Bill Oppenheim’s column today in TDN lists the sires he considers to be the 12 best in the world (or perhaps NH) and more than half stand abroad. This opinion is shared by many, though the exact horses listed by Bill might change here or there. The dozen according to Bill are:
- A.P. Indy (1989) at Lane’s End, KY
- Smart Strike (1992) at Lane’s End, KY
- Distorted Humor (1993) at WinStar, KY
- Giant’s Causeway (1997) at Ashford (Coolmore), KY
- Street Cry (1998) at Darley, KY
- Galileo (1998) at Coolmore, IRE
- Montjeu (1996) at Coolmore, IRE
- Danehill Dancer (1993) at Coolmore, IRE
- Dansili (1996) at Juddmonte, GB
- Oasis Dream (2000) at Juddmonte, GB
- Pivotal (1993) at Cheveley Park, GB
- Dubawi (2002) at Darley, GB
It’s a solid list and the only change I’d make is to replace Smart Strike with Dynaformer (1985) at Three Chimneys, KY. Right away, this ages the US team with the oldest two on the list, and it lists the list to Europe even more. A.P. Indy stands out here as the preeminent staying influence on dirt. Get a free subscription to TDN by clicking on the advert to the right to read Bill’s very interesting column.
A tremendous list of stallions and in at number 12 is a stallion, Dubawi, who has had only 2 crops of racing age! That has to be encouraging. Dubawi certainly looks a most exciting stallion prospect along with his fellow Darley stallion Shamardal, who has also got off to a more than promising start at Stud.
Next year, hopefully, Bernardini (whose progeny should be better at 3 than 2) may be included in the list!
Tremendous to see A P Indy at number1! Not only does he sire great racehorses but also tremendous stallions and broodmares. Just as his sire Seattle Slew did!
Have subscribed to TDN for sometime now and would thoroughly recommend it! A brilliant website and their TDN news flashes are great!
Great article by Mr. Oppenheim. When will Mr. Oppenheim return with his great yearly sire evaluation catalogue?
Great article, but there is one stallion i really miss and that’s Monsun. His stats are unbelievable given his opportunities. He only received brilliant books for the last 3 or 4 years.
[...] as an alternative to Churchill dirt in 2011, and the shift in breeding power to European studs, as discussed by Bill Oppenheim and Sid Fernando — it does seem as though the era of American exceptionalism, vis-a-vis dirt breeding and dirt [...]
thanks, sid for the head’s up on this piece about top sires. If these are in ranking order i think the list is upside down, i’ll take 6-12.
Once again the top 12 sires world wide have come from three sire lines; Northern Dancer (7).Mr. Prospector (4) and (1) from Bold Ruler.
Some time ago Jack Werk penned an article on finding the Sire of Sires. At that time Northern Dancer & Mr Prospector lines had won 60% of the Graded Races run. This appears to not have changed in over a decade.
[...] posted on Sid Fernando + Observations blog and reproduced here exclusively for [...]