The Jon O'Connor-trained Belle Of Yorkes won a feature 2-year-old race over 1200 metres at Murray Bridge on Saturday, storming home from the rear of the field to become the first Southern Hemisphere-bred winner for Sir Prancealot, who has had six Australian runners to date, with four of the others having been placed.
With Belle Of Yorkes set to tackle the Listed Oaklands Plate later this month, it could be a big finish to 2020/21 for Sir Prancealot, who will stand his fifth season at the South Australian stud at $9900 (inc GST).
The son of Tamayuz (GB), who has produced 10 stakes winners in the Northern Hemisphere, last week entered quarantine in the United States, having served a book of 120 mares at Rancho San Miguel in California.
While his first Australian crop hasn't quite made the same impression as their Northern Hemisphere counterparts did in producing 32 2-year-old individual winners in 2016, the signs are overwhelmingly positive, according to Hayes.
"Of the six runners, nearly all of them have been placed. He has been knocking on the door," Hayes told TDN AusNZ.
"We've always had a lot of belief in the stallion and we are fully committed. We send lots of our own mares to him and he was never a horse that we were going to make a call on based on his first 12 months of runners.
"We haven't been disappointed with any of his runners in Australia so far, and it was just nice to see that one come out and go one better."
Belle Of Yorkes is homebred for Nick Hoskin and is out of the late Redoute's Choice mare Charzoo, who has produced four other winners. Hayes said it was a great reward for a breeder who had supported Sir Prancealot in his first season.
"Nick Hoskin bred this filly and it was fantastic for them. We are really chuffed and she could be heading towards the Listed race, the Oaklands Plate in two weeks," he said.
"Nick Hoskin bred this filly (Belle Of Yorkes) and it was fantastic for them. We are really chuffed and she could be heading towards the Listed race, the Oaklands Plate in two weeks." - Sam Hayes
Among Sir Prancealot's other notable performers from his first Australian crop have been the Travis Doudle-trained Princess Raffles, who has been placed three times and finished fourth in two stakes races in Adelaide through the autumn.
Better to come
Sir Prancealot had a foal crop of 43 in his first season at Cornerstone Stud, with those numbers rising to 70 and 74 in the following two years. Hayes said the racing profile of that first crop and those increased numbers in his subsequent crop indicate a bright future.
"They are certainly going to get better. I'm really looking forward to the next 12 months to them as 3-year-olds. This first crop was also his smallest crop, quite significantly in terms of numbers," he said.
Sam Hayes (white and green hat)
"He has covered around 100 mares in his three subsequent crops. We’ve got a little bit more ammunition to follow.
"When you have a proven stallion, who has been proven overseas, it’s a little less nerve-wracking, but it is always nice to break the maiden and to do it in a $100,000 race was awesome."
Standing out in the crowd
In a season where first-crop stallions such as Capitalist, Flying Artie and Extreme Choice have captured headlines with 2-year-old Group 1 winners, it hasn’t been easy for other members of this crop of stallions to get much publicity.
There are now 36 individual first-season stallions with winners this season, the highest number since 2011/12, but Hayes said among such strong competition it is important to remain focussed on each stallion's own goals.
"It really is one of those crops that will go down as one of the better crops for a long, long time. When you've had six runners and other horses have had 30, you are always going to have to do something special to get some attention," he said.
"So we weren't competing with the likes of Capitalist. What we did want to see from the few opportunities that he got was that he could get a nice horse. He's proving that to us."
"So we weren't competing with the likes of Capitalist. What we did want to see from the few opportunities that he (Sir Prancealot) got was that he could get a nice horse. He's proving that to us." - Sam Hayes
Expectations of a similar flow of juvenile winners as Sir Prancealot had in Europe and the United States from his first crop were always going to be impossible to meet, and Hayes feels that his Australian-bred progeny will be much better as 3-year-olds and getting out in distance.
"Often what is precocious in Australia and what is precocious in Europe can be two different things. My expectations of his horses are they will be nice 3-year-olds over 1400 metres and above," he said.
Support remains strong in both Hemispheres
Meanwhile, enthusiasm for Sir Prancealot in the Northern Hemisphere remains very strong after he recently completed his second season at Rancho San Miguel.
"He covered some very good mares. He has got mares coming over from Kentucky to see him as well. He's proving very popular up there and he's a very good traveller, so he will continue to shuttle for us going forward," Hayes said.
Sir Prancealot (Ire) | Standing at Cornerstone Stud
And the enthusiasm for him as a stallion of promise in Australia is also evident with positive sales sentiment set to encourage breeders to back him again in his fifth season at Cornerstone Stud.
"He will lock in a book of around 80-100 and he’ll be comfortable at that. His yearlings averaged around $50,000 this year which was more than the first year, so trainers that bought them in year one, bought them again in year two and were happy to pay a bit more for them," he said.
"I think that will give breeders some confidence to breed to him again this year."
