This feature first appeared in the April edition of Owner Breeder, since when Blackbeard and Sealiway have been represented by winners.
Shadwell might be a leaner, tighter operation than it was a decade ago, but it fields two of the most exciting entrants in the first-season sire race in Europe this year.
Minzaal, who stands at Shadwell’s Irish base of Derrinstown Stud, is 11-10 favourite with Paddy Power to supply the most individual winners in Britain and Ireland in 2026 on the back of him being by Mehmas, a former record-breaking freshman sire, and being precocious himself, winning the Gimcrack and finishing third in the Middle Park Stakes at two, but also training on to take the Haydock Sprint Cup at four.
Furthermore, Minzaal has plenty of soldiers to go to war with – 115 to be exact – and those that have been offered as yearlings at public auction have sold like hot cakes, with 98 of his lots selling for an average of 68,352gns and median of 47,809gns, and a high of 550,000gns paid by Amo Racing for Redpender Stud’s half-sister to Asymmetric and Mill Stream. His two-year-olds are reportedly earning rave reviews from breeze-up consignors too, so expect his stock to generate more headlines this spring.
Baaeed, who heads Shadwell’s British roster at Beech House Stud, is a 66-1 shot to top the freshman charts by number of winners but, needless to say, it is all about quality rather than quantity when it comes to this classically bred son of Sea The Stars from the Height Of Fashion dynasty. He was rated the best horse in Europe since Frankel after winning six Group 1s over a mile to ten and a half furlongs, and has covered scores of blue-chip mares, with many of the resultant foals set to be campaigned by their breeders, who likely won’t hurry them.
Baaeed did still have 58 yearlings change hands last year out of a crop numbering 118, and they predictably proved popular, achieving an average of 162,279gns and median of 135,000gns. The most expensive was a half-sister to Arabian Crown and The Juliet Rose bought by Al Shira’aa Racing from Ecurie des Monceaux for €800,000 at Arqana.
Widely respected Newmarket-based pre-trainer Richard Morgan-Evans has been tasked with educating many of Shadwell’s own offspring of Minzaal and Baaeed, as well as a fair few owned by other outfits, and he gave the two sires a ringing endorsement.
“The Minzaals are fantastic models – powerful, sharp, strong-looking horses,” he says. “You can see the Mehmas coming through, and even Acclamation. There’s no mistaking he’s from that line. We’ve had some lovely individuals here. They’ve all had a great quarter, with a lovely step and forward minds. They look like what it says on the tin: fast.
“You’d like to think he’d make a significant impact at Royal Ascot. They’re just the sort to run well there.”
They seem to have adopted that beautiful fluid movement
As for Baaeed, he adds: “We’ve had roughly 20 or 25 in, and they’ve not all been the same stamp, they come in all different shapes in sizes. But, as a rule, they’re good movers. They seem to have adopted that beautiful fluid movement of Sea The Stars’ progeny.
“Generally speaking, they seem to have good temperaments too. They’ve been nice horses to manage throughout the breaking process and in early pre-training. We still have some here, but plenty have already gone into training.”
Asked when he thinks we’ll see the best of the Baaeeds, he replies: “Well, as I say, they come in all sorts of packages, but I think the majority are going to be slightly later types of horses, who’ll need time and maybe have a run at the backend of the season.
“But not all of them. There are definitely some who have looked like they’ll make good two-year-olds.”
Baaeed: brilliant performer has his first two-year-olds this year. Photo – Bill Selwyn
There will be a lot of people willing Minzaal and Baaeed to make the grade: not just those who have used the stallions and stand to gain from them financially, but also racing fans who enjoyed watching the late Hamdan Al Maktoum’s royal blue silks with white epaulets carried to victory in all the big races around the world, and would like to see the operation he founded 45 years ago continue to thrive.
Minzaal’s main rivals to be leading first-season sire by volume of winners are the similarly well-supported commercial types Blackbeard (6-4 with Paddy Power), Persian Force (9-2) and Space Traveller (8-1).
Blackbeard really ought to make his presence felt with his introductory two-year- olds as he is by former champion first-season sire No Nay Never and hails from a precocious family, with his full-brother Charles Darwin having won the Norfolk Stakes easily last year. He upheld family honour by winning the First Flier Stakes, Marble Hill Stakes, Prix Robert Papin, Prix Morny and Middle Park Stakes at two.
He had a spark of fire about him, as he showed when he was unruly at the post on a few occasions, but that isn’t always a bad thing for a sire as it can mean that his runners are tough and touched by brilliance.
