Eureka Stud's Spirit of Boom is set to capture his first Queensland Sires' title in 2018/19 as the changing of the guard gathers significant pace across the Queensland breeding industry.
Off the back of an extraordinary first season on the racetrack for his progeny in 2017/18, which featured 18 winners, Spirit Of Boom has backed that up with 56 winners from 121 runners to date this season, with combined prizemoney of $5.24m.
That puts him inside the top 30 of all Australian stallions after just two crops, an amazing achievement for a stallion which stood at just $11,000 (inc GST) across his first four seasons. After an impressive five stakes winners in his first season, he has also had five this year, with Boomsara his leading earner at $1.35m.
Boomsara is Spirit Of Boom's leading earner for the 2018/19 season
He is well-placed to dominate the Queensland Sires' title for the short to medium future, with big books of 146, 191 and 217 in his third, fourth and fifth years at stud.
He is $846,470 ahead of his next closest rival, Lyndhurst Stud's Rothesay, who is having his best-ever season in terms of winners with 77 to date and $4.4 million in prizemoney, led by Chapter And Verse. Should he maintain his position of 35 on the General Australian Sires' Table, it would represent another substantial personal best.
Better Than Boom?
But it is another Lyndhurst-based stallion who looms to be Spirit of Boom's greatest challenger for Queensland supremacy in coming years. Better Than Ready has had a remarkably similar first campaign to what Spirit Of Boom had last season, with two more winners - 20 to 18 - off fewer runners (40 to 52). At this stage his progeny have earned $110,000 less than what Spirit of Boom's first crop did last season.
Better Than Ready
What has been notable from Better Than Ready has been his consistency across his runners. Those 20 winners have combined for 33 wins. Off an opening fee of $9900 (inc GST), his success has been more at grass roots level, but that will build with books of 134, 139 and 236 in his second, third and fourth years at stud.
He will get a huge book again this year, with his service fee rising to $33,000 (inc GST), a big jump on the first four years, but still $11,000 less than Spirit of Boom.
He sits just outside the Top 100 (102nd) in the overall rankings, but one or two winners should get him inside, while he is in a great position to be the leading Australian first-season sire on winners.
A measure of how successful his first season has been the company he is keeping in the battle for the leading Australian 2-year-old sire on winners. He is currently sandwiched between the two big boys in Australia, I Am Invincible (21 winners), and Snitzel (19).
It's quite amazing then that he won’t even win the Queensland First-Season Sires' title.
The Odyssey has been a leading runner for Better Than Ready
Sidestep set for success
Telemon Thoroughbreds' Sidestep will claim that honour thanks largely to Kiamichi's upset win in the G1 Golden Slipper S. The Darley stallion, who joined Telemon's roster ahead of last season, has had five winners in his first crop, with dual stakes winner Kiamichi earning $2.32m of the $2.53m in prizemoney of his progeny in their first year.
Sidestep's hopes of continuing to hold out Better Than Ready going forward will depend on him producing quality over quantity in the coming years. His booking numbers dropped from 134 in his first season to 86, and then 36 before he moved to Telemon where he had an opening book of 57 last season at $7700. He jumps to $22,000 this season and should get much bigger numbers.
Sidestep will claim Queensland's First-Season Sires' title
Changing of the guard
The emergence of this trio of young stallions has been crucial for Queensland, which has lost a couple of significant sires' in recent years.
It's been six seasons since Written Tycoon, currently seventh in the Australian Sires' Table, departed the Sunshine State, while Bel Esprit moved back to Victoria last season, so also no longer qualifies as a Queenslander.
The first of Bel Esprit's Queensland crops hit the track this season, with six winners to date from that crop. Currently 25th overall in the Sires' table, he has 96 winners with a month left to run in the season and could crack the ton for the first time in four seasons. His Sun Stud barnmate Love Conquers All also left Queensland last season and he is enjoying his best season in 2018/19 with 64 winners, including two stakes-winners.
Bel Esprit has 96 QLD winners with a month of the season left
Real Saga is another loss to the Queensland industry but for an entirely different reason after his death earlier this year. He has been a terrifically consistent producer and has surpassed 50 winners for the fifth straight season in 2018/19. He has finished in the Top 100 in Australia for all seven seasons since his progeny hit the track.
Domesday's success driven by Derby delight
Aquis Farm's Domesday will finish third on the Queensland Sires' Table having enjoyed his best year on the track with his progeny earning over $4.05m, thanks largely to his G1 Victoria Derby winner Extra Brut. He has had 51 winners to date in 2018/19 and will finish top 50 on the Sires' Table for the fifth straight year.
Wanted, who stands at Clear Mountain Fairview, has also reached the 50-winner mark, in his case for third straight season, while the veteran Show A Heart is the other active Queensland stallion inside the Top 100 having had 40 winners this season, with total earnings nearing $2.2 million.
The next generation
What is exciting about the Queensland scene is those stallions with progeny yet to hit the track. Aquis Farm's Spill the Beans and Clear Mountain Fairview's Jabali have their first 2-year-old crops this season.
Spill The Beans
Kiss And Make Up, Under The Louvre, Worthy Cause and Defcon have their first yearlings at the sales in 2019, while the first foals of Aquis Farm trio The Mission, Aclaim (Ire) and Kobayashi are among those to arrive this spring, along with Raheen Stud's Heroic Valour and the fire that Queensland-bred foal of Oaklands Stud’s Power (GB).
There is also a very exciting bunch of stallions with their first seasons at stud. Encryption joins Sprit Of Boom at Eureka Stud, Jungle Cat (Ire) joins Sidestep at Telemon, while Japanese star Neorealism (Jpn) debuts at Oaklands Stud.
Performer joins the Aquis Farm line-up at Conungra this upcoming season as well, taking its number to eight stallions.
The Aquis investment into Queensland is set to bear significant fruit in the coming years and that has Queensland well-placed to ensure that the emergence of its two super young stallions in Spirit of Boom and Better Than Ready will be no flash in the pan.
Jungle Cat will be standing alongside Sidestep at Telemon Stud
