Darley is delighted to announce the winners of the 2025 first-season sire competition, following a three-way tie for last year's prize.
Many congratulations to Mark Johnston, Chris Dudfield and Adelaide Doran, who each win a case of champagne for making the closest prediction of the total number of winners by last year's first-season sires Palace Pier, Space Blues and Victor Ludorum. They also correctly predicted that Space Blues would be the first of the Darley freshmen to record a winner.
As well as becoming the first of the Darley first-season sires to record a winner, Space Blues also became the fastest Dubawi-line stallion to sire a G1 winner when Power Blue took the Phoenix Stakes last August. He finished the season with 24 individual winners and a very impressive 7% Group horses to runners.
Palace Pier also enjoyed an excellent first year with runners, siring no fewer than seven Stakes horses, headed by G1 Cheveley Park filly Royal Fixation and G3 winners A Bit Of Spirit and Dr Omran. He is also sire of Listed winner Morris Dancer, who finished second in the G2 Vintage Stakes earlier in the year.
Victor Ludorum sired more winners than any other freshman in France last year, also finishing third on the general sires of two-year-olds list - just two winners behind Zarak.
Darley's 2026 freshmen are Naval Crown and Perfect Power, both of whom proved popular at the yearlings sales, recording top prices of €320,000 and 260,000 guineas respectively.
This year's first-season sire competition will open ahead of the new flat turf season so keep an eye on your inbox for more details!