The Coolmore flagbearer’s debut crop comprises 116 two-year-olds, 80 of whom sold as yearlings, at an average of 70,093gns and median of 49,162gns, with MV Magnier and White Birch Farm giving 500,000gns for the dearest of those lots, a closely related half-brother to Arizona Blaze from Glenvale Stud. Plenty will end up in the Ballydoyle battalions, you would think.
Persian Force’s (left) profile points to him making a flying start with his first juveniles too. Also by Mehmas, and from a family that contains champion sire Danehill Dancer, he won the Brocklesby and July Stakes, finished second in the Coventry Stakes, Phoenix Stakes and Prix Morny and ran third in the Middle Park Stakes at two, often crossing swords with Blackbeard.
The Tally-Ho Stud resident has 99 two-year- olds, 83 of whom sold as yearlings for an average of 38,012gns and median of 31,484gns. Amo Racing threw its weight behind its former colour-bearer at the sales, signing for three of his five top lots. However, it was Jason Kelly who secured the most expensive one, a filly out of the Sea The Stars mare Playful Dance bought from Kildaragh Stud for 200,000gns. She is in training with David O’Meara.
Space Traveller doesn’t scream precocity quite as loudly as Minzaal, Blackbeard and Persian Force, as he is by Bated Breath out of Sky Crystal, a daughter of Galileo who won over 12 furlongs at three, and although he won twice at two he really flourished at three, when he won the Jersey Stakes and Boomerang Stakes, and continued to shine as an older horse, when he was Grade 1-placed in North America on multiple occasions.
However, Starfield Stud’s representative is sitting pretty with the largest debut crop of any freshman of 2026, with 121 two-year- olds who were conceived at his former home of Ballyhane. He had 84 yearlings sell last year, for an average price of 16,076gns and median of 9,248gns. Kevin Ryan spent the most on one of those lots: 240,000gns for a half-brother to Nunthorpe runner-up Ain’t Nobody from Kilmoney Cottage Stud.
Caturra, Naval Crown and Perfect Power are all rated 66-1 chances to deliver the most winners among the first-season sires this year, but that is only because they lack the numerical firepower. It is still easy to see them compiling excellent strike-rates of scorers and grabbing the attention of breeders and buyers that way instead.
Caturra, another son of Mehmas with a speedy pedigree, won the Rose Bowl Stakes and Flying Childers Stakes at two, so his progeny should be precocious and pacey. Overbury Stud’s value option has 68 two-year-olds, 52 of whom sold as yearlings for an average price of 17,624gns and median price of 15,238gns. His stock didn’t produce all that many fireworks in the ring yet lots of shrewd trainers and pinhookers helped themselves to at least one.
Strong run of Dubawi sons at stud
Naval Crown bids to continue the strong run of Dubawi sons at stud, with Night Of Thunder, New Bay, Zarak and Too Darn Hot all having established themselves as premier-league sires. The Godolphin homebred should be allowed a little more time to prove himself, as he broke his duck in the Convivial Maiden at York in August and was a little below top-class at two, but improved at three, when he finished second in the Jersey Stakes and fourth in the 2,000 Guineas, and really blossomed at four, when he landed the Platinum Jubilee Stakes.
He conceived 71 foals, now aged two, in his first season at Kildangan Stud. His yearlings sold for an average of 37,567gns and median of 28,728gns, with Hill Of Allen Stud paying the peak price of €320,000 for a half-sister to Qilin Queen consigned by Mountain View Stud.
Fellow Darley ambassador Perfect Power will have fewer excuses for not firing in some nice early winners this season. By renowned precocity source Ardad and a half-brother to last year’s Middle Park Stakes winner Wise Approach, he took the Norfolk Stakes, Prix Morny and Middle Park Stakes at two and showed his outstanding class by adding the Greenham Stakes and Commonwealth Cup to his tally at three.
Some 40 of his 57 two-year-olds changed hands as yearlings and they achieved average and median prices of 51,640gns and 36,500gns. Shadwell struck for the dearest lot, Redwall Bloodstock and Harry and Oliver Vigors’ well pinhooked colt out of three-time five-furlong winner Perfect Muse, at 260,000gns. He has been sent to George Boughey.
Bayside Boy and State Of Rest have been chalked up at 100-1 to win the first-season sire race because, again, their crop sizes are smaller. But they command the utmost respect, as they were quality horses who should beget quality horses. That could very well come out in their percentages of success this year, rather than raw numbers of winners.
Bayside Boy (right), who stands alongside his sire New Bay at Ballylinch Stud, had his finest hour when beating a top-notch field to win the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes on his last start at three, but he had also shown considerable talent at two, scoring in the Champagne Stakes and finishing a close third in both the Dewhurst and Futurity Trophy.
