A Tweet on Tuesday highlighting the Top 10 rated two year-olds this season got us thinking about the performance of our current first season sires given five horses on that list are by the newbies including Group I Blue Diamond winner Artorius, who is rated head and shoulders above his rivals.
A variety of first season sires were popular at the 2020 yearling sales as you can see in the list tabled below, but it’s interesting to see the sire of Artorius, Flying Artie, was not greeted with any real enthusiasm.
Top 20 Australian Based First Season Sires for All Australian Yearling Sales 2020
|
SIRE |
Sold |
Agg |
Average |
Median |
2017 Service Fee |
|
American Pharoah (USA) |
55 |
12770000 |
232182 |
160000 |
66000 |
|
Shalaa (IRE) |
65 |
10401500 |
160023 |
140000 |
33000 |
|
Capitalist |
108 |
16940000 |
156852 |
120000 |
55000 |
|
Extreme Choice |
37 |
4505000 |
121757 |
100000 |
38500 |
|
Maurice (Jpn) |
40 |
4501500 |
112538 |
100000 |
33000 |
|
Frosted (USA) |
22 |
1942000 |
88273 |
57500 |
38500 |
|
Xtravagant (NZ) |
32 |
2715000 |
84844 |
70000 |
16500 |
|
Astern |
65 |
5464000 |
84062 |
60000 |
38500 |
|
Winning Rupert |
62 |
5017000 |
80919 |
56000 |
22000 |
|
Cable Bay (IRE) |
23 |
1844000 |
80174 |
80000 |
19800 |
|
Divine Prophet |
43 |
3429000 |
79744 |
40000 |
22000 |
|
Star Turn |
60 |
4523000 |
75383 |
60000 |
22000 |
|
Air Force Blue (USA) |
19 |
1421000 |
74789 |
52500 |
16500 |
|
Sooboog |
46 |
2756000 |
59913 |
50000 |
13200 |
|
Palentino |
29 |
1506500 |
51948 |
30000 |
17600 |
|
Awesome Rock |
18 |
909000 |
50500 |
40000 |
8000 |
|
Flying Artie |
66 |
3126500 |
47371 |
34250 |
38500 |
|
Mikki Isle (Jpn) |
27 |
1213500 |
44944 |
37500 |
13750 |
|
Alpine Eagle |
29 |
1290500 |
44500 |
35000 |
7700 |
|
Rommel |
15 |
639000 |
42600 |
34000 |
5500 |
Despite the fact he placed in both the Golden Slipper and Blue Diamond before emerging at three as the champion sprinter of his generation with a dominant victory in the Group I VRC Coolmore Stud Stakes, Flying Artie found the going tough despite covering a good debut book of mares at a fee of $38,500.
Newgate Farm launched four well credentialled sires at the 2020 sales - Capitalist, Extreme Choice, Flying Artie and Winning Rupert – and when all the results were in, Flying Artie was a clear last of the quartet in terms of sale ring favour.
Now here we are a year down the track and those Flying Artie yearlings that failed to ignite any flashy buyer spending have come out running with five Australian winners so far and in Artorius, he has a Group I winner on the board already which is something most stallions never get in their lifetime.
What does that say about the good judges, who are paying a fortune looking for sires to get early runners and completely missed Flying Artie?
Maybe a clue lies in the post-race interview with Sam Freedman, who was quick to praise his father Anthony for selecting and buying Artorius for just $120,000 from the Vinery draft at Magic Millions.
"Dad's a very good judge of a yearling. We thought he was immature and just gave him time. Honestly, in the last six months he's turned into a beast," Sam Freedman said.
It’s one thing to go to a sale and find the biggest, strongest and most developed yearling there… it’s a different thing to envisage the average yearling as to what he might become and that’s what has happened with Artorius.
It’s a similar scenario for last week’s impressive Sydney debut winner Bourbon Flyer, who made just $50,000 at Inglis Easter and has grown into a magnificent looking colt.
This year the sale ring fortunes of Flying Artie have been on the rise with 20 yearlings selling so far at an average $86,700 and that was before Artorius came along.
He has a small selection for Inglis Premier and you can see them here.
