Mehmas enters the record books with 38th European first-crop winner

Mehmas etched his name into the history books on Monday when the Tally-Ho Stud stallion became the most successful European first-season sire in history with 38 individual two-year-old winners.

Fittingly it was Good Listener - trained by Richard Hannon, who also oversaw Mehmas's racing career - that pushed the son of Acclamation into record-breaking territory with a comfortable success in the Visit attheraces.com Novice Median Auction Stakes over five furlongs at Windsor.

Mehmas claims the title from Iffraaj, who sired 37 first-crop winners in 2010.

Mehmas has set a blistering pace in this year's European first-season sire race, supplying his first winners on June 2, the day after racing resumed in Britain following the coronavirus-enforced shutdown.

He kick-started things with a double, with Bridge Dress Me striking at Rome barely 30 minutes before Muker made a successful debut at Newcastle. There has been no let up since, and by August 16, when Urban War struck at Ripon, Mehmas was already up to 20 winners and with the record firmly in his sights.

Top five European first-crop sires

When Mehmas matched Iffraaj's tally of 37 winners, with the Ger Lyons-trained Power Under Me making a successful debut at Naas on Sunday, it was clear it was only a matter of time before claimed the record outright. In the event, it took barely 24 hours.

Mehmas has, in fact, been represented by 39 first-crop winners, with his Irish-bred daughter Quattroelle having claimed a Santa Anita Maiden Special Weight for trainer Jeff Mullins and owners Red Baron's Barn and Rancho Temescal.

As impressive as his record-breaking numbers are, his achievements have been brought into sharp relief by the sheer class his runners have displayed, with quantity underpinned by an ample amount of quality.

Supremacy (purple cap): the Middle Park Stakes hero is one of nine black type performers from Mehmas's debut cropCredit: Alan Crowhurst

Among the 38 European first-crop winners are nine who have earned black type, most notably Supremacy, winner of the Group 1 Middle Park Stakes and the Group 2 Richmond Stakes.

There is also Minzaal, successful in the Group 2 Gimcrack Stakes and third in the Middle Park, as well as the Listed scorers Acklam Express and Method. His 38 European winners have come from a pool of 94 runners at a strike rate of 40 per cent, while ten per cent of his British and Irish runners have achieved a Racing Post Rating of 100 or higher.

These results have undoubtedly contributed to Mehmas's second crop of yearlings proving in high demand at this year's sales. His debut crop, conceived at a fee of €12,500, averaged 32,665gns last year, but in light of his first two-year-olds' achievements, this year's yearlings have averaged 51,880gns - a 59 per cent increase, despite being conceived at just €10,000.

His most expensive yearling to date is the 320,000gns colt out of Ashtown Girl bought by Blandford Bloodstock's Tom Goff at Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale last week, while Mehmas's most expensive filly was signed for by Hugo Merry at £330,000 at the relocated Goffs Orby Sale.

This combination of stunning racecourse success and some punchy results in the sales ring will ensure Mehmas stands for much higher than the €7,500 he spent the 2020 covering season at.

Of course, this year's sales season is not the first time that Mehmas's popularity has been highlighted, as he caught the imagination of breeders to such an extent that he covered 187 mares during his first year on stallion duty, a book that resulted in 146 foals. Among those 187 were ten black-type winners.

There is no denying that such ample opportunities have provided Mehmas with the platform to sire a record-breaking number of winners, but it cannot be ignored that he has made the most of those opportunities in spectacular fashion - something that is far from a given in the stallion game.

Mehmas becomes the second record-breaking sire on the Tally-Ho Stud roster, as Kodiac set a high mark for juvenile winners in a calendar year when 61 of his two-year-olds won in 2017.

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