Bill Oppenheim: The Darley Sires

In 2015, Darley's Dubawi was the leading North American or European sire by worldwide earnings, with 147 winners of $22,696,170 (click here), including nine Group 1 winners; yet almost $12.3-million of that–54% of his total Northern Hemisphere-sired 2015 progeny earnings–was earned outside North America and Europe. Nearly half that total came from the win of the 8-year-old gelding, from Dubawi's first crop, Prince Bishop, in the $10-million G1 Dubai World Cup–but to be fair, Dubawi had another $6-million in progeny earnings that did not come from that one race.

It was nearly 10 years ago, in 2006, when the news emanated that Sheikh Mohammed and Darley intended to “go their own way” by using primarily their own stallions. Elusive Quality and Cape Cross were then Darley's headline sires. Street Cry was just having his first 2-year-olds, and Dubawi and Shamardal had just retired to stud. Bernardini would go to stud the next season in Kentucky after securing the 2006 North American 3-year-old championship, and in 2007 Darley spent an estimated $200-million on stallion prospects. John Ferguson has always said Sheikh Mohammed plays a long game, and a global game. Now, nearly 10 years later, their sires are racking up some impressive numbers, and these numbers don't even include Southern Hemisphere results; these are just from the sires' Northern Hemisphere-sired crops.

Ten Darley sires who still have APEX ratings were among the top 50 NA/EU sires by worldwide earnings in 2015 (Singspiel, sire of the 2015 5-year-old Solow, was also in the top 50, but we've not included him), divided equally between Europe and Kentucky. They were represented by 1,260 winners last year, of which 147 were Black-Type Winners (BTW), and the Northern Hemisphere-sired progeny of these sires alone earned just under $109-million last year. They sired 26 Group 1 or Grade I winners, though only Dubawi (9) sired more than four. Even so, $109-million in earnings, not even including Southern Hemisphere-sired horses? That's a lot.

Okay, it's their country, so there are probably a disproportionate number of runners by their sires, but even so it's striking that the three big 'Super Saturday' preps last weekend for Dubai World Cup night were all won by the progeny of the major Darley sires–all 5-year-olds, too, as a matter of fact. Last year's G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth S. winner Postponed, by Dubawi, scored an easy win in the G2 Dubai City of Gold S., a prep for the G1 Sheema Classic. Tryster, a 5-year-old gelding by Shamardal, looked equally good in the G1 Jebel Hatta, a prep for the G1 Dubai Turf (formerly the Dubai Duty Free); and Special Fighter, another 5-year-old but by Teofilo, scored an upset in the G1 Al Maktoum Challenge R3, a prep for the G1 Dubai World Cup. Meanwhile, at Aqueduct, Shadwell's Shagaf became Bernardini's fourth GSW from his current 3-year-old crop when running his record to three-for-three in the GIII Gotham S. Bernardini now ranks #3 on the current TDN YTD 2016 General Sire List (click here), and has an unusual distinction: so far this year he has four BTW and nine Black-Type Horses–every one of them in Graded/Group company. You don't see that very often. Teofilo and Hard Spun also had Group 1 winners in Australia last weekend, and my TDN colleagues John Berry (Monday, on Teofilo) and Andrew Caulfield (Tuesday, on Bernardini) have both written about Darley sires earlier this week.

Having had 10 of the top 50 (11, if you count Singspiel) on the list of NA/EU sires by worldwide earnings from Northern Hemisphere crops last year, in 2016 thus far Darley stands four of the top ten (click here): #3 Bernardini, #5 Dubawi, #7 Medaglia d'Oro, and #10 Shamardal. No doubt they would like to see more Group 1 winners by other sires besides Dubawi, especially in Europe, but there's no doubting, 10 years on, the impact Darley sires are having worldwide; and we're only talking about their top sires–there are plenty others in the 'useful' category such as Discreet Cat, Street Boss, New Approach, Iffraaj, etc., who are adding to the totals.

One other point the figures reveal is the spectacular lack of success the five Kentucky sires have had from their runners in Europe. Covering the years 2009-2015, Street Cry had 521 year-starters in Europe (all surfaces) for six A Runners, translating to a European A Runner Index of 0.58. Medaglia D'Oro (1.32), a grandson of Sadler's Wells, after all, and Hard Spun (1.44, which includes two GSW added though they did not reach the A Runner earnings thresholds), a son of Danzig, at least record above-average figures. Bernardini (0.40) is 1-for-125 (Italy not included), and Street Sense is 0-for-60. It's not great news for anybody that there is now such a measurable difference between turf and dirt sires, especially because the overall disproportionately strong performance by American-breds in Europe in general isn't really reflected in the marketplace. And it's true that the Godolphin/Al Maktoum team hasn't won the G1 Epsom Derby since New Approach in 2008, during which period Montjeu and Galileo supplied four consecutive winners 2011-2014 for the Coolmore partners; but in terms of global reach, there's no doubt the Maktoums have developed a battery of sires including nearly a third of the current World Top 20. The plan is working.

THE RETURN OF QUALITY ROAD

In 2014, Lane's End's Quality Road won the North American freshman sire title by just $25,000 over WinStar's Super Saver. The latter was again runner-up on last year's North American second-crop sire list, to Coolmore Ashford's Munnings, who sired 11 Black-Type Winners (BTW) last year; Super Saver had five, though he ended the year with three Grade I winners and two Grade II winners from his first crop, way ahead of everybody else in this group of sires, and a $65,000 stud fee for 2016. Quality Road, meanwhile, managed to finish fourth among North American second-crop sires even though he had only one 2015 BTW. Was he just another flash in the pan, especially considering he covered most of the good Ned Evans mares in his first crop?

Evidently not, is the resounding answer Quality Road is delivering in 2016. Last weekend's GII Gulfstream Mile S. winner Blofeld was Quality Road's third BTW of 2016, among 20 winners so far this year (second among his sire crop only to Darley's Midshipman, who has 21), and took his 2016 earnings to $1,186,967 (TDN Tuesday), more than $500,000 clear, at this point in proceedings, of second-placed Munnings. Interestingly, though he has only 63 3-year-olds in his 2013 (second) crop, having had 107 in his first crop, now 4-year-olds, besides Blofeld his other two BTW so far this year are 3-year-olds: Laurel BTW Marengo Road, winner of the Miracle Wood S.; and Frank Conversation, who won the GIII El Camino Derby for Nyquist's connections Paul Reddam and Doug O'Neill, and runs next in the $2-million, GII UAE Derby on Dubai World Cup night.