The Annual Statistics published by the Stud Book Department contain many tables and the most important ones have already been covered. In this final article, details of some of the others are given.

Champion Juvenile Sire

The Champion Juvenile Sire table considers only the performance of the new crop; in this case, the crop of 2019. This is the crop which will be contesting the winter Derbies -- the richest races as a whole -- in 2022-23. However, the performance of the juvenile crop is no guarantee that the Champion Juvenile Sire will become the Champion Sire next year.

Multidimensional has been the Champion Juvenile Sire four times previously and has followed it up with the Champion Sire crown on three occasions. This year, his stablemate Speaking of Which was the runner-up and that is encouraging. The stakes won by the progeny of the leading three stallions are not separated by a significant amount and if Roderic O'Connor's progeny fares better over the longer distances than it did in his first crop, he could have a say. Sohna Stud's Planetaire, like Roderic O'Connor a son of Galileo, owes his high ranking to the performance of Dexa. Dexa won the Poonawalla Breeders' Multi-Million but has not raced since the end of the last Mumbai season. He has been sighted on the track in Bangalore and Pune without racing. By scoring a fighting -- and timely -- victory in the Betway Mysore Derby, Gr.1, Once You Go Black provided his sire Win Legend with his only Classic winner so far of the 2019 crop. Win Legend did not make it to the 'Top Five' in the Champion Sire's table this year and would be hoping to do so in the coming year.

Champion Sire (Number of Winners)

1. Phoenix Tower (58)

2. Excellent Art (54)

3. Roderic O'Connor (52)

4. Win Legend (50)

5. Multidimensional (48)

Manjri Stud's Phoenix Tower has been very consistent in finishing on top in 'quantitative' tables like this one and this was his fifth win. His performance in the Overall Champion Sire table