Wednesday 4 November 2015
The Aga Khan Studs will offer seven sires in 2016, headed by the prolific Stakes producer SEA THE STARS whose fee has been fixed at €125,000 for the forthcoming breeding season.
Sire of 9.5% Stakes winners to runners, and 22.4%Stakes performers to runners in Europe during 2015, SEA THE STARS is currently second in the rankings for these two figures behind his half-brother Galileo. The champion racehorse has sired 13 black-type winners in 2015, including recent juvenile Group 1 placed and Group 3 winner Cloth Of Stars, to add to his 2014 haul which included Classic scorers Taghrooda and Sea The Moon. SEA THE STARS will have his biggest crop of 123 three-year-olds in 2016.
He will stand in Ireland at Gilltown Stud, alongside his three-parts brother BORN TO SEA. This blue-blooded son of proven sire of sires Invincible Spirit saw his first yearlings prove profitable in the sales ring during 2015, reaching prices of up to €330,000, and averaging at six times his covering fee. BORN TO SEA will remain at the same fee of €10,000 in 2016.
The Haras de Bonneval in Normandy will be home to five sires for the upcoming covering season. These are headed by leading second crop sire SIYOUNI who boasts an excellent ratio of 52% 2yo winners to runners. SIYOUNI’s talents go beyond precocious two-year-olds, as demonstrated by his flagbearer Ervedya, winner of three Group 1 contests during the season. Comparisons with Ervedya have already been made with the unbeaten two-year-old Trixia, winner of the Gr 3 Prix des Réservoirs and a Classic hope for 2016. SIYOUNI’s price has been raised to €30,000.
CHARM SPIRIT and MAKFI, who are both available at Bonneval through a partnership between Qatar Bloodstock and the Aga Khan Studs. CHARM SPIRIT will be available at €27,500 and MAKFI at €20,000 in 2016. New to France, CHARM SPIRIT won three consecutive Group 1 prizes in France and England, and he is the highest-earning son of Invincible Spirit. His first foals are eagerly awaited in 2016.
Sire of Classic hero Make Believe, MAKFI counts a total of 15 Stakes performers in 2015, 20 juvenile winners and 56% winners to runners for his three-year-old generation.
A new arrival to Bonneval, Arc winner DALAKHANI returns to the country of his racing triumphs and he will be available at a fee of €15,000. The stallion was represented by his eighth Group 1 winner in 2015, Second Step, as well as Group 1 runners-up Candarliya and Integral. Free of Northern Dancer, DALAKHANI is an ideal outcross option for breeders.
The Aga Khan Studs roster is completed by SINNDAR, at €4,000. The dual Derby and Arc hero is a proven producer on the flat and over jumps, having sired four Group 1 winners on the flat and two over the jumps.
