An email from one of our readers highlighting the need to look past the traditional sire tables got us thinking.
We all know that the ability to sire winners and in particular stakes-winners is what makes a successful stallion, but from the point of view of a racehorse owner, they want not just a horse that can win a race, but a horse that can front up and compete successfully all season, so we’ve had a closer look at our leading sires for 2018/2019 to find those that deliver toughness and trainability as well as winners.
The world’s best racehorse Winx only just retired at the end of her seven year-old season and she raced consistently from age two until retirement competing in usually eight races a year with the exception of her busy three year-old season which included 10 starts and her juvenile season when she started twice for two wins.
It’s not unreasonable to expect even a horse of lesser ability to also race at least eight times a year with periods of competition interspersed with downtime.
Horses that are sound enough to achieve a minimum of eight starts in the past season and have won at least twice are the horses we’ve been looking for, prizemoney and Black Type aside.
These are the horses that brought a lot of entertainment and fun into the lives of their owners and whether they won stakes races, metro races or country races, I’m pretty sure their owners would be well pleased with the result, whatever their base level.
All you can ask a racehorse to do is his best and these horses have given it a red-hot go, so who are their sires?
Below is a list of sires from the last season that produced 15 or more of what we call target winners, those horses that competed at least eight times in the past season and won at least two of those starts.
| Sire | Target Winners | All Winners | All Runners | Strike Rate Target Winners to Runners | Strike Rate Target Winners to Winners |
| I Am Invincible | 52 | 184 | 336 | 15.5 | 28.3 |
| Written Tycoon | 48 | 150 | 294 | 16.3 | 32 |
| Sebring | 41 | 154 | 327 | 12.5 | 26.6 |
| Smart Missile | 38 | 132 | 254 | 15 | 28.8 |
| Snitzel | 38 | 180 | 346 | 11 | 21.1 |
| Casino Prince | 38 | 80 | 169 | 22.5 | 47.5 |
| Choisir | 36 | 100 | 201 | 17.9 | 36 |
| So You Think | 35 | 114 | 217 | 16.1 | 30.7 |
| Star Witness | 35 | 125 | 269 | 13 | 28 |
| All Too Hard | 34 | 107 | 210 | 16.2 | 31.8 |
| Magnus | 32 | 94 | 203 | 15.8 | 34 |
| Blackfriars | 31 | 96 | 210 | 14.8 | 32.3 |
| Medaglia D’Oro | 31 | 84 | 185 | 16.8 | 36.9 |
| Savabeel | 30 | 74 | 170 | 17.6 | 40.5 |
| Reward For Effort | 29 | 113 | 236 | 12.3 | 25.7 |
| Not A Single Doubt | 29 | 97 | 229 | 12.7 | 29.9 |
| Denman | 29 | 98 | 200 | 14.5 | 29.6 |
| Hard Spun | 28 | 60 | 130 | 21.5 | 46.7 |
| Helmet | 28 | 93 | 180 | 15.6 | 30.1 |
| Exceed And Excel | 28 | 101 | 218 | 12.8 | 27.7 |
| Pierro | 28 | 107 | 211 | 13.3 | 26.2 |
| High Chaparral | 27 | 120 | 238 | 11.3 | 22.5 |
| Lope De Vega | 27 | 88 | 160 | 16.9 | 30.7 |
| Bel Esprit | 27 | 103 | 202 | 13.4 | 26.2 |
| Foxwedge | 26 | 97 | 196 | 13.3 | 26.8 |
| Myboycharlie | 26 | 54 | 131 | 19.8 | 48.1 |
| Nicconi | 25 | 90 | 212 | 11.8 | 27.8 |
| Stratum | 24 | 76 | 150 | 16 | 31.6 |
| Street Cry | 24 | 67 | 121 | 19.8 | 35.8 |
| Wanted | 23 | 57 | 123 | 18.7 | 40.4 |
| Rothesay | 23 | 86 | 183 | 12.6 | 26.7 |
| Hinchinbrook | 23 | 91 | 213 | 10.8 | 25.3 |
| Artie Schiller | 23 | 69 | 147 | 15.6 | 33.3 |
| Commands | 23 | 48 | 102 | 22.5 | 47.9 |
| Fastnet Rock | 22 | 114 | 276 | 8 | 19.3 |
| Equiano | 22 | 68 | 132 | 16.7 | 32.4 |
| Your Song | 22 | 67 | 123 | 17.9 | 32.8 |
| Snippetson | 22 | 75 | 169 | 13 | 29.3 |
| Magic Albert | 21 | 66 | 151 | 13.9 | 31.8 |
| Bon Hoffa | 21 | 51 | 123 | 17.1 | 41.2 |
| Statue Of Liberty | 20 | 53 | 107 | 18.7 | 37.7 |
| Redoute’s Choice | 20 | 86 | 177 | 11.3 | 23.3 |
| Poet’s Voice | 20 | 57 | 135 | 14.8 | 35.1 |
| Real Saga | 19 | 57 | 131 | 14.5 | 33.3 |
| Bernardini | 19 | 55 | 132 | 14.4 | 34.5 |
| Lonhro | 19 | 90 | 183 | 10.4 | 21.1 |
| Duporth | 19 | 49 | 109 | 17.4 | 38.8 |
| Husson | 18 | 51 | 123 | 14.6 | 35.3 |
| Americain | 18 | 43 | 132 | 13.6 | 41.9 |
| Show A Heart | 18 | 43 | 102 | 17.6 | 41.9 |
| Manhattan Rain | 18 | 46 | 94 | 19.1 | 39.1 |
| Zariz | 18 | 52 | 114 | 15.8 | 34.6 |
| More Than Ready | 17 | 76 | 177 | 9.6 | 22.4 |
| Moshe | 17 | 62 | 143 | 11.9 | 27.4 |
| Captain Sonador | 17 | 35 | 82 | 20.7 | 48.6 |
| Dash For Cash | 17 | 30 | 74 | 23 | 56.7 |
| Love Conquers All | 17 | 70 | 158 | 10.8 | 24.3 |
| Patronize | 16 | 41 | 67 | 23.9 | 39 |
| Spirit Of Boom | 15 | 62 | 129 | 11.6 | 24.2 |
| Toorak Toff | 15 | 63 | 121 | 12.4 | 23.8 |
| Hidden Dragon | 15 | 50 | 103 | 14.6 | 30 |
| Dane Shadow | 15 | 41 | 101 | 14.9 | 36.6 |
| Delago Deluxe | 15 | 44 | 89 | 16.9 | 34.1 |
| Domesday | 15 | 53 | 124 | 12.1 | 28.3 |
Footnote: First and second season sires are less likely to figure prominently on the list given they really only have one crop of three year-olds capable of reaching the criteria of our search as very few juveniles start eight times in a season.
Also it should be noted established sires that no longer have a volume of progeny coming through can be flattered on the strike rate as they have no new stock coming through and the horses still racing for them are obviously the ones that are successful at their level.
Story courtesy of Breednet/Tara Madgwick
