Good Morning Bloodstock: Believe it or not but British breeders on a budget have rarely had it so good – in one small respect at least

British breeders operating at the lower end of the market, struggling to make ends meet against the backdrop of rising production costs and falling demand for their stock at the sales, will likely respond with a hollow laugh and an eye roll when I say that they haven’t had it so good for quite some time – in one narrow sense, at least.

It might sound preposterously Pollyannaish but it’s true: Britain at the moment is home to a remarkably high number of statistically sound proven sires available at small fees. 

The facts speak for themselves. There are 152 sires who have been represented by 15 or more runners in Britain and Ireland this year and 35 of them boast at least a ten per cent strike-rate of representatives with a Racing Post Rating of 100 or higher. 

Among those 35 – many of whom are big names like Dubawi, Frankel, Galileo, Justify, Kingman, Lope De Vega, Night Of Thunder and Wootton Bassett – there are five who stood in Britain this year at fees of £10,000 or less, including a few at quite a lot less. 

Conversely, there is only one sire in this cohort who is based outside Britain and is priced at the equivalent of £10,000 or lower, and that is Free Eagle, who is there thanks to his small number of runners including the classy older handicappers Hickory and Wise Eagle.

That British-based bargain quintet are King Of Change, Cracksman, Golden Horn, Washington DC and Rajasinghe.

King Of Change actually fields the second-highest strike-rate of runners rated 100 or better in Britain and Ireland this season. The son of Farhh is four from 15, for a mark of 27 per cent, which is bettered only by Kentucky-based Triple Crown hero Justify, who benefits from his British and Irish representation being more select.

King Of Change (pictured below) is outperforming the much more expensive Dubawi (24 per cent), Frankel (23 per cent) and Lope De Vega (23 per cent) by this metric in 2026. That is extraordinary.

King Of Change’s four ratings centurions are the black-type winners Coedana and Shayem, Listed runner-up Regal Charm and talented handicapper River King. He could gain a fifth performer with a three-figure RPR before long, with the once-raced Down Royal median auction maiden scorer Noble Agenda having been entered for stakes races.

King Of Change’s success so far is the result of him covering mostly small books at small fees in Ireland – although he has a larger number of yearlings on the ground as he covered 132 mares in 2024 on the back of several of his breezers making big bucks.

He was bought to stand at Tweenhills at the start of 2026 and is reported by Weatherbys as having covered 111 mares at a fee of £8,500 this year, with the dams of Royal Ascot Pattern winners Generic and Running Lion being among the highlights.

Cracksman has posted 12 per cent runners with RPRs of at least 100 in Britain and Ireland this year, seven of his 58 representatives having achieved that mark.

The septet comprises Bronte Cup heroine Danielle; Coronation Stakes fourth (and Prix Rothschild third) Moon Target; Gladness Stakes runner-up East Hampton; Ribblesdale fourth Brilliant Star; and useful handicappers Valedictory, Valiancy and Whip Cracker.

The son of Frankel’s solid statistics require some footnotes: first, that they have been achieved with his first five crops conceived at lofty fees of between £17,500 and £25,000; and, second, that he has struggled to come up with true top-notchers, as reflected in the fact that first-crop son Ace Impact remains his only progeny on the Flat anywhere to be given an RPR of 115 or higher.

However, Cracksman is clearly well capable of supplying smart, if not superlative, horses on the Flat and his progeny have shown significant promise over jumps too. 

In that respect, he reminds me of Golden Horn, his distant relative who was also bred by Hascombe and Valiant Studs and formerly stood at Dalham Hall Stud.

Golden Horn also came up with runners rated 100 or higher on a regular basis, but confirmed superstars less often, and later carved a niche for himself as a commercially credible dual-purpose proposition at Overbury Stud.

Cracksman – who switched to Yorton Farm Stud this year, and stood at a fee of £8,500 on his debut there – is on his way to becoming a respected sire for all seasons too.

Golden Horn continues to produce tremendous strength in depth in his output, and he clocks in at 11 per cent runners with an RPR of 100 or higher this year. 

His five representatives in 2026 with that three-figure mark are gallant Gold Cup and Goodwood Cup runner-up Trawlerman; Jockey Club Stakes heroine Santorini Star; Grand Cup winner Gregory; Lenebane Stakes scorer Bosphorus Rose; and classy middle-distance handicapper Paddy The Squire.

Golden Horn stands at £10,000. His books have tended more towards National Hunt than Flat since his transfer to Overbury Stud but there was a fair bit of chat over the winter about Flat breeders realising what good value he was, and returning to him, and from a quick glance at the mares he was sent that does appear to have been the case.

Washington DC is also ticking over at 11 per cent runners rated at least 100 in 2026, with three out of 28 – King George Stakes victor American Affair, Achilles Stakes winner Washington Heights and Scurry Handicap scorer Sondad – making the grade.

The capable handicappers American Style and Dmaniac, both winners of trappy heats this season, are not all that many pounds off a three-figure rating either. 

The Bearstone Stud-based son of Zoffany has taken everyone by surprise by turning out to be so good. He made a solid if unspectacular start in his first few years with progeny of racing age and consequently fell badly out of favour with breeders: so much so that he covered only two mares in 2023, seven in 2024 and 12 last year.

Washington DC’s book this season isn’t yet available to view. I hope he was a little better supported by breeders. He deserves it, especially as his services cost just £3,500.

Similar comments apply to Rajasinghe, and have done for a long time now.

The son of Choisir, who stands at the National Stud at the even lower price of £3,000, has distinguished himself by producing a high concentration of quality ever since he put eight winners on the board from only ten runners during his freshman season in 2022.

He is proving to be Mr Dependable again this year with three performers rated 100 or higher from 30 runners for a ratio of ten per cent.

Rajasinghe’s three-figure trio are Coral Charge runner-up Luna A Inbhir Nis and highflying handicappers Run Boy Run and Two Tribes. He too has several other runners rated in the 90s, including Weatherbys Super Sprint winner Zigazig Ah and fair middle-distance handicapper Spioradalta, so his percentages could also improve.

He is slowly gaining traction, with his book size increasing from 31 in 2024 to 53 in 2025 and rising again to 60 in 2026, but he would still be serving more mares if there was any justice in this world.

Truth be told, all five of these statistical overachievers on offer at working men’s fees merit more Flat mares than all those totally unproven names who cover huge initial books of mares at higher fees each year even though they are likely to turn out to be worse.

British Flat breeders on a budget, especially those operating on a commercial basis, can hardly be blamed for not supporting them in greater numbers, though.

Those sires are trapped in the vicious circle of not being on the radar of bloodstock agents and therefore not selling for better prices, which leads to them not being given prime slots by sales companies – which results in them not covering more mares.

And because they don’t cover that many mares, they remain beneath the bloodstock agents’ radar.

Consider today’s email a stick in the spokes of that frustratingly ceaseless wheel, so that British Flat breeders are able to make more use of the unusually large number of inexpensive proven sires they indisputably have at their disposal at present.