Expect the Unexpected

Tara Madgwick - Tuesday Sep 1

Tremendous audience interest in the Ladbrokes market for leading first season sire by winners for 2020/2021 got us thinking about the stallions that have won this title in the past and it’s not always the horses everyone thinks.

Year	Stallion	First Crop Australian Winners	Service Fee First Year
2020	Spill the Beans	13	$11,000
	Headwater	13	$16,500
2019	Better Than Ready	23	$9,900
2018	Spirit of Boom	18	$11,000
2017	Your Song	11	$22,000
2016	Love Conquers All	8	$13,750
	Sidereus	8	$6,600
2015	Rothesay	14	$12,100
2014	I Am Invincible	15	$11,000
2013	Northern Meteor	18	$33,000
2012	Husson (Arg)	11	$30,250
2011	Ad Valorem (USA)	8	$22,000
	Nadeem	8	$33,000
	Red Dazzler	8	$16,500
	All Bar One	8	$6,600

There have been some amazing success stories to come from this list over the past 10 years headed by I Am Invincible, now Australia’s most expensive sire, and Northern Meteor, who has founded a sire dynasty through his high class sons Zoustar and Deep Field, both of whom have sons of their own at stud this season.

I Am Invincible

You need to go all the way back to 2012 to find a winner bred outside of Australia, which probably says something about Aussie bred and raced sires having an edge over their shuttle peers in terms of delivering volume of two year-old winners.

One of the most interesting years on this list is 2011, which on face value appeared to be a very average vintage with four stallions tying on eight winners and none of them going on to achieve lasting commercial success.

Lurking below them on just five winners was Written Tycoon, who did win Champion First Season Sire by earnings that year with a paltry total of $644,700.

The years since then have been productive ones for Written Tycoon who has soared past all his rivals of that year to now be a leading sire standing at Arrowfield Stud this spring.

The Champion Sire of Victoria when standing at Woodside Park previously, he is set to cover a full book at a fee of $77,000 in the Hunter Valley this year.

Written Tycoon

The end of a stallion's first season of runners is but the start of what can be a very long and winding road!

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