Number One, Coolmore's Galileo ($365,010). Darley's Shamardal, who ranks #8 with an average of $341,998 (seven sold) rounds out the five European sires among the eleven with 5+ sold so far who have averaged over $300,000.

Besides Tapit, the other current or former Kentucky sires who have averaged over $300,000 are: Darley's #6 Bernardini (5 avg $346,000); Taylor Made's deceased #7 Unbridled's Song (last crop, 5 avg $344,000); Ashford's #9 Scat Daddy (12 avg $322,750); WinStar's #10 Speightstown (7 avg $322,142); and Spendthrift's #11 Malibu Moon (12 avg $322,283). The Scat Daddy train continues to roll: last week, as Andrew Caulfield mentioned in his column Monday, he had another Grade II winning 2-year-old filly in the Sorrento S., and the one-two in a 2-year-old grass maiden at Saratoga. He's widened his lead on the TDN YTD North American 2-Year-Old Sire List (click here), with his G2 Queen Mary winner Acapulco due to confront the boys and olders in Saturday's five-furlong G1 Nunthorpe S. at York. We're looking at a marked stud fee rise for Scat Daddy for 2016 at the rate he's going.

Including Frankel, a total of 17 stallions which have had four or more sell from their first crop of yearlings have averaged $80,000-plus so far; 12 of these stallions stand or stood in the U.S., including Hansen, sold to South Korea after one crop at Ashford; and Mission Impazable, a son of Unbridled's Song who stands at Sequel Stallions in New York; the other 10 still stand in Kentucky. Lane's End's The Factor, from War Front's first crop, had a big sale at Saratoga and holds a narrow lead over Winstar's Bodemeister, who also had a big sale at Saratoga, At this point The Factor has had 13 sell for an average of $244,383 (all averages per TDN's Instatistics); Bodemeister has had 15 sell, for an average of $242,333. Amazingly, all 28 yearlings offered by both sires have been listed as sold.

Gainesway's To Honor And Serve (six, avg $203,333) ranks third among NA first-crop yearling sires at this point, followed by: Darby Dan's Jersey Town (four avg $199,000, including a $500,000 half-sister to Tonalist); Lane's End's Union Rags (11 avg $177,454); and Gainesway's Tapizar (eight avg $142,500), the 2012 GI Breeders' Cup Mile winner by Tapit. These are followed by #7 Hansen (six avg $122,166); Darby Dan's #8 Shackleford (10 avg $212,600), the 2011 GI Preakness and 2012 GI Met Mile winner; Airdrie's #9 Creative Cause (seven avg $112,857); Darby Dan's #10 Dialed In (seven avg $107,428, off a $7,500 stud fee); WinStar's #11 Gemologist (eight avg $91,500), by Tiznow; and Mission Impazable (eight avg $83,750), from Sequel Farm in New York.

In Europe, four other first-crop yearling sires besides Frankel have averaged over $80,000 so far: Newsells Park's Nathaniel (five avg $154,415), by Galileo; Coolmore's So You Think (five avg $113,353), an Australian-bred 10-time Group 1 winner; a second Australian-bred, though with a different profile–he's a sprinter–in Darley's Sepoy (four avg $97,759), by Elusive Quality; and Coolmore's Excelebration (nine avg $88,131), who nearly made a career of chasing Frankel at a mile, and decisively won two Group 1's at a mile after Frankel stepped up to 10 furlongs.

Bill Oppenheim may be contacted at bopp@erb.com (please cc TDN management at suefinley@thoroughbreddailynews.com). Follow