JEREMY Brummitt is heavily involved with Stradivarius’s owner Bjorn Nielsen, and was sporting the stallion’s branded merchandise at Fairyhouse. The Group 1 champion and National Stud-based first-season stallion has posted his first two winners, and one in particular, the Andrew Balding-trained Wykehurst Park, looks a nice prospect.

“Yeap, he’s off the mark, which is great – we can sit down and have a cup of tea if we want to talk about Strad!” laughed a clearly pleased Brummitt. “He’s had very few runners, and the winner at Yarmouth [Wykehurst Park] looks very promising. There has been some conjecture about a few stallions, including Stradivarius, not having had many winners yet, but then they’ve hardly had any runners.”

Warming to his subject, he added: “Why should a stallion sire stock that don’t do what he did? If their stock emulate their careers, it won’t really matter that they didn’t have 10 two-year-old winners on the board by the end of the season, will it?”

He also mentioned Baaeed (Sea The Stars) in the same context, like Stradivarius a son of the great Gilltown Stud sire. While Stradivarius won over a mile late in his first season and would go on to become a great stayer, Baaeed did all of his racing at two over a mile, while not appearing until June. He went unbeaten through his first season, capturing two Group 1 successes before heading into winter quarters.

Few runners

Compared to the stallions who are leading the way on the first-season sire table, Baaeed has had relatively few runners, and they have been sparingly raced to date. He looks sure to have a plethora of late season winners, and the quality of those who have won is encouraging. While there is a lot to anticipate, especially next year, this season is far from over for the brilliant miler, and let’s not forget that Baaeed also stepped up to 10 furlongs to win the Group 1 Juddmonte International, six and a half lengths clear of Mishriff, with Native Trail further in arrears.

The reason I mention this is because Baaeed achieved a notable landmark in his burgeoning career as a sire when his daughter Curracloe, trained by Johnny Murtagh, announced herself as a real 2026 classic hope. She continued her unbeaten start at the Curragh on Sunday and won the seven-furlong Group 3 Darley Fillies Stakes in impressive style. Could she be another Hermosa, winner of this race eight years ago? Her victory came the day before Goffs Orby Sale kicked off.

Good horses

Her trainer likes her a lot. Murtagh said after the race: “You’re always looking to try and get these good horses into your yard. What Curracloe did the first day [winning her maiden at Gowran Park] was kind of special; the way she won was impressive. Hopefully she’ll go on. She has the size, she has the scope, so hopefully she will improve again during the winter and be a really, really nice and exciting three-year-old”.

Also on the list of those to watch out for is the Cheveley Park Stud-homebred Coaxed. She won a Kempton maiden on her debut and lost nothing in defeat next time out at Goodwood when third to Light Of Dawn in the Group 3 Prestige Fillies’ Stakes. The winner that day was beaten a short head last weekend in the Group 2 Rockfel Stakes. In addition to his European winners, Baaeed is off the mark too in Japan and the USA, highlighting his international appeal.

Carrying the colours of Qatar Racing, Curracloe was bred in the USA by Frederica Stable, but came to Europe to be sold. Sent to Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Sale last year in the Ballylinch Stud draft, she fell to David Redvers’s winning bid of 240,000gns. She is the second foal out of the Grade 1 Just A Game Stakes and American Oaks runner-up Sassy Little Lila (Artie Schiller), though she didn’t manage to win a stakes race.

Sassy Little Lila’s first produce, the three-year-old Sweet Little Lila (Palace Pier), failed to sell at 100,000gns and returned to the USA. She has placed a few times, notably getting blacktype in the Selima Stakes at Laurel a year ago. Following Curracloe is a yearling filly by Nyquist (Uncle Mo).

She was returned unsold at $390,000 at the recent Keeneland September Sale. Sassy Little Lila is a half-sister to the dam of last year’s Grade 1 Saratoga Derby winner World Beater (Oscar Performance).

HAFFNER is a German occupational surname that means potter, or maker of pots and pans. I am not sure if this was the thinking behind the naming of the two-year-old colt of the same name, but Aidan O’Brien is certainly moulding the colt by leading international sire Justify (Scat Daddy) into a most valuable product, and the manner of his victory in the Group 2 Royal Lodge Stakes at Newmarket on Saturday suggests he will be a leading classic hope next year.

O’Brien believes he will be a type for the French Derby, though he is unlikely to be finished this year. Haffner has had six starts, and the only disappointment was his run in the Group 1 National Stakes when the ground did not suit. Haffner will surely step up to the highest level once this year, with the Futurity at Doncaster and the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf mentioned as possibilities.

Haffner was bred by Len Green’s D J Stable LLC and the Justify Syndicate, and cost M.V. Magnier and Peter Brant (whose colours he carries) $375,000 at Keeneland. In addition to the Royal Lodge Stakes, he won the Group 3 Acomb Stakes and was runner-up in the Group 2 Vintage Stakes. He is the second foal and winner out of the Irish-bred Earth Strike. She won a Leopardstown maiden when trained by Joseph O’Brien before heading stateside to join Mark Casse and get some blacktype.

Earth Stike’s first foal, Orbit (Medaglia D’Oro), won on the turf as a two-year-old last year after a couple of placed efforts and was gelded. He hasn’t raced since. The third progeny out of Earth Strike is a yearling filly by Not This Time (Giant’s Causeway). She was catalogued for sale a week before Haffner won the Acomb Stakes, but withdrawn.

Eleven winners

Earth Stike is one of 11 winners out of the juvenile winner Another Storm (Gone West), six of whom got blacktype. Three were group or graded winners, while Sehoy (Menifee) was a listed winner in Sweden.

Asperity (War Chant) and Angel Terrace (Ghostzapper) won Group/Grade 3 races in France and the USA respectively, but they all pale by comparison with the best of Another Storm’s winners. He was Order Of St George (Galileo).

Champion stayer

Already a Grade 1 sire under National Hunt rules, Order Of St George was the European champion stayer in three consecutive years. He won 13 races including the Group 1 Ascot Gold Cup and two editions of the Group 1 Irish St Leger, and was only once unplaced in 25 starts. He stormed home three lengths clear of 16 high-class stayers at Ascot, a race in which he later was beaten a short head by Big Orange. He notably was a close third to Found and Highland Reel in the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, finishing ahead of Postponed, New Bay and Harzand. He retired with earnings just short of £2 million.