Flemensfirth crowned champion jumps sire for second season in a row

Beeches Stud stalwart Flemensfirth was the champion jumps sire in Britain and Ireland by prize-money for the 2018/19 season, with his progeny earning just shy of £2.3 million.

The chief contributors to the pot were Grand National runner-up Magic Of Light, RSA Novices' Chase victor Topofthegame and Lostintranslation, who demoted Topofthegame to second when he took the Mildmay Novices' Chase at Aintree.

It is a second such title for Flemensfirth, a 27-year-old son of Alleged who took the Prix Lupin and Premio Roma in his racecourse pomp, after he clinched his first in 2017/18.

Leading sires in Britain and Ireland in 2018/19

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Flemensfirth – sire of top-notchers such as Flemenstar, Imperial Commander, Pandorama, Tidal Bay and Waiting Patiently – is standing his 22nd breeding season under the Coolmore National Hunt banner at a fee of €15,000.

Coolmore sires past and present filled the podium in the most recent jumps sire championship, with late Grange Stud resident Oscar taking the silver medal with £2.13m in progeny earnings.

So often the bridesmaid in this table, Oscar was also second in 2010/11, 2011/12, 2012/13 and 2013/14. He has finished in the top ten every season since 2007/08.

The son of Sadler's Wells' standout performer last term was Paisley Park, unbeaten in five starts culminating in a spectacular victory in the Stayers' Hurdle at Cheltenham.

Third place this year went to Milan, who still stands at Grange Stud, thanks to the exploits of his highest earners If The Cap Fits, Monalee and Santini.

Previous champion jumps sires Presenting, Beneficial and King's Theatre finished fourth, fifth and sixth in the 2018/19 season.

Best of British

The race to be leading British-based jumps sire was a close-run thing until the final day of the season, when the late Pitchall Stud resident Midnight Legend was represented by valuable Sandown novices' handicap chase winner Larry to put him £25,722 ahead of Overbury Stud flagbearer Kayf Tara.

Midnight Legend and Kayf Tara came ninth and tenth overall on the sire leaderboard for the past season.

Midnight Legend's biggest breadwinner was the consistent staying chaser Crosspark, winner of the Eider, second in the Scottish Grand National and third in the Classic Chase.

Kayf Tara, who fell out of the top five for the first time since 2014/15, relied on four-time winner and OLBG Mares' Hurdle third Good Thyne Tara as his top earner.

The young(er) ones

All of the ten leading jumps stallions by prize-money in 2018/19 were foaled in the 1990s, with third-placed Milan (21 years old) and seventh-placed Westerner (aged 20) the youngest of the group.

The highest finisher born in the new millennium was Grange Stud-based Getaway, in 11th.

The son of Monsun's highest earner was top-class hurdling mare Verdana Blue and he finished the season with a flourish when sons Getaway Trump and Talkischeap landed a lavishly endowed novices' handicap hurdle and the bet365 Gold Cup at Sandown on Saturday.

Twelfth-placed Voix Du Nord was foaled in 2001 but died aged only 12.

He has proved to be an enormous loss to breeders in his native France, with his high-achieving exports to Britain and Ireland in the past season including the Grade 1 winners Defi Du Seuil, Espoir D'Allen, Kemboy and Voix Du Reve.

Another post-millennium arrival we lost too soon was 13th-place finisher Gold Well, the brother to Montjeu who died in 2013. He was responsible for the useful Agusta Gold, Chidswell and Emitom.

Eighteen-year-old Yeats came in at 14th, one place ahead of 15-year-old Mahler.

Other measures

Prize-money is the measure by which champion stallions are traditionally decided, but it is not always the most effective, with a handful of races with huge purses sometimes able to skew results.

For the record, the leading sire of 2018/19 by number of individual winners was late Glenview Stud doyen Presenting. His tally of 92 was six in advance of the next best figure belonging jointly to Beneficial, Oscar and Milan.

Only two British or Irish-based sires with a three-figure number of runners in the past season managed to return a winners strike-rate of 40 per cent or higher.

They were Midnight Legend (74 winners from 166 runners for 45 per cent) and King's Theatre (70 winners from 169 runners for 41 per cent).

The much missed pair stand head and shoulders above their peers in terms of producing a high ratio of quality stock.

Flemensfirth amassed the highest number of stakes winners in the past season, with 15, with King's Theatre next best on ten.

View Racing Post sire tables