First-season sires in 2022

Such was the impression Expert Eye made in winning the Vintage Stakes at Goodwood impressively that he started odds-on for the Dewhurst Stakes only to disappoint badly. But he bounced back at Royal Ascot the following season with another clear-cut victory, in the Jersey Stakes, outclassed Group 3 rivals again in the City of York Stakes later that summer and ended his career by coming out best in a bunched finish to the Breeders’ Cup Mile. In proving himself effective in top company at up to a mile, Expert Eye therefore has a slightly different profile to Acclamation’s other stallion sons who have been sprinters in the main.

Dark Angel has been the most successful of those to date, while Acclamation’s reputation as a sire of sires enjoyed another significant boost when Mehmas broke records on the way to becoming champion first-season sire in 2020. Joining the likes of Frankel and Kingman on Juddmonte’s stallion roster, Expert Eye stood his first season at Banstead Manor at a fee of £20,000. Among his first book of mares were Juddmonte Group winners Mirabilis, Tested and Treat Gently, while another of his offspring who’ll be running in his breeders’ colours is a half-sister to the Group 3-winning two-year-olds Brown Sugar and Burnt Sugar whom Juddmonte bought for 290,000 guineas at Tattersalls in October, making her his highest-priced yearling. Expert Eye proved popular with commercial breeders as well as having support from his own team, and he seems sure to make his presence felt.

Not many horses lose their maiden status in a Group race but Harry Angel did just that when quickening away with the Mill Reef Stakes at Newbury on just his second start at two. That proved the prelude to a top-class sprinting career which brought him Group 1 success at three in the July Cup and Sprint Cup, his four-length win in soft ground at Haydock a top-drawer performance. Harry Angel proved just as good under firmer conditions, though, when carrying a penalty to success in the Duke of York Stakes on his reappearance at four in what proved a more frustrating campaign.

Harry Angel’s natural exuberance was part of what made him a top sprinter, but there was a downside to that aspect of his character as he tended to get upset in or around the stalls, twice suffering injuries from such incidents. A win at Ascot eluded him from several visits to the track, though his second place to Caravaggio (last year’s champion first-season sire) in the Commonwealth Cup was a commendable performance on what was his first start in the Godolphin colours. The highest-rated son of Dark Angel to go to stud, Harry Angel’s first crop was conceived at a fee of £20,000 at Dalham Hall. His most expensive yearling was a colt out of Red Box, a listed-winning daughter of the Prix de Diane winner Confidential Lady, who sold for £220,000 at Doncaster. Some speedy two-year-olds can be expected from Harry Angel’s first crop of youngsters and it wouldn’t surprise if there was a Group winner among them.

Although he was by stamina influence Teofilo, Havana Gold proved a smart performer at up to a mile and the best of his offspring to date (sharing his Timeform rating with his sire, in fact), Havana Grey, proved even less typical of his sire-line. Instead, Havana Grey took after his useful dam Blanc de Chine, a daughter of Dark Angel who raced exclusively over five furlongs, and Havana Grey likewise proved best at the minimum trip, though he did finish second in the Prix Morny on his only try at six furlongs. He won four times as a two-year-old, notably the Molecomb Stakes at Goodwood, and trained on into a still better sprinter at three with wins at the Curragh in the Sapphire Stakes and Flying Five. In the latter contest, run for the first time as a Group 1, he had fellow first-season sire Sioux Nation (see below) just behind him in third.

While one of the less expensive first-season sires (he stood for £8,000 at Whitsbury Manor in his first year at stud), the median price of his yearlings last year was £20,000. His most expensive yearling sold for £110,000 at Doncaster and is very speedily bred as he’s out of an unraced half-sister to the Temple Stakes winner Pearl Secret and is a half-brother to Ehraz who was an impressive two-year-old winner over six furlongs at Ascot last year for Richard Hannon. Havana Grey will almost certainly be one of the quickest first-season sires into his stride in 2022.

