Capitalist Australia’s most popular stallion in 2021
Australia’s leading first season sire (by winners) last season, Newgate Farm’s Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Capitalist (Written Tycoon), was the nation’s most popular stallion with breeders in 2021.
Figures released by the Australian Stud Book reveal that Capitalist, the sire of seven stakes winners and 18 stakes-performed horses in his first two crops, covered a country-high 243 mares this breeding season at an increased fee of $99,000 (all fees inclusive of GST).
Capitalist has covered more than 200 mares in each of his five years at stud but 2021 surpassed the 239 he covered in 2020, while Rosemont Stud’s Shamus Award (Snitzel) ($33,000) was the second busiest, covering 216 mares.
Widden Stud’s second season sire Zousain (Northern Meteor) ($19,800) covered 214 mares, while Coolmore’s dual Group 1-winning juvenile and first season sire King’s Legacy (Redoute’s Choice) ($33,000) was also well received by breeders, covering 212 mares.
So You Think (High Chaparral) ($77,000), the most patronised Australian stallion in 2020 (261 mares), was again well supported in covering 204 mares, despite his service fee hike from $38,500 in 2020.
Capitalist’s Newgate Farm barnmates, the Up And Coming Stakes (Gr 3, 1300m) winner North Pacific (Brazen Beau) ($22,000) (202) and Group 1-producing sire Flying Artie (Artie Schiller) ($33,000) (201), rounded out those stallions who covered more than 200 mares during the 2021 breeding season.
Australia’s reigning champion stallion Written Tycoon (Iglesia) ($165,000), who was bought out by Yulong early last year and relocated to Yuesheng Zhang’s Nagambie stud after a one-year stint in the Hunter Valley at Arrowfield Stud, covered 199 mares at the age of 19.
The ASB figures also show that Rosemont Stud’s investment in talented two-year-old Hanseatic (Street Boss) ($17,600) appears well placed after covering 195 mares. The 2020 Golden Slipper winner Farnan (Not A Single Doubt) ($55,000), who is spearheading Kia Ora Stud’s re-entry as a farm standing stallions in the Hunter, covered 192 mares and Coolmore’s prized shuttler Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj) ($71,500) covered 188.
Yarraman Park Stud’s I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) ($220,000), who in pursuit of a first premiership currently leads this season’s Australian general sires’ table with almost $14 million in progeny earnings, covered 193 mares.
Four-time champion stallion Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) ($165,000) covered 165 mares, while Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt), a remarkable young stallion plagued by fertility issues, covered 76 mares at a private fee.
Anders (Not A Single Doubt) ($16,500) (184), Tassort (Brazen Beau) ($11,000) (181), Spirit Of Boom (Sequalo) ($33,000) (178), Star Turn (Star Witness) ($16,500) (176), Yes Yes Yes (Rubick) ($38,500) (175), Zoustar (Northern Meteor) ($154,000) (174), Toronado (High Chaparral) ($49,500) (172) and Ole Kirk (Written Tycoon) ($55,000) (170) were also popular.