Posthumous Honour For Society Rock

It's never good news when a stallion dies before his time, but the loss of Society Rock (Ire) to laminitis in May 2016 at the age of just nine now seems a particularly cruel blow.

The dual Group 1-winning sprinter raced on until he was six, so he wasn't received at Tally-Ho Stud until he was a 7-year-old and he covered 163 mares in his first season at a fee of €8,000. The resultant members of his first crop have paid their late sire a handsome tribute on the racecourse this season, making him the leading first-season sire in Europe with 28 winners from 80 runners, led by the G1 Prix Morny hero Unfortunately (Ire).

A bloodstock journalist should not admit to favourites in print, and most people who know of my dangerously expensive and largely unsuccessful preoccupation with stayers will be surprised to hear me confess to a soft spot for the near-black sprinter. But I loved Society Rock. He wasn't a particularly impressive physical specimen and he was a bit of a monkey most mornings on Newmarket Heath while in training with one of the town's best and still strangely under-rated trainers, James Fanshawe. The fact that Society Rock was by a similarly under-rated stallion in Rock Of Gibraltar (Ire) and that he carried the distinctive 1919 Derby-winning colours of Lord Glanely inherited by his descendant Simon Gibson, who was well into his 80s by the time Society Rock was in his pomp, gave him extra appeal. He also raced successfully beyond his 3-year-old season, as all stallions should.

Society Rock's haul of £826,138 in progeny earnings puts him well clear of his runner-up Dabirsim (Fr), who is thus the leading active freshman in Europe and is something of a rarity in his prominent position in this table having started his stud career in Germany.

I'm still a little traumatised at having been driven halfway across continental Europe by William Huntingdon and Liam Norris to see Dabirsim in his former home at Gestut Karlshof and not being allowed to stop for dinner until we returned to France (circa 11pm) owing to William's dislike of German food. That is now all but forgotten, if not forgiven, following the son of Hat Trick's rather tasty start to his second career.

An outstanding juvenile in his year, Dabirsim is now a little more accessible to breeders outside Germany, having moved to Normandy's Haras de Grandcamp in 2016, but he has leapt from his four-year fee of €9,000 to €30,000. That hike came on the back of a season which saw him sire 18 winners from his 54 runners, including the G3 Albany S. winner and Group 1—placed Different League (Fr), whose dramatically contrasting sales returns started with her making €8,000 as a foal when sold to Con Marnane, followed by a 1.5 million gns transaction earlier this month. Aidan O'Brien will be at the helm for her 3-year-old career.

The most promising start for a British-based stallion was made by Havana Gold (GB), the fast and good-looking son of Teofilo (Ire), whose 24 winners this term at a strike-rate of 35% will have brought plenty of smiles to the faces of Sheikh Fahad, David Redvers and the team at Tweenhills.

The super-tough Havana Grey (GB) has been his flagbearer with two Listed wins and victory in the G3 Molecomb S., and he has twice finished runner-up in Group 1 company, including to his stablemate at Karl Burke's Middleham yard, Unfortunately. Havana Gold is also the sire of Headway (GB), beaten just a nose by Rajasinghe (Ire) in the G2 Coventry S., and G3 Curragh S. winner Treasuring, who has now been transferred from Ger Lyons to Simon Callaghan in California.

It sounds crazy to say that a horse with the class of treble Classic winner Camelot (GB) is something of a surprise package among this year's freshmen but he is when considering how much he has achieved already. Yes, he has covered big books so had more ammunition than many of his contemporaries, but most people in the business would perhaps have expected him to be a slower burner. As it is, Camelot's 20 first-crop winners, the G2 Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte winner Fighting Irish (Ire) among them, give good reason to hope that we'll be reading plenty more about these rising 3-year-olds in 2018.

Red Jazz (23), Lethal Force (25) and Epaulette (23) each sired plenty of individual winners, while Declaration Of War was represented by the G3 Anglesey S. winner Actress (Ire) and the useful Olmedo (Ire), who was runner-up to Happily (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in the G1 Qatar Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere.

The British and Irish table closely reflects the European statistics bar Dabirsim, who of course led all newcomers in France. Style Vendome took third place in France behind Society Rock, siring eight winners from 31 runners in the country, with Camelot and Intello (Ger) behind him. From a slow start, Intello, who switches between France and England and is now back at Cheveley Park Stud, was responsible for 11 winners, including the Listed scorer Sonjeu (Fr). There should be more to come from his first 3-year-olds next season.

In Germany, the freshman title went to Reliable Man (GB), the Classic-winning son of Dalakhani (Ire) who has also made a promising start with two crops of southern hemisphere runners. He may only have sired two winners in Germany but they were both Group winners–Erasmus (Ger) and Narella (Ger)–meaning that he finished ahead of Gestut Fahrhof's Maxios (GB), who sired three winners in his home country but nine across Europe, reflecting the breadth of his support from breeders in Britain, Ireland and France.

Reliable Man is another on the move from Germany this season and will join Haras de Thenney on his return from New Zealand. A similar switch is also being made by Maxios's former companion at Fahrhof, Pastorius (Ger), who is the sire of five first-crop winners and has moved to Haras de la Hetraie.

Ballyhane's Red Jazz had 13 individual winners in Italy, making him the leading first-season sire in that country ahead of Most Improved (Ire) on eight.