Why the price is right for these 20 stallions in 2019

NEW SIRES RETIRING TO STUD IN 2019

£5,000 (€6,000) or less

Breeders will get plenty for their money by using Massaat at £5,000.

Mickley Stud's new recruit found only Air Force Blue too good in the Dewhurst at two and finished second to Galileo Gold in the 2,000 Guineas at three, before delivering an impressive victory in the Hungerford Stakes at four. He is by Teofilo – whose son Havana Gold was a leading first-season sire – out of an Acclamation mare who also produced this season's Commonwealth Cup winner Eqtidaar.

£5,500 (€6,500) to £10,000 (€12,000)

Rathbarry Stud newcomer James Garfield looks the model commercial proposition at an introductory fee of €7,000.

The Mill Reef Stakes winner and Group 1-placed sprinter is by Exceed And Excel – whose sons Excelebration and Helmet have thrown Group 1 winners and who is responsible for this season's high-achieving freshmen Bungle Inthejungle and Kuroshio – and his female family includes the treasured stallion brothers Invincible Spirit and Kodiac.

£10,500 (€12,500) to £25,000 (€30,000)

It might seem odd to call an Australian stallion standing his first season in Europe at £25,000 a bargain, but Tweenhills-bound Zoustar is no ordinary shuttler.

Already proven in his native land, the champion sprinter was the leading first-season sire down under in 2017/18 and supplied the first three home in the prestigious Coolmore Stud Stakes this month. His Australian fee is bound to soar sky high next year.

More than £25,000 (€30,000)

He has the looks. He has the pedigree, being a son of the increasingly important Kitten's Joy. And he has the race record, having won four Group 1s and taken third in the Derby this year, after winning the Royal Lodge Stakes and being just touched off in the Racing Post Trophy at two.

As if that weren't enough enticement to use Roaring Lion at Tweenhills at a fee of £40,000, the stud is also offering the potentially lucrative incentive of a free return or other covers to Qatar Racing stallions to the same value for breeders of stakes winners by members of the farm's roster.

YOUNG AND WITHOUT RUNNERS (FIRST COVERS, FOALS OR YEARLINGS)

£5,000 (€6,000) or less

At a fee of just €5,000, Cotai Glory looks a fair bet for breeders on a budget in his second season at Tally-Ho Stud.

It could be no bad thing to have a yearling by the son of Exceed And Excel to sell in the season that his first runners grace the track. There will be plenty of them – he covered 180 mares this year – and if they inherit their father's pace and precocity they should make a significant impact.

£5,500 (€6,500) to £10,000 (€12,000)

It is only National Stud stallion Aclaim's second covering season in 2019 but already his fee has been cut to £9,500 from £12,500. That looks generous.

Especially considering the son of in-demand Acclamation, who has the big-spending Phoenix Thoroughbreds behind him, covered a debut book of 160 mares that included 22 black-type performers and shouldn't lack support one year on.

£10,500 (€12,500) to £25,000 (€30,000)

A pinch above the price bracket but an exception is made for Caravaggio, the top-class two-year-old and sprinter by game-changing stallion Scat Daddy who is standing his second season at Coolmore for €35,000.

Breeders who used another sharp son of Scat Daddy, No Nay Never, in his second season at stud have been well paid for their yearlings this year in light of the sire's admirable exploits with his first two-year-old runners.

More than £25,000 (€30,000)

Catch him while you can! Everything looks in place for Muhaarar to excel with his debut juveniles in 2019, as he was high-class at two himself before bossing the sprint scene at three and has been strongly supported by Europe's leading breeders with their very best mares. Consequently, there was fevered demand at the sales for his first yearlings, who achieved an average of around £180,000.

Nunnery Stud have held Muhaarar's fee at £30,000 and if he does as well as expected next year, that could be the last time he is available at that price.

YOUNG AND WITH RUNNERS (FIRST, SECOND OR THIRD-SEASON SIRES)

£5,000 (€6,000) or less

Other stallions have been dealt much bigger price increases for having achieved a lot less than Cityscape, who goes from £4,500 to £5,000 for 2019.

Overbury Stud have shown admirable restraint considering the son of Selkirk supplied three stakes winners in Europe – Dan's Dream, Give And Take and The Broghie Man – as well as exciting unbeaten juvenile Urban Icon and three-time winner and Hong Kong export Urban Aspect from just 47 runners bred off an inexpensive fee.

£5,500 (€6,500) to £10,000 (€12,000)

A fee of just £10,000 is a gift to those breeders fortunate enough to get their mares into Farhh's limited book at Dalham Hall Stud.

The son of Pivotal has sired 18 winners from just 37 runners in his sophomore season this year, including Nocturnal Fox and Wells Farhh Go at Pattern level as well as Derby runner-up Dee Ex Bee. His few yearling offerings have sold for up to 185,000gns in 2018.

£10,500 (€12,500) to £25,000 (€30,000)

There is a bit of a buzz about Lanwades Stud resident Sea The Moon, who soared past expectations for his freshman season this year.