Sioux Nation (117)

Can Scat Daddy do it for Coolmore again? He’s already been responsible for No Nay Never, champion first-season sire in 2018, and for Caravaggio who took the same title last year when Cheveley Park Stakes winner Tenebrism was his best horse. No Nay Never and Caravaggio were both also Royal Ascot winners as two-year-olds and so too was Sioux Nation who emulated No Nay Never by winning the Norfolk Stakes. He followed that by winning the Phoenix Stakes, as Caravaggio had done a year earlier and continued in that stablemate’s footsteps again at three when winning the Lacken Stakes at Naas. Sioux Nation found life harder in the top sprints at three, but his fifth place to stable companion U S Navy Flag (see below) in the July Cup and third to Havana Grey in the Flying Five were other smart efforts.

A big, good-bodied horse, Sioux Nation stood his first season at Coolmore at a fee of €12,500, his popularity such that he was the busiest first-season sire. Notable among his yearlings to go through the ring were a half-sister to 1000 Guineas winner Mother Earth who was sold for €230,000 to Al Shira’aa Farms at the Goffs Orby Sale, while Coolmore went to 215,000 guineas at Tattersalls in October for a colt out of useful Irish sprinter Knock Stars. Weight of numbers alone puts Sioux Nation in pole position for his bid to join No Nay Never and Caravaggio as another champion first-season sire for Scat Daddy and Coolmore.

U S Navy Flag (125)

Sioux Nation isn’t Coolmore’s only sprinter with his first crop of two-year-olds to represent him in 2022. U S Navy Flag thrived on a busy campaign at two, particularly once blinkers were applied, winning the Middle Park Stakes and following up in the Dewhurst to become the first for 35 years to complete that double. Although runner-up in the Irish 2000 Guineas the following spring (his dam Misty For Me was an Irish 1000 Guineas winner), U S Navy Flag turned in his career-best effort when reverting to sprinting, making all to win a high-class edition of the July Cup.

U S Navy Flag’s opening fee was twice that of Sioux Nation, with the median price of his yearlings at around £46,000. Some of his daughters sold particularly well, including a half-sister to smart US Grade 2 mile winner Going Global who was bought at the Orby Sale for €290,000, a half-sister to 2000 Guineas winner Poetic Flare who fetched €200,000 at the same venue and a filly out of Princess Elizabeth Stakes winner Epsom Icon who sold for €200,000 at Deauville in August. In keeping with his pedigree, U S Navy Flag was less of an out-and-out sprinter than Sioux Nation and there’s no reason to think his first crop of two-year-olds will necessarily all be sprinters either. Another Coolmore-owned son of War Front who won the Dewhurst, Air Force Blue, has been moved on to South Korea after failing to set the world alight from his Kentucky base but it will be disappointing if U S Navy Flag doesn’t make more of an impact in Europe.

The stallions listed above are among those which can be expected to make the biggest impact with their first crop of two-year-olds. But there are other high-profile stallions who will be having their first runners in 2022. Among them is Cracksman (136) who is not only the highest-rated among the first-season sires of 2022, he’s also Frankel’s best horse to date and the first of his sire’s sons to embark on a stud career. Standing at Dalham Hall, Cracksman’s first crop includes a filly out of 1000 Guineas winner Speciosa, a half-brother to Al Kazeem and a half-brother to the dam of champion two-year-old Pinatubo.

It will be fascinating to see how the stallion careers of regular racecourse rivals Roaring Lion (130) and Saxon Warrior (124) get under way. The pair clashed on six occasions, with Saxon Warrior getting the better of their first two encounters in the Racing Post Trophy and 2000 Guineas before Roaring Lion gained the upper hand in the Eclipse, Juddmonte International and Irish Champion Stakes. Their other meeting came in the Derby in which Roaring Lion was third, a place ahead of Saxon Warrior. Sadly, Roaring Lion succumbed to colic in 2019 after siring his first crop but his yearlings posted the highest median price, around £66,500, of any first-season sire. His top-priced yearling was a half-brother to Gold Cup winner Subjectivist who was bought by David Redvers for 450,000 guineas.

Saxon Warrior, who started at Coolmore at a fee of €30,000, will be the first son of the late Japanese superstar stallion Deep Impact to have a sizeable crop of two-year-olds in Europe. They include a son of King’s Stand Stakes winner Cassandra Go who sold for €540,000 at the Goffs Orby Sale. That makes him a half-brother to Halfway To Heaven, herself the dam of two more Ballydoyle Group 1-winning fillies Magical and Rhododendron.

We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.

If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCareon 0808 8020 133.

Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org.