His first crop boasts 85 two-year-olds, 69 of whom were sold as yearlings, resulting in an average price of 32,791gns and median price of 20,464gns. The most expensive lot was a half-brother to Prix de Cabourg runner-up Jubilation who gave Oneliner Stables a fabulous profit when selling to Blandford Bloodstock for 300,000gns. He has gone into training with Andrew Balding.
Small numbers are no bar to success
It will be fascinating to see how State Of Rest fares as a sire. He is by Starspangledbanner, a fine source of two-year-olds and sprinters but, like his half-sister Tranquil Lady, he needed a little longer in terms of time and trip to show his best, eventually winning the Saratoga Derby and Cox Plate at three and the Prix Ganay and Prince of Wales’s Stakes at four.
His debut covering season at Rathbarry Stud resulted in 79 two-year-olds, and the 63 of those who found new homes at the yearling sales last year did so at an average of 43,288gns and median of 33,058gns. It was one of his more speedily bred lots that sold for the most: a half-sister to crack sprinters Democracy Dilemma and Sky Majesty, who was bought by Hurworth Bloodstock from Mountarmstrong Stud for 300,000gns and is now with William Haggas.
Stradivarius, the epoch-defining stayer by Sea The Stars, has been popular at the National Stud and consequently has 75 first-crop two-year-olds. He probably won’t come up with a slew of winners this year – although if his offspring inherit his turn of foot and closing speed he might have more than many expect – and is more of a long-term prospect, hence he has been dismissed with a 300-1 quote by Paddy Power for the first-season sire championship.
Dubawi Legend, the other notable British or Irish-based freshman sire this year, has it all to do as he has only 42 two-year-olds, and is therefore also a 300-1 shot. But small numbers are no bar to success, as his former Starfield Stud colleague King Of Change has demonstrated so ably in the last few seasons. Like King Of Change, he has smart credentials, being a well-bred son of Dubawi who found only Native Trail too good in the Dewhurst at two.
This year also brings the keenly anticipated debut juveniles by a pair of outstanding horses who won two of Europe’s premier all-aged middle-distance contests and stand on the continent: Haras de Beaumont-based Champion Stakes hero Sealiway, a son of Galiway who was also seriously precocious; and Gestut Auenquelle’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe victor Torquator Tasso, who is by the much-missed German champion sire Adlerflug and from the family of all-time-great blue hen Urban Sea.
Meanwhile, all eyes will be on the first runners by Flightline on the other side of the Atlantic. The charismatic son of Tapit was the best North American racehorse of modern times and has therefore covered books of exceptional quality at Lane’s End Farm since he retired. It will be desperately disappointing if he doesn’t do the job as a stallion.
*Crop sizes from the Weatherbys stallion app; sales details from the Weatherbys Bloodstock Sales Review.
‘They’re easy to train’ – it’s all about Minzaal
Willie Browne, Mocklershill
“I have a few Minzaals and I particularly like them. I have a nice filly from Goffs going to Newmarket who goes very well and another colt I bought in December who is pleasing me. They are both of a kind – they have some speed but they’re quite chilled too, they’re easy to train.
“I have a few Blackbeards going to Doncaster and they seem quite precocious.”
Con Marnane, Bansha House Stables
“I have a cracker of a Caturra. Amy [Marnane] bought him in England. He’s a really nice horse with a very good temperament. I wouldn’t be shocked if this fella turned up at Royal Ascot.
“I’ve got a nice homebred Blackbeard filly going to Doncaster. I haven’t pressed any buttons yet so I don’t know how good she is. She’s a good block of a filly, really strong and like a three-year-old colt. She has a good pedigree too. And a very good temperament!”
Mick Murphy, Longways Stables
“I have a very nice Minzaal colt going to Fairyhouse. Hopefully he’ll stand out a bit. I liked them as yearlings, they looked good straightforward types, and was glad to be able to get one.”
Johnny Collins, Brown Island Stables
“I have a nice Minzaal colt going to the Craven Sale. He’s going well and we like what we see.”
Eddie Linehan, Lackendarra Stables
“My Minzaal colt is going very well. He’s a real two-year-old type. He has a huge stride and is a good ride. He’s going to the Tattersalls Guineas Sale and I’d expect him to stand out there.”
Eddie O’Leary, Lynn Lodge Stud
“I have an Epicenter from Keeneland who I think could be very special. He wasn’t a big strong yearling, but he’s done really well over the winter. He’s very athletic with a good mind and I think he’s naturally fast. I think he could be good. He goes to Arqana.”
