Only three stallions entered the ranks of new sires in 2015 but all three of them started their career at leading stud farms and so there should have been much anticipation when their first crops took to the race courses around the country in 2018-19. Well before that, Hazara Stud's Corporate Jungle had died in July 2017, rendering the performance of his progeny largely academic. Ironically, Corporate Jungle did emerge as the new Champion Freshman Sire. After Rebuttal that was the second Champion Freshman Sire to die at Hazara Stud who also lost Dancing Forever after just four crops. Dancing Forever had been runner-up to Win Legend in his first year in 2013-14.

This how the three newcomers fared:-

CHAMPION FRESHMAN SIRE - 2018-19

(Decided by stakes won by the progeny)

The last three stallions introduced by Poonawalla Farms, Usha Stud and Hazara Stud were all Champion Freshman Sires. Those three nurseries once again had a new stallion and it was obvious that at the end of the year only one would be rejoicing. As the things came to pass, none of them was. Corporate Jungle did top the table but he was already dead. Corporate Jungle had more foals than his two rivals and that, in the end, proved crucial. Despite having the lowest number of winners, wins and AE Index, the numbers helped him to amass the highest stakes. On the other hand, his supporters can rightfully claim that he was the only one to get a Classic winner for his daughter Royal Currency did win the Nilgiris Derby, Gr.1. His barn-mates Net Whizz and Saamidd are getting winners aplenty and he looked their kind. He had a good pedigree and the right aptitude for India for he was a winner of two Gr.3 events over a mile.It is a coincidence that he and Rebuttal, Hazara's first Champion Freshman Sire, both had 34 starters in their first crops. But Rebuttal performed much better with 20 winners of 35 races, Rs.2,52,98,242 and an AE Index of 2.22. Corporate Jungle has 25 foals in his second -- and last -- crop which has started racing this month.

Usha Stud has perhaps the smallest turnover in terms of stallions. They have had just two this century and both were launched with good support. China Visit had 49 foals in his first crop while Multidimensional had one more. Speaking of Which, on the other hand, had just 24. Usha Stud, which has cut down the size of its broodmare band, does not keep boarders, and had a difficult choice to make -- how many to go to the Champion Sire Multidimensional and what numbers to the newcomer. Eventually, 48 mares visited Multidimensional and 35 went to Speaking of Which. The ground reality is that Speaking of Which had 24 foals, of which 19 raced. He has the highest AE Index among the three Freshmen but no black-type winner. Gift of Grace was beaten a whisker by Well Connected at Malakpet and Wizard of Stocks ran second in the Pune Derby, Gr.1. Like the other two, he is yet to have a winner beyond a mile. A few of his runners have raced over 2000 m. but none has won. There are encouraging signs but he has only a slightly bigger second crop -- 28 foals -- and he needs a good winner sooner than later.

The last three new stallions of Poonawalla Farms were launched with generous support.  Ace had 63 foals in his first crop, Arazan 80 and Excellent Art 74. Leitir Mor, in contrast, had just 22. Yet, he ended up with same number of winners as Speaking of Which and more wins. When Hunt For Gold won the Ebco Worksmart Breeders' Produce Stakes, Gr.3 in February, he became the first Freshman Sire with a black-type win. He does have some promising types in Vijays Singham, Ice Floe, Mystic Bay but the big question at the moment is how far they will go; both, in terms of distance and class. He himself did not win beyond 1400 m. but has Galileo as his damsire. The Galileo influence will have to come through in his progeny as the mile and longer Classics loom.Unlike Corporate Jungle and Speaking of Which, he has a much larger second crop of 48 foals which could well be handy at the year-end.

In recent times, only five Champion Freshman Sires have gone to become the overall Champion Sire . Those five stallions are Razeen (1996), Placerville (1998), Burden of Proof (2004), Multidimensional (2013) and Excellent Art (2017). All of them, barring Burden of Proof, took the Champion Sire crown in the very next year after becoming the Champion Freshman sires. Kunigal's Burden of Proof had to wait for 12 years to claim his senior title. As a matter of interest, here are the AE Indices of those five stallions in their first year -- Razeen (6.19), Placerville (4.59), Burden of Proof (4.19), Multidimensional (3.64) and Excellent Art (1.99).

A general observation is that a stallion's AE  Index in his Freshman year is hard to improve upon. Multidimensional and Excellent Art have proved to be exceptions among the five mentioned. As if to lend credence to the saying that it is the exceptions which prove the rule, we have four cases this year itself. There were eight first crop stallions last year and six of them had an AE Index in excess of 1.00. Four have improved their AE Index in the current year. The most marked improvement was that of Hazara Stud's Saamidd whose AE Index has shot up from 1.02 to 1.70; Bishan Stud's Gusto is not far behind as his Index has risen from 1.45 to 2.06; Air Support has gone up from 1.07 to 1.56 while Strong Suit shows a marginal increment from 0.84 to 0.97. 

The reason why such things happen is because there are a lot of factors that most of us are not aware of. By and large, the composition of the broodmare band at a  fair-sized farm does not changes drastically from year to year. But there are changes in infrastructure at a farm, overhaul of organisational or management aspects, new feed or feeding patterns or alterations in exercise regimes. All these have a more significant effect than we can imagine. This year, the extended monsoon in Pune area has meant that the yearlings have spent more time in their stalls than in the paddocks. That is bound to affect them. There are many scientific aspects of a farm management. However, vagaries of environment, human involvement and genetic diversity have a greater impact on the end product. 

PAST THE POST

Here are the details of the Champion Freshman Sires of the decade with their AE Index:-

2009-10   EMERALD CAT[USA] (Capricorn Stud)  - 0.97

2010-11   REBUTTAL[USA] (Hazara Stud) - 2.22

2011-12   ACE[IRE] (Poonawalla Farms) - 1.30

2012-13   MULTIDIMENSIONAL[IRE] (Usha Stud) - 3.64

2013-14   WIN LEGEND[JPN] (Dashmesh Stud) - 2.20

2014-15  ARAZAN[IRE] (Poonawalla Farms) - 1.48

2015-16  WHATSTHESCRIPT[IRE] (Manju Meadows) - 1.28

2016-17 EXCELLENT ART[GB] (Poonawalla Farms) - 1.99

2017-18  NET WHIZZ[USA] (Hazara Stud) - 1.06

2018-19  CORPORATE JUNGLE[USA] (Hazara Stud) - 1.16