Cover image courtesy of Rosemont Stud
Rosemont Stud’s Hanseatic scored his first stakes winner at the weekend when Rohesia secured the Listed Nitschke Stakes at Morphettville. He becomes the 15th second season sire to have secured an Australian stakes winner this season.
Rohesia was stakes-performed at her first start, running third in the R. Listed Inglis 2YO Banner, and has placed at Listed level since, so she is the logical horse to break Hanseatic’s duck.
Hanseatic sits seventh amongst the second season sires by winners and just outside the top 10 by prizemoney, and while he performed his best as an autumn 2-year-old, his initial $17,600 (inc GST) fee means that breeders and buyers could afford to be patient to get the results on the track.
How does this stack up against the other second season sires, and what was expected of who based on their fees?
| Ghaiyyath | $27,500 | 0 | 5 | Did not shuttle |
| Bivouac | $66,000 | 2 | 3 | No |
| Wootton Bassett | $71,500 | 0 | 3 | Yes |
| Ole Kirk | $55,000 | 4 | 3 | Yes |
| Farnan | $55,000 | 3 | 2 | Yes |
| Tagaloa | $33,000 | 1 | 2 | No |
| Anders | $16,500 | 0 | 2 | No |
| Lucky Vega | $22,000 | 1 | 1 | Yes |
| Graff | $13,200 | 0 | 1 | No |
| King's Legacy | $33,000 | 1 | 1 | No |
| Hanseatic | $17,600 | 0 | 1 | No |
| Dirty Work | $19,800 | 1 | 1 | No |
| Peltzer | $16,500 | 1 | 1 | No |
| Earthlight | $22,000 | 1 | 1 | No |
| Prague | $16,500 | 0 | 1 | No |
Table: Second season sires with stakes winners this season, fees include GST
Big fees set big expectations
Of the 37 Australasian sires to have runners in Australia this season, 31 have had winners and 15 recorded stakes winners this season, and leading the list by stakes winners is Ghaiyyath (Ire) with five.
The three most expensive first season sires in 2021 come next with three individual stakes winners each this season; the late Wootton Bassett (GB) started his Southern Hemisphere career at $71,500 (inc GST), Bivouac began at $66,000 (inc GST), and Ole Kirk kicked off at $55,000 (inc GST).
Ole Kirk | Standing at Vinery Stud
Ole Kirk clinched the Champion First Season Sire title produced four stakes winners amongst his first juveniles, and understandably his fee was lifted to $99,000 (inc GST) for his fifth season at stud. Two of those stakes winners struck again in their 3-year-old term to give him a total of five, and his daughter Ole Dancer became his first Group 1 winner in the spring.
Bivouac had two stakes scorers amongst his first 2-year-olds, and one of them was Beiwacht, who proved himself in weight-for-age company last weekend in the G1 All Aged Stakes. Although not counted in the above numbers, he also had Intention flying his flag in New Zealand with her G2 Wakefield Challenge Stakes victory.
Bivouac | Standing at Darley
His fee came down a fraction from $66,000 to $55,000 in 2024, but that could change in 2026, given he is one of only three second season sires to have produced a Group 1 winner to date.
While Wootton Bassett didn’t tick off his first Southern Hemisphere-born stakes winner until the spring, he got very close with his first juveniles, with his six stakes horses including the Group 1 performers Wodeton and State Visit. The performance of his older, Northern Hemisphere-bred stock saw his 2025 fee skyrocket to $385,000 (inc GST).
Wootton Bassett (GB) | Image courtesy of Coolmore Stud
The other sire who debuted that season with a fee north of $50,000 was Farnan, who stood for $55,000 (inc GST) in 2021. He was hot on Ole Kirk’s heels last season with three stakes winners and going neck on neck for winners, and so far has had two stakes winners amongst his first 3-year-olds.
Farnan is currently hot on the heels of Ghaiyyath for second season honours, with less than $25,000 separating them for prizemoney. He also has a sizeable lead on the rest of the pack by winners, going a long way to justifying his 2025 fee raise to $77,000 (inc GST).
Farnan | Standing at Kia Ora Stud
Better as they get older
Ghaiyyath’s five stakes winners include dual Group 1 winner Observer, who retires to Darley ahead of the 2026 season. He also has one of the best strike rates this season with 20 winners from 46 runners.
By contrast, he had just two winners amongst his first 2-year-olds from 15 runners - but this was expected, given he took the title of European Horse Of The Year in 2020 for his middle distance performances.
Ghaiyyath’s progeny were always going to improve at three. He was priced accordingly by Darley at $27,500 (inc GST), making him the cheapest in 2021 among the current top six season sires, and held the same fee for his four seasons shuttling to Australia. Given his Australian form, Observer will debut at $33,000 (inc GST) at Darley’s Victorian location.
Ghaiyyath (Ire) | Standing at Darley
Anders, Graff, Hanseatic, and Prague all recorded their first stakes winner this season, an expectation which was reflected in their initial stud fees. Hanseatic was the most expensive of the group, Prague and Anders stood for $16,500 (inc GST), and Graff was $13,200 (inc GST).
The latter two did not score a stakes win in their own juvenile season - and are the only stakes producers in this whole cohort to have had their first stakes win at three, other than Dirty Work.
The commercial market demands a precocious animal to minimise the gap between yearling purchase and return on the track, but there is value to be had if the buyer (and breeder) is prepared to wait.
