When Pierro clocked over $8million in seasonal earnings last Saturday with a new two year-old stakes-winner in Commander (read about him here), it put the icing on the cake of an exceptional season for Lonhro's Golden Slipper winning son that was ironically bred and sold by Darley as a weanling, but now stands at Coolmore.
As you can see in the table below, Pierro has a lap on his rivals, which then gets us thinking about how he compares to his peers of the past, those stallions who were Champion Second Season Sire and by a good margin.
Looking back through the Arion Sire Tables which go back to 2006, no Champion Second Season Sire has finished with a higher prizemoney total than Pierro, although to be fair, our high prizemoney levels at present make that parameter of judgment slightly skewed in his favour.
The stallions that have come closest to Pierro from 2006 forward in terms of stakes-winners and earnings are as follows:
2013/2014 Sebring $6.6million and nine stakes-winners headed by Criterion, narrowly from Northern Meteor $5.9 million and eight stakes-winners headed by Cosmic Endeavour
2009/2010 Fastnet Rock $5.7 million and nine stakes-winners headed by Wanted
2008/2009 Exceed and Excel $3.3 million and eight stakes-winners headed by Reward for Effort
As good as those stallions have gone on to become, if we look a bit further
back there is one even better.In 2004/2005, Redoute's Choice had a phenomenal second season to finish with $8.3 million in earnings thanks to a stellar group of two year-olds that included Stratum (Golden Slipper), Undoubtedly (Blue Diamond), Fashions Afield (AJC Sires Produce) and Bradbury's Luck (Magic Millions 2YO Classic).
Not to mention a Group I winning three year-old filly in Lotteria, who would finish second in a Cox Plate the following spring and a handy Group III winning 2YO called Snitzel, who would win the Group I MRC Oakleigh Plate at three and is now our reigning champion sire.
Redoute's Choice sired 15 stakes-winners that season and earned a fee hike from $40,000 to $220,000!!!
Pierro may or may not ultimately reach those lofty heights, but he is a genuinely top class sire and if you have a mare in foal to him conceived off his lowest ever fee last year of $49,500, then you're entitled to be feeling well justified in your faith.
