It is a ‘thing’ to work through recipe books, cooking the dishes and then reporting on them, whether by blog post or YouTube video. ‘Cooking the books’ is a great name for the genre.
With this in mind, I sat down with volume I of the Form Stallion Register, published in 1979. What made this timing interesting was the overlap between the 70’s and 80’s; some stallions were deep into their stud careers and others were just starting.
Oscar Foulkes writes that some of the big names that were at stud during this time included Persian Wonder, New South Wales, Royal Prerogative, Oligarchy, Noble Chieftain, Harry Hotspur and Royal Affair.
Outside of these, there were numerous stallions with stakes-winner percentages (from foals) above 6% (i.e. double the breed average).
From the perspective of learning and drawing insights, the 46 years that have passed enable statistics to shine their unbiased light on those stallions’ records at stud. The passage of time also means that there are fewer people (i.e. connected to those stallions) who could be upset by anything I say!
As an exercise in getting a bigger picture, long-range view of things – of getting context – it’s one of the most valuable ways I’ve spent a day.
Before I get into specifics, there are a few quick observations:
- Many South African bred stallions went to stud (and failed), although few of them had the support of the likes of Elevation, Harry Hotspur or Trocadero.
- Top-class racehorses by world leading stallions generally did well.
- Just one unraced stallion made any kind of impression (Peaceable Kingdom).
- I couldn’t find a poor racehorse that did well at stud.
With that pool of 124 stallions, representing a broad range of pedigrees, racing aptitudes and origins, there’s a lot to assimilate.
We may as well begin with the sprinters, which are disproportionately represented.
Considering how many went to stud, relative to high-class classic horses, the suggestion is that sprinters aren’t the short route to success.
With this in mind, perhaps the biggest error was the importation of so many sons of Tudor Melody, himself a top-rated two-year-old in Britain with five wins over 1000m as a juvenile.
This is not to say that no sprinters were successful. The best of the lot – and perhaps a contender for the most under-utilised stallion of all – was Royal Affair.
1959 Gr1 Queen’s Plate winner, Royal Affair (Pic – Form Organisation)
A sensationally brilliant sprinter, his class took him to victory in the Queen’s Plate over a distance probably beyond his best, despite breaking down in running. In a stud career spanning 17 crops, he sired just 181 foals. 73% of these were winners, and a phenomenal 14% were stakes-winners.
We also had Mexico, Harry Hotspur and several others that produced creditable stats without challenging for Champion Sire status.
The implication is that it wasn’t enough to be a classy sprinter. Something extra was required, whether pedigree, conformation, or some kind of x-factor in the form of particular brilliance as a racehorse.
At the other end of the spectrum, we had four stallions that placed in the St Leger (or equivalent). Of these, just Hobnob (with 7.3% of stakes-winners, but a below-par 42% of winners) could be regarded as a qualified success.
Free Ride had 11,7% stakes winners 9Pic – Supplied)
Three other notable influences for stamina – Free Ride (11.7% stakes-winners), Prince Sao (11.7% SW) and Jamaico (6.8% SW) – were at their best between 2000m and 2400m. Whilst Prince Sao broke his maiden over 1600m as a two-year-old, none of them won over 1600m as older horses.
Looking at this from both ends of the speed-stamina spectrum, top-class form over 1600m to 2000m appears to be the sweet spot, preferably backed up by being the son of a top international stallion.
As always, there was a group of stallions one would regard as being generally undervalued.
Savanarola’s son Furious cantering down for the Holiday Inns (Pic – Supplied)
Despite good stats, they never got the support they deserved, both in quantity and quality of mares. In no particular order (and mainly for the benefit for those of us who have been around far too long), think back to your favourite racehorses sired by Boot Camp, Caerdeon, Dowdstown Charley, St Cuthbert, Silverware, and Port Merion. If Savonarola (the sire of Furious) had been in the Stallion Register, he too would have been on this list.
This little canter down memory lane would be incomplete without including two careers that were cut short.
Jan Ekels sired just 87 foals in four crops, yielding 12 stakes-winners. New South Wales managed to get to 12 crops of 197 foals, but his third, fourth and fifth crops totalled just 14 foals. His 140 winners and 45 stakes-winners were delivered at a strike rate reserved for the most mythical of stallions.
We cannot finish without including a cautionary tale, which is delivered thanks to Flirting Around, the King’s Stand Stakes-winning Champion Sprinter.
His sire, Round Table, was a champion racehorse and influential sire, although for much more stamina than was displayed by Flirting Around.
Retired to Birch Bros, his first four crops produced a spectacular 14 stakes-winners from just 102 foals, including the great Wolf Power.
The mighty Wolf Power (Pic – Supplied)
If his stud career had ended at that point we’d be mourning a tragic loss. However, that was the peak of his career; he sired one stakes-winner in each of crops five, six, seven and eight. He sired none in his final eight crops.
Unfortunately, the best view we have of stallions’ success (or not) is when they are deep into their stud careers. Breeders and buyers are making crucial decisions in advance of having full knowledge.
Crop sizes were a lot smaller in those days, because that’s just the way things were, even for popular stallions. If we throw forward to the 80’s, stallions like Elliodor and Complete Warrior were so poorly supported to start that their crop sizes hovered around 10 (or less). That didn’t stop them ‘making it’.
With credit to John Koster, who flighted his thoughts about crop sizes over dinner this week, perhaps we’re going about this the wrong way.
John Koster (Pic – Wayne Marks)
In theory, if all stallions covered 120 mares, the country’s broodmare band couldn’t support more than about 20 stallions.
However, if we set the bar at the level of the 70’s and 80’s, this could be significantly escalated. One of the positive outcomes would be that more stallions will be given a chance, even if it’s at the level of 15 or 20 foals per crop.
Perhaps out of that cohort of new drafts will come a few stallions that could dislodge the iron grip that the top three or four stallions have on buyers’ wallets.
In making sense of the stallion options, I find it extremely useful to have the context that this kind of research provides.
As a stud, we own hardly any stallion shares.
On the one hand, it means that Gimmethegreenlight and Vercingetorix are not available to us (and I’m expecting One World to go onto that list this year, too).
On the other hand, it leaves us free to use the underrated or unproven stallions that fit in with established patterns of success. Without the luxury/comfort of relying on a couple of in-demand stallions we have to work a lot harder at everything else we do in order to compensate.
In a sense, Normandy Stud’s need for flexibility or creativity with limited options is a bit like the origin of the Caesar salad (although cookbooks have multiple versions of the recipe).
The story goes that a Tijuana restaurant, owned by Caesar Cardini, got nailed on a long weekend in the 1920’s.
They had sold out of many menu items. For reasons that no-one has been able to explain, Caesar had lots of Romaine lettuce. He also had the ingredients that went into the dressing, along with the Parmesan shavings and croutons for finishing the salad. He drew on the skill and experience of his waiters in getting them to assemble the salad tableside.
Severely limited availability of ingredients forced him to be super creative. He invented an iconic dish out of necessity.
Who would have thought that a split pedigree book would have anything in common with a recipe book!
Oscar and Veronica Foulkes (photo: hamishNIVENPhotography)
- Ed – Normandy Stud have 11 yearlings on the CRS Premier Yearling Sale starting on Thursday 13 March 2025.