Graff | Standing at Kitchwin Hills Stud
Sometimes, a horse might perform ahead of their sire’s own record; Grafterburners (Graff) is an excellent example, debuting in the November of his 2-year-old year and chalking up over $2 million prizemoney from six wins in 13 starts. Graff was unbeaten in his autumn 2-year-old starts, but it was at three that he was tried at stakes level, scoring first up in the G3 San Domenico Stakes.
Best of the rest
From the list with stakes winners in 2025/26, nine stallions produced stakes winners with their first crop of 2-year-olds last season.
Aside from the three mentioned above, Lucky Vega (Ire) is the only one who earned himself an increase in 2025 from his original fee, courtesy of his millionaire daughter Within The Law. He lifted to $38,500 (inc GST), having initially stood at $22,000 (inc GST).
Within The Law’s three stakes wins last season were all at stakes level, being the R. Listed Inglis 2YO Banner, the R. Listed Inglis Nursery, and the G2 Sweet Embrace Stakes. Lucky Vega has stayed in the top 10 second season sires for prizemoney, stakes winners, and winners this season, which bodes well for him ahead of his sixth season at stud.
Lucky Vega (Ire) | Standing at Yulong Stud
King’s Legacy and Tagaloa were both top tier 2-year-olds, claiming three of the five juvenile Group 1s between them in 2020, and retired to stud at the fee of $33,000 (inc GST), making them the most expensive of the sires outside of the top five.
Both of them have two total stakes winners in their career, with Tagaloa’s Spicy Lu striking as both a 2-year-old and 3-year-old to give him two this season, and both are currently within the top 10 of second season sires for prizemoney and winners. Their fees have taken slight reductions since their debut, but they have still been performing with the best this season.
| Ghaiyyath | 20 | 5 | $4,763,543 |
| Farnan | 39 | 2 | $4,738,863 |
| Bivouac | 36 | 3 | $4,735,710 |
| Wootton Bassett | 35 | 3 | $3,643,150 |
| Ole Kirk | 37 | 3 | $3,630,710 |
| Tagaloa | 27 | 2 | $3,320,580 |
| Lucky Vega | 19 | 1 | $2,210,160 |
| Graff | 12 | 1 | $2,143,607 |
| King's Legacy | 27 | 1 | $1,881,860 |
| Anders | 22 | 2 | $1,668,383 |
Table: Second season sire standings, as of Tuesday (April 21) morning
Worth the wait
Rosemont Stud Principal Anthony Mithen was trackside to watch Rohesia run third in the R. Listed Inglis 2YO Banner.
“I think she was also Hanseatic’s first runner,” he said. “I was there on the day and cheered her home and I thought, ‘god, this is quite an impressive start to his stallion career, stakes-placed with his first ever runner'.
“We have had to wait for that duck to be broken, but that's not to say there's not more around the corner. We have had to be patient, and this is a game that doesn't like to be patient, but we have been happy to wait for the results to roll in.”
Anthony Mithen | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
The timing of Rohesia’s win couldn’t be better for the operation.
“We are still fine-tuning our fees for this year and in our meeting last week, we looked at Hanseatic and said, ‘well, there’s enough nice horses out there winning races and he seems to be getting regular winners at the right distances, but he does need a headline act’. And four hours later, he had a stakes winner and a very promising 2-year-old winner.”
"We looked at Hanseatic and said, ‘well... he does need a headline act’. And four hours later, he had a stakes winner and a very promising 2-year-old winner." - Anthony Mithen
The latter was The Speed Machine who took out the $150,000 Mornington Sires 2YO Plate.
“It’s quite an extraordinary industry sometimes,” said Mithen. “It felt like we clicked our fingers and got the results!”
Rohesia is one of four stakes performers for Hanseatic, and one of his 27 career winners to date. Mithen is pleased to see that the figures are on a par with Hanseatic’s sire Street Boss (USA) at the same stage of his career; in the April of 2015, when he had his first 3-year-olds, Street Boss had two Australian stakes winners and three stakes performers, and a total of 24 winners.
One of those stakes winners was The Quarterback, a Listed winner at the time the 2015 fees were released and Street Boss was announced for $11,000 (inc GST). In 2016, he won the G2 Gilgai Stakes and the G1 Newmarket Handicap.
The Quarterback | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
“Looking at those statistics gave us the reminder that you don’t need to throw the baby out with the bath water,” said Mithen. “When there is enough smoke, there will be a fire at some stage. Hopefully it's sooner rather than later for those that want to support him this season, but it's an interesting lesson in being too impatient.”
Mithen incorporates that thinking into how he sets his fees and how he views the changes in fees at other studs.
“We can get very aggressive on horses in two ways,” he said. “We either think, ‘this is the next Danehill!’, and set their fees to look like that, or we can think, ‘this horse is a failure’, when the horse is actually doing a pretty good job.
"We either think, ‘this is the next Danehill!’, and set their fees to look like that, or we can think, ‘this horse is a failure’, when the horse is actually doing a pretty good job." - Anthony Mithen
“Hanseatic will sit in the same bracket as Street Boss at the same stage of his career. If you think he could be the next Street Boss, you might be very well rewarded, because I'm sure everyone would have dived in year six for Street Boss and they would have done very well out of it.”
