You might be surprised to learn that it was Zoustar that covered more elite mares than any other stallion in the land in 2018. Even in Europe where reverse shuttlers often struggle to gain a foothold, the son of Northern Meteor has caught the imagination.
He covered 147 mares at an opening fee of £25,000 (AU$47,117) and only the likes of Roaring Lion (USA) and Saxon Warrior (Jpn) attracted significantly more elite mares in their first year. And now we have the news that connections have secured the outstanding sprinter Mabs Cross (GB) (Dutch Art {GB}) for his second book of mares, for which he’s advertised at £30,000 (AU$56,541).
Mabs Cross (GB) | Image courtesy of Scoop Dyga
That’s what early success on the racetrack can do for a stallion’s career and there is nothing like siring the first three home in a major 3-year-old sprint to focus the attention of breeders and yearling buyers. Zoustar’s trifecta (Sunlight, Zousain and Lean Mean Machine) in G1 Coolmore Stud S. at Flemington will live long in the memory.
Zoustar’s talent as a racehorse should not be forgotten. A son of the short-lived but very successful Northern Meteor, Zoustar didn’t have a long racing career – just nine starts in one autumn and one spring campaign – but his class still shone through, first in Queensland as a 2-year-old where he won the G2 Sires’ Produce and was runner-up in the G1 JJ Atkins.
The following spring he warmed up with a fourth place in the G3 Run to the Rose and then put in three sterling performances in quick succession, winning the G1 Golden Rose, the G2 Roman Consul and the G1 Coolmore Stud S.
Zoustar winning the G1 Coolmore Stud S.
His 2-year-old form was assessed by Timeform at a rating of 114, which placed him among the top 10 2-year-old colts and geldings of his year. At three, Timeform gave him a mark of 122 and only G1 Cox Plate hero Shamus Award and VRC Derby winner Polanski were rated higher among the season’s 3-year-olds. His 122 rating also put him behind only Shooting To Win among his sire’s progeny.
Zoustar got plenty of attention from breeders when he retired to stud, standing at a fee of $44,000 for his first four years. Predictably his first book contained many well-bred mares and even by year three and four, he was still attracting good quality mares. So there is a level of expectation among breeders, but it has to be said that Zoustar is providing the results to surpass that expectation. At the end of his second season with runners, he had already sired five Group winners and to put that achievement in context, only eight sires in the past 25 years had more at the same stage of their career.
Gallery: Some of Zoustar's leading progeny
Moreover, five Group winners was as good as, or more than, many other successful sires – including Exceed And Excel, More Than Ready (USA) and I Am Invincible – at the end of their second season with runners. Now halfway through his third season, Zoustar is up to 10 Group winners, which is an outstanding achievement when you consider that the great Redoute’s Choice had amassed 15 by the end of his third season, and the likes of Snitzel, Zabeel (NZ), Exceed And Excel, Lonhro and a host of other current commercial sires had fewer.
When the Zoustars are good, they tend to be very good. That’s helps explain why 10 of his 13 stakes winners have won at Group level. His current strike rate of 5.8 per cent Group winners to runners also puts him among the best sires for some time.
"When the Zoustars are good, they tend to be very good... His current strike rate of 5.8 per cent Group winners to runners... puts him among the best sires for some time." - John Boyce
Moreover, it’s a score that’s well in advance of what his mares have achieved with all other stallions. Another key indicator that Zoustar is a dominant force is the fact that he gets 12.8 per cent Group winners and 15.4 per cent stakes winners from his best mares, which have produced about 23 per cent of his runners so far.
In the circumstances, it’s not that difficult to imagine even more success in the coming years as he gets access to more and more good mares. The number of elite mares he has served has gone through the roof in recent seasons: in 2018 he covered almost as many elite mares as he did in the three previous seasons and the 2019 figures are sure to improve on that yet again.
