It’s not all that hard to find sires in Europe that can produce stakes winners at a rate of 10% or more to runners. They tend to be the traditional Classic sire, those capable of siring top-class winners between a mile and a mile-and-a-half where there are many races and fewer starters than at the shorter trips.
The top speed sires in Europe rarely can get past the 10% benchmark, simply because there are more runners and far more sires represented. The same is true in Australia: stallions are required to have major success at up to a mile to gain commercial traction and the competition is just too intense.
In our second article on sibling sires, this time concentrating on Australia and New Zealand, it’s no surprise that siblings find it nigh on impossible to beat the 10% standard. But that doesn’t mean that those that fall short are lesser stallions.
Australia's best example
The best recent example of full-brothers that made a good impression as sires are the Danehill (USA) pair Commands and Danewin. Commands was the five-year younger full brother of Champion 3-year-old and five-time Group 1 winner Danewin.
Though there seemed to be a gulf between the pair’s race records, ratings suggested otherwise with Danewin rated 124 by Timeform, only three points ahead of his younger sibling. And there is little doubt as to which was the better sire, with Commands siring 77 stakes winners, compared to his older brother’s 30.
Commands had 39 Group winners and Danewin 15. Danewin did in fact post a higher percentage of stakes winners (7.8%) from mares that only managed 3.6% by other sires. Commands, meanwhile, had access to higher quality mares (they produced 5.9% stakes winners by other sires) and converted 6.3% into stakes winners. Significantly, Commands’ best racehorses were clearly better than his brother’s, producing a top-ten average Timeform rating of 122.8 compared to Danewin’s 118.7. It is this metric more than any other that defines Commands’ place among the leading sires in Australia – only five since the days of Danehill have recorded a better top-ten average.
Significant double act
The family of Commands also produced another significant double act in Octagonal (NZ) and his three-parts brother Kaapstad (NZ). Though Octagonal was far and away the better racehorse, winning ten Group 1s compared to his brother’s single Group 1 success in the Sires’ Produce, a race Octagonal also picked up, Kaapstad posted better numbers as a sire. His 44 stakes winners from 515 runners gives him an excellent strike rate of 8.5%. And although Octagonal’s male line is likely to endure through his top-class son Lonhro, his return of 21 stakes winners from 694 runners (3%) was ultimately very disappointing.
Gallery: While Octagonal was far and away the better racehorse, his three-quarter brother Kaapstad (NZ) posted better numbers as a sire
It was also a case of big brother winning out between Redoute’s Choice and his 10-year young half-brother Manhattan Rain. The many achievements of Redoute’s Choice need no recounting here. Suffice it to say that he’s got the best strike rate (12%) of any Australian sire since his own dad reigned supreme and it’s debatable if any modern-day sire will ever surpass this mark.
A winner four times at the highest level, Redoute’s Choice earned a 126 rating from Timeform, while his brother won a single Group 1 and received a 122 mark for his efforts. Even so, Manhattan Rain was given every opportunity at stud. He’s undoubtedly come up with some very talented runners – including one that eludes many, a Slipper winner in She Will Reign. However his statistics fall short of mare opportunity, with 5% stakes winners to runners to the 9% his offsprings’ siblings achieved by other sires.
Redoute’s Choice’s heir apparent Snitzel is one of the few sires that looks certain to surpass 10% stakes winners to runners. Winner of the G1 Oakleigh Plate and rated 125 by Timeform, it has taken time for Snitzel to earn access to the nation’s best mares. Now that he has, the sky is the limit for the Arrowfield stallion.
His five-year younger brother Hinchinbrook only won at Group 3 level but was also Group 1 placed and assessed good enough for a Timeform mark of 121. Whereas Snitzel’s current score of 9.8% stakes winners to runners was achieved from mares that average 7.8% with other sires – a sure sign of sire power – Hinchinbrook can be judged against a group of lesser mares. In his case the pass mark is 5.8%, which is still quite high when compared with what the likes of I Am Invincible started out with. And yes, Hinchinbrook is just about matching expectations with a score of 5.7% stakes winners.
There have been a few other sets of brothers that posted respectable numbers of stakes winners, even if their ratios of stakes winners were on the low side. Umatilla (NZ) sired 31 stakes winners and his younger brother Hurricane Sky 17. Strategic managed 25 stakes winners, 15 more than his half-brother Clang, while Princess Tracy’s (Ire) sons Danasinga (32 stakes winners) and Towkay (10 stakes winners) also made it to double figures.
But what about the great mare Gainsborough Lass (GB) in the 1940s and 50s? She has four sons with at least 10 or more stakes winners and three with 20 or more, including Pride Of Kildare (Ire) (17% stakes winners to runners) – a rare stallion that sired the winners of both the Newmarket and the Melbourne Cup. Now that’s something we’re unlikely to see again given the growth in mare books and the increased specialisation and competition among stallions.
