There is no question that world racing will be all the poorer in 2021 without those marvelous mares, Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) and Magical (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}). For all of us with a keen interest in breeding, their future careers will be watched with great interest, Enable starting off with a visit to Kingman (GB) [...]

The setting of new sire records in the modern era tends more than not to be a direct consequence of ever-greater book sizes. But they must still be acknowledged as legitimate breeding benchmarks as they will inevitably feature some outstanding performances. Just look at Mehmas (Ire)'s tally of first-crop 2-year-old winners this term. Currently on [...]

In March and April, the bloodstock sales world stood on the precipice, or so it seemed, as the Inglis Easter Yearling Sale–the first major international auction to confront the social upheaval of COVID-19–was put under severe pressure. In the event, team Inglis rose to the challenge and showed a potential way forward for other sales [...]

The annual race to sire the most individual first-crop 2-year-old winners always fascinates us. This year in Europe it isn't much of a contest as the leader Mehmas (Ire)–with his 39 winners–is in no danger whatsoever of being caught by any of his contemporaries. However, 39 winners is hugely significant in that it breaks the [...]

Last weekend was an extraordinary one for the great Galileo (Ire). A world-best 85th Group 1 winner with Peaceful (Ire) in the G1 Irish 1000 Guineas went along nicely with the top-level victories by his son Teofilo (Ire)'s unbeaten G1 Prix Saint Alary heroine Tawkeel (Ire), plus that of Sottsass (Fr)-out of Galileo mare Starlet's [...]

The victory of Night Of Thunder (Ire)'s 3-year-old daughter No Limit Credit (Ger) in the G3 Schwarzgold Rennen propelled her young sire clear of all second-season sires since pattern racing began in 1970. His nine stakes winners by mid-May of his second season-taking into account Northern Hemisphere runners only; he has had two first-crop stakes [...]

It's not just the number of stakes winners; it's also the quality and the rate at which they're sired that determines the best stallions in the land. In the modern world of breeding with larger books, 10% stakes winners from runners has perhaps become the new norm for greatness, rather than the 10% stakes winners [...]

Inbreeding to successful sires can become unavoidable at times when there is a strong run on a very successful stallion and his sons. Just look at what has happened in Australia with Danehill. And Sadler's Wells presents a similar challenge in Europe. There is no evidence that commercial buyers pay much attention to whether a [...]

The 2015 intake of new sires always had the potential to throw up a star. After all, among the group was top-class miler Kingman (GB), who had demonstrated his prowess on the racecourse, with stunning victories in four of the best mile races as a 3-year-old, following a narrow-margin loss in the G1 2000 Guineas [...]

Returns at the yearling sales in 2019 may have been particularly buoyant, but that doesn't mean the future economic landscape is particularly easy for commercial breeders in Britain and Ireland. The yearling sales have been on an upward trajectory for many years. Right across Europe, commercial sellers have seen excellent growth in the market. The [...]

It has taken all of 19 years for Fasliyev's European record of seven first-crop juvenile stakes winners to be matched. Oasis Dream (GB) was the first to challenge, siring six stakes winners in 2007 and then a year later One Cool Cat also got to six. We then had a seven-year wait for Zoffany (Ire), [...]

Breeding stock sale returns may not offer the same clear insight into the health of the bloodstock market the way that yearling auctions do. Trade in broodmares tends to be asset liquidations or asset acquisitions, the start of something new or indeed the end of something old. And as great broodmares underpin most bloodstock endeavours [...]