Sioux Nation rises in Europe

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This year, there’s a European sire proving that he can do much more when given the opportunities. Yes, Sioux Nation, a Gr1 winning son of the Storm Cat line stallion Scat Daddy, is passing that second test laid down to those stallions who attract better mares after making a favourable first impression.

Like another Scat Daddy’s son No Nay Never, Sioux Nation was an out-and-out two year-old, winning the Gr2 Norfolk and Gr1 Phoenix Stakes on consecutive outings. At the end of the year, Timeform assessed him at 117, one pound below what it awarded No Nay Never after his own Norfolk victory which preceded his Gr1 success in the Prix Morny. While Sioux Nation is operating at a lower level at stud than No Nay Never, he currently leads his Scat Daddy brother on the current Britain and Ireland two year-old sires’ list. and they occupy first and second places.

Sioux Nation has a great opportunity to see out the season as champion sire of two year-olds if his daughter Sun Goddess does

well in her remaining races. No doubt the likes of record-setting Gr2 scorer Rogue Passion and Gr3 winner Drazinda, plus the Listed winner Velozee who ran third in Sun Goddess’s Gr1 Phoenix Stakes will also continue to contribute. Sioux Nation has also been represented by Gr2 horses Le Bon Temps Roule and Final Objective, plus Gr3-placed Vollering and Shadow Nation from among his most expensive crop to race thus far. The Coolmore sire has already surpassed the first-season achievements of his debut crop, having already sired more stakes winners and Group winners this year and, of course, he’s also been represented by his first northern hemisphere-bred Gr1 winner.

It will have not gone unnoticed that all four of his 2026 two year-old stakes winners are fillies as are four of his six stakes horses. This is a persistent trend with the Sioux Nations at least to this stage in his career which is now in its fifth year. Among his 32 stakes winners, 16 are fillies and eight are colts, while his Group winners are split 14 to five in favour of his daughters.

A supressed overall percentage of stakes winners and stakes horses to runners is a natural consequence of having a dominant gender, but a positive metric emerging from his male runners is the 9.5 per stakes winners – albeit from a small sample – produced from his better mares which of course he’s got aplenty in the pipeline. Sioux Nation’s next two crops of juveniles are stacked with classy pedigrees, so there is no reason to think that 2026 is an aberration, nor that a top colt won’t emerge in the coming seasons.

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While Sioux Nation may be the leading sire of two year-olds by earnings, it is one of his contemporaries that holds pole position in on the leaderboard assessed by stakes-winner count over five and six furlongs. In fact, Havana Grey, who also entered stud in 2019, with his total of 11, tops all northern hemisphere sires, followed by No Nay Never his closest European pursuer with six, then comes a high-class group with four sprint stakes winners apiece, featuring Mehmas, Blue Point, Wootton Bassett and Night of Thunder.

Europe is quite fortunate to have discovered Havana Grey and Sioux Nation from among the 2019 intake of stallions, and it also got very lucky a year later. Among the 2020 retirees were Blue Point and Too Darn Hot, both of whom have pressed on ever since. Blue Point can now boast Gr1 winners in each of his first three crops, with Blue Bolt from his second crop and Samangan from his third winning at the highest level this year.

The fact that Blue Point can deliver a top miler like Rosallion or Blue Bolt as well as excellent sprinters adds considerably to his appeal as a sire. Too Darn Hot, meanwhile, is further up the aptitude scale and perhaps more was expected of him when he entered stud. Nevertheless, this son of Dubawi has also got Gr1 winners in his first three crops, two in each in his case. Moreover, his first stakes winner from his fourth, First Law, showed plenty of promise when landing the Listed Ascendant Stakes at Haydock recently.

Importantly, his next two crops almost double in quality so there will be more glory days in Europe for this son of Dubawi. This year’s freshman sire race is a tight affair with Blackbeard (17) leading Bayside Boy (14) and Minzaal (13) by individual winners. This is sure to change as we enter the autumn months that see many more black-type opportunities for staying juveniles and many more backward youngsters getting on the track for the first time.

At the time of writing, just after Arc trials weekend, it is Bayside Boy leading the stakes-winner table with three, while Persian Force, Minzaal and Naval Crown are the only other new sires with a stakes winner. This season in Europe has also witnessed the continued emergence of Sea the Stars as a broodmare sire of note. Of course it helps immensely that he works well with all the top sires of the day, including Frankel, Dubawi, Wootton Bassett, Kingman and Camelot.

On Arc trials weekend his unplaced daughter of triple Gr1 winner Ervedya delivered a very high-class miler – Timeform 125p – in the shape of Erdenali who set a new track record for ParisLongchamp’s 1,600m when emulating his grandam’s success in the Prix du Moulin de Longchamp. Moreover, he also secured his first Group winner as a second dam sire when Varandir – Timeform 119 – won the G2 Prix Niel on the same card.

Erdenali makes it 16 stakes winners, ten Group winners and two Gr1 scorers for daughters of Sea the Stars this year. He’s the leading active broodmare sire in Europe by 2026 stakes winners so far this year. Perhaps more importantly, the Gilltown sire is producing a healthy 8.0 per cent career stakes winners to runners and 11.1 per cent from his elite mares. These metrics compare very favourably to his peers, including his famous half-brother Galileo (8.4 per cent), Frankel (5.8 per cent) and Dubawi (5.7 per cent).BB