With three of our first season sires posting Group I winners this season and five in total siring the winners of over a million with three more months of this season to come, we’re entitled to speculate on whether these guys have the makings of a vintage crop of sires such as we saw in 2020/2021.
The Australian first season sires table finished the 2020/2021 season with a trifecta for Newgate Farm sires Extreme Choice, Capitalist and Flying Artie with all three getting Group I winners.
Extreme Choice sired Golden Slipper winner Stay Inside, Capitalist sired Champagne Stakes winner Captivant and not to be left out Flying Artie sired Artorius to win the Blue Diamond.
The table below shows how they finished the 2020/2021 season and also their fee before their runners hit the track and the year after.
|
Sire |
R/W |
SW |
Earnings |
2020 Fee |
2021 Fee |
2024 Fee |
|
Extreme Choice |
15/4 |
3 |
$3,392,085 |
$22,000 |
FOA |
$275,000 |
|
Capitalist |
61/20 |
4 |
$3,278,728 |
$44,000 |
$99,000 |
$66,000 |
|
Flying Artie |
42/10 |
1 |
$2,063,945 |
$16,500 |
$33,000 |
TBA |
|
Shalaa (IRE) |
41/7 |
1 |
$1,964,755 |
$33,000 |
$44,000 |
TBA |
|
Star Turn |
41/19 |
1 |
$1,458,155 |
$16,500 |
$16,500 |
TBA |
|
Frosted (USA) |
16/5 |
2 |
$1,348,386 |
$22,000 |
$44,000 |
No shuttle |
|
Maurice (Jpn) |
34/8 |
0 |
$939,835 |
No shuttle |
$44,000 |
TBA |
Now we’ll fast forward to 2024 and their stats for this season are as below with six of the seven sires rated in the Top 50 by earnings. Capitalist is a long way ahead helped along in part due to sheer weight of numbers and Frosted has slipped off the pace with the other sires all relatively close together, although Extreme Choice is operating with a fraction of the numbers of his peers due to his well documented fertility issues and his overall SW to runner strike rate of 13.8% is the best of all active sires in the country.
|
Ranking on 2023/204 Sires Table |
Sire |
R/W |
SW |
Earnings |
|
10 |
Capitalist |
276/121 |
6 |
$9,364,887 |
|
34 |
Shalaa (IRE) |
183/74 |
1 |
$5,143,234 |
|
38 |
Maurice (Jpn) |
115/56 |
3 |
$4,936,186 |
|
41 |
Star Turn |
138/56 |
0 |
$4,783,670 |
|
42 |
Extreme Choice |
63/31 |
3 |
$4,760,195 |
|
44 |
Flying Artie |
161/65 |
3 |
$4,630,318 |
|
81 |
Frosted (USA) |
111/36 |
2 |
$2,677,221 |
Capitalist and Extreme Choice remain where they started at Newgate, while Flying Artie has been relocated to Blue Gum Farm in Victoria.
Arrowfield Stud bid farewell to Shalaa, who is now at Woodside Park in Victoria, while they have retained Maurice, who has held his own this season despite his no show in 2020 due to Covid which has left him without juveniles this season.
Star Turn remains at Vinery Stud, while Frosted was on the Darley America roster this year at a fee of $10,000 and has not been to Australia since 2022 when he covered just 23 mares.
