Pierro, the sire flying high

With all the chatter about speed and stamina, it’s always heartening to unearth a stallion that can sire top-class racehorses at both ends of the distance spectrum. In fact, you could say that Danehill (USA) set the standard: his stock won Group 1s from 1000 metres to 3200 metres.

In Pierro, Australia has found another such sire. Even though it's near impossible to match Danehill’s exploits, the fact that his stock are showing a similar versatility will stand him in good stead. The son of Lonhro has made an excellent start to the current season, siring five Group winners so far – more than any other sire.

A great racehorse

We must remember that Pierro was a great racehorse. In fact, within the realms of 2-year-old racing, he was indeed brilliant. He was assessed as the best 2-year-old since 1977 by Timeform after a perfect five-for-five juvenile season which saw him land the G1 Slipper, G1 Sires' Produce and G1 Champagne. Three further victories came as a 3-year-old, including the G1 Canterbury and G1 George Ryder S.

He also showcased remarkable competitiveness winning 11 times and never out of the first three in a 14-race career. In terms of Timeform ratings, he’s the very best among Lonhro’s impressive list of major winners with a mark of 128.

Pierro hails from an excellent European family tracing back to Cambretta (USA), a mare bought for US$1 million by Sheikh Mohammed at Keeneland November in 1982. That fact alone tells us just how special Pierro’s family is and it is also indicative of how good Pierro was as a racehorse that, aside from the 130-rated miler Mark of Distinction (GB), Pierro is the best in the family in nearly 30 years.

It’s clearly a female line packed with stamina. Pierro’s dam is inbred to the Derby winner Mill Reef (USA) and the first three sires in her pedigree are Daylami (Ire), Sadler’s Wells (USA) and Shirley Heights (GB) who were all effective over 2400 metres as racehorses and whose mature stock had an average winning distance of at least 2000 metres.

So, there should be no surprise that Pierro could win a Champagne over 1600 metres at 2-years-old and run so well in a Cox Plate over 2040 metres at 3-years-old. In fact, given his background, it’s all the more remarkable that he was fast enough and precocious enough to win a Slipper.

Group 1 winners

In his first four seasons with runners, Pierro has already sired five Group 1 winners. Clearly his best in terms of outright class is the Timeform 126-rated Pierata, who won the G1 All Aged S. over 1400 metres last autumn and looks capable of scoring a Group 1 victory over 1200 metres at some point.

Contrast him to his sire’s other Group 1 winners, Arcadia Queen in the 1800 metre Kingstown Town Classic, Shadow Hero in the recent Spring Champion over 2000 metres, Levendi in the 2400 metre Australian Derby and Pinot in the 2500 metre VRC Oaks.

Gallery: Some of Pierro's Group 1 winners

It’s an excellent mix of speed and stamina. For the record, the average winning distance of his mature runners stands at 1500 metres, a little more than that of his runners’ siblings, who have recorded 1400 metres.

So far, Pierro’s 266 runners have produced 7.1% stakes winners, which is a commendable strike rate for a modern-day sire. To provide some context, that puts him on a par with Snitzel (7.1%) and ahead of I Am Invincible, who was on 6.8% stakes winners at the end of his fourth season. Even the outstanding Exceed And Excel was on a lower score (6.4% stakes winners) after four years.

Pierro has enjoyed great patronage in the early part of his career, covering an average of 164 mares in his first six seasons at stud. Moreover, he covered 201 elite mares in his first two years at stud. As is the case with most stallions, that number fell to 46 in year three and 28 in year four. In year five it recovered to 36 and was back up to 81 in 2018.

Another positive note is the fact that Pierro’s strike rate with elite mares is 11% stakes winners to runners which is in line with expectations – his mares’ other runners have also managed 11% stakes winners.

Predictably, Pierro is proving to be an excellent partner for Danehill-line mares, just like his own sire Lonhro did. Remarkably, 13 of his 19 stakes winners have Danehill blood and he already has eight stakes winners (21%) from mares by Danehill’s best sire son Redoute’s Choice.

Table: Pierro's Group winners