First season sire to follow for the 2021 Turf season

One of the things I love about Flat horse racing is going into the pedigrees of the runners and trying to spot that one that could be a great that no one else has found. The puzzle of breeding fascinates me and I probably spend more time than is healthy going through thoroughbred pedigrees. Will such and such be a precocious two-year-old type or is the other likely to improve and be a middle distance prospect for next year. I am amazed at how many punters I see betting with no investigation into their chosen horses pedigree at all, especially with two-year-old races, amazes me. 

Mehmas was leading first season sire last year, breaking the record of winners with 56 from 103 runners, and he has continued in 2021 with 21 winners on the board already. If you latch onto a new sire at the right time it can be very profitable. 

The first season sire to follow for the 2021 Turf season  

The first season sire whose two-year-olds I will be keeping a very close eye on during the 2021 Turf season is Churchill. The colt was no slouch on the track you will no doubt remember with seven wins from twelve runs, including the 2,000 Guineas and Irish equivalent. Most interestingly for the purposes of this article the colt ran six times as a two-year-old, finishing third on debut before going unbeaten in his other five runs including wins in the G.1 National Stakes at the Curragh and the G.1 Dewhurst Stakes At HQ.  He was named Champion two-year-old colt at the Cartier Racing Awards in 2016 and  in the official European Classification of two-year-olds for 2016 Churchill was given a rating of 122, making him the best juvenile of the season.

By Galileo out of five-furlong winner Meow (Storm Cat) it was perhaps no surprise a mile was his game; in fact all his wins were over seven or eight furlongs. He has speed and precocity in his pedigree and I would expect a number of his progeny to show the same attributes meaning he should get plenty of winners from his first runners this season.  

A stat that gives me great optimism that Churchill can top the First season sire table is that Galileo’s first sons at stud Frankel, New Approach, Rip Van Winkle, Sixties Icon, Teofilo, Roderic O’Connor, Heliostatic, Australia and Ruler Of The World have all sired Group winning 2yo’s in their first crop! Coolmore are searching for the heir to Galileo, he can’t go on forever, and this one might be the one.  

Reportedly there are 124 two-year-olds sired by Churchill in training, from 149 of racing age, which gives him a great chance of being crowned Champion First Season Sire in 2021 and hopefully supply me and you with a good few winners!  

Sir Randolph was his first runner, at Newbury on the 16th April, the colt finishing down the field in a 5f maiden but don’t let that put you off his offspring I am convinced he will have a great first season. 

I am an optimist. It does not seem too much use being anything else.  

Winston Churchill