As we have been treated to some very impressive two-year-old sprint performances in recent weeks, it is a good time to review what sires are delivering the goods in this category.
Among those still active with more runners in the pipeline, it is the veteran Danehill sire Kodiac who sets the numerical standard with 39 stakes winners generated in this department over his 16 years with runners. But things are changing and there is no doubt as to who his successor will be, at least in the short and medium term.
Coolmore’s No Nay Never is just eight seasons into his career, and he already has amassed 29 stakes winners, just ten fewer than Kodiac. The son of Scat Daddy is the most efficient of the entire group, delivering his 29 stakes winners at a rate of eight per cent from runners.
This year, he has produced two more exciting sprint youngsters in Charles Darwin and True Love. True Love handled the step up to six furlongs in style with a five-length success in the Group 2 Railway Stakes at the Curragh, having previously taken the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot. At the time of writing, she is Europe’s Timeform top-rated juvenile filly with a mark of 110p, the same rating as her stable companion Charles Darwin who won the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes on his most recent start. And he has only Gstaad ahead of him on the same Timeform log. These two top sprint two-year-olds serve as a reminder, if any were needed, of how good No Nay Never is at this particular job.
Given that he gets plenty of good staying two-year-olds, it is perhaps a bit of a surprising to see Wootton Bassett so prominent among this cohort of stallions. And while he will never challenge his stud companion No Nay Never for raw numbers of sprint juveniles, he is likely to be thereabouts on the efficiency scale. His 7.7 per cent stakes winners feature Group 3 Marble Hill Stakes winner Albert Einstein – reportedly his trainer’s best juvenile – and the impressive Group 2 Airlie Stud Stakes winner Beautify, who has only True Love ahead of her on Timeform ratings among Europe’s top fillies.
As reported in this space last month, Wootton Bassett has the unique knack of delivering stakes-winning two-year olds at a rate (56 per cent of his total stakes winners) normally associated with purely sprint sires.
In fact, not only is the son of Iffraaj just good at delivering stakes-winning youngsters, he is in fact the best this century in Europe regardless of distance, with 39 total stakes winners produced at a rate of 8.5 per cent from runners. And guess who’s second? Yes, it is No Nay Never with 43 sired at 8.3 per cent. Galileo makes it a clean sweep for Coolmore with 7.1 per cent followed by Dubawi on 5.7 per cent and Frankel on 5.3.
Juddmonte’s Kingman is the first British-based sire on our list. Siring stakes-winning sprint two-year-olds may not be what this son of Invincible Spirit is best at given he’s sired three Classic winners since the beginning or last year, headed of course by the Timeform 132-rated Field Of Gold. But it is a very welcome side hustle, and he opened his 2025 account in this arena when his daughter Kimi Rey landed the 1,000-metre Prix Yacowlef at the beginning of July. Kingman’s previous best sprint juveniles include a trio of Group 2 winners in Calyx, Noble Style and Celandine.
Whitsbury Manor Stud’s Havana Grey is just on the tail of the leading group with a strike-rate of 5.2 per cent, which is a good position to be in given that he has his best-bred crops about to run for him from next year onwards. From his weakest crop to date, he has still managed to come up with six stakes horses this term headed by the Listed scorer Staya.
His star progeny is of course Vandeek, one of only a handful of horses to have landed both the Group 1 Prix Morny and Middle Park Stakes. There is also a strong supporting cast of Group 2 winners such as Arabian Dusk and Jasour. So, with the help of better mares, this is a record that is sure to improve further.
Just like Kingman, stakes-winning sprint juveniles are a bonus for Night Of Thunder and although he has a decent strike-rate for his stakes winners, only two have won at Group level; first-crop daughter Under The Stars won the Group 3 Princess Margaret Stakes and, more significantly, Fairy Godmother won last year’s Group 3 Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Five of Lope De Vega’s stakes winning sprint juveniles won at Group level and two are Group 1 winners, namely last year’s Middle Park Dewhurst Stakes scorer Shadow of Light and first-season sire Lucky Vega, who struck in the Phoenix Stakes. Veterans Oasis Dream and Dark Angel have 23 and 26 stakes winners respectively, but Dark Angel has yet to sire a Group 1-winning sprint two-year old, something Oasis Dream has done three times through Charming Thought, Arcano and Pretty Pollyanna.
One young sire that is rapidly rising through the ranks in terms of raw numbers is Mehmas. He has already put 15 on the board including a pair of Group/Grade 1 winners in Middle Park Stakes winner Supremacy, now among the leading first-season sires, and last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint scorer Magnum Force.
Mehmas has also a strong supporting cast of Group 2 winners like Lusail, Aesterius, Caturra, Persian Force and Minzaal, all bar Aesterius to date having earned their own opportunity at stud.
The Tally-Ho stallion has now got two crops at the races bred off higher fees earned from his early successes. Magnum Force and Aesterius were among five sprint juvenile stakes winners from his 2022 crop, while his 2023 crop has already delivered Godolphin’s Listed Rose Bowl Stakes winner Wise Approach plus French Listed winner Imperial Me Cen.
Mehmas has certainly done enough to keep No Nay Never on his toes in this division in the coming years, at least in terms of raw numbers if not by strike rate as Mehmas covers such large books.
Finally, also worthy of mention in this division are Cotai Glory, Showcasing and Starspangledbanner, who have each sired a top-flight two-year-old performer. It looks like Starspangledbanner may have another on his hands in the shape of Group 2 Coventry Stakes winner Gstaad, Timeform’s current European top-rated juvenile.