The German Derby winner by Sea The Stars could have been forgiven for not shining with his first juveniles and yet 16 of his 42 runners in Europe have won, including Group 3 scorers Noble Moon and Quest The Moon. Surely the best is yet to come for the stallion, whose fee has been left unchanged at £15,000.

More than £25,000 (€30,000)

A fee increase to €40,000 from €30,000 for Camelot looks restrained in light of the fact he towered over the other second-season sires in Europe this year by nearly every measure – including progeny earnings and number of both winners and stakes winners.

The Coolmore sire also returned a 45 per cent winners-to-runners strike-rate and fielded Group 1 winners Athena, Latrobe and Wonderment.

ONE MORE ESTABLISHED

£5,000 (€6,000) or less

At just €1,000 a cover at the Irish National Stud, Elusive Pimpernel is something of a lottery ticket for mare owners.

There are profits to be had at the yearling sales each year – one of his colts fetched €38,000 at Fairyhouse in September – and, intriguingly, there is an emerging market in the jumps sphere for his stock. Navan maiden winner Coeur Sublime, for example, made €260,000 when sold into Gordon Elliott's stable at Punchestown in April, while Listed-placed daughter Elusive Belle made £180,000 at Cheltenham this month.

£5,500 (€6,500) to £10,000 (€12,000)

Not only is there still healthy demand for young stock by Sir Percy – as evidenced by the sale of one of his fillies for €210,000 at the Goffs Orby Yearling Sale in September – but there is also an excellent secondary market for his form horses.

His Listed-placed daughter Oakley Girl sold for 925,000gns at the Tattersalls December Breeding-Stock Sale in 2017, while the smart pair Berkshire Royal and Sunblessed made 130,000gns and 85,000gns at the Autumn Horses in Training Sale last month. The Lanwades Stud stallion is pitched competitively at £7,000.

£10,500 (€12,500) to £25,000 (€30,000)

He can't cover large books of mares but Tamayuz makes his presence felt with decent numbers of high-class runners year after year, and so it proved again in 2018. His best runners were the dual Group 2 winner Mustashry, smart stayer Desert Skyline and Group 3-winning fillies Hunaina and Making Light.

The son of Nayef has had three yearlings sell for six-figure sums in recent months and has good quality crops in the pipeline. His unchanged fee of €12,500 at Derrinstown Stud looks a steal.

More than £25,000 (€30,000)

Good value comes in all shapes and sizes of fee, and although Whitsbury Manor Stud has increased the price for Showcasing to £55,000 from £35,000 for 2019 there are grounds for thinking that more than reasonable.

The son of Oasis Dream made hay with his first more expensively bred crop this year, with the top talents Advertise, Mohaather and Soldier's Call among their number. To also come up with Dice Roll, beaten a neck into third in the Poule d'Essai des Poulains in May, from his last crop bred at just £4,500 was like doing a wheelie.

A GOLDEN OLDIE

£5,000 (€6,000) or less

Not many names fit into this category, as many stallions would be moved on before they reach the autumn of their lives still covering at chickenfeed fees.

There are a few out there, though, and Nunnery Stud stalwart Nayef – available for just £5,000 – stands out. Brilliantly bred and brilliantly talented on the track, he provides a fair number of smart winners each year and has proved to be quite influential, principally through son Tamayuz and grandson Sir Prancealot.

£5,500 (€6,500) to £10,000 (€12,000)

It's highly unusual for a stallion to stand at a career-high fee in his 14th year in service, but that is the case for Yeomanstown Stud resident Camacho in 2019 – his price, not unjustifiably, going to €12,000 from €7,500 on the back of some fine results this season.

The son of Danehill was not as quick off the mark as his half-brother Showcasing at stud but he came good when his ninth crop yielded Poule d'Essai des Pouliches heroine Teppal and his tenth gave us the dual Group 2-winning two-year-old Signora Cabello.

£10,500 (€12,500) to £25,000 (€30,000)

Another slight shifting of the goalposts is required to accommodate Oasis Dream, as the former champion two-year-old and sprinter is on offer at £30,000 next year, but the rule-bending is worth it to highlight his merits.

The Banstead Manor Stud stalwart had endured a quiet few seasons but was back with a bang in 2018 when he fired in two new Group 1 winners in Polydream and Pretty Pollyanna to make it 17 in total during his glittering career at stud. As we pointed out on this page with regard to Oasis Dream at the start of the Flat season, form is temporary but class is permanent.

More than £25,000 (€30,000)

Cross-hemisphere shuttling legend Exceed And Excel supplied his customary slew of classy competitors this year – Group 1 runners-up James Garfield and Threading, and Group 3-winning two-year-old Queen Of Bermuda in particular – and his influence deepened as he suggested he could be an important sire of sires.

He also shone as a broodmare sire, his daughters having produced top juveniles Anthony Van Dyck and Ten Sovereigns, and he has large, well-bred crops to come.

All that, and he is on offer at just €50,000 at Kildangan Stud.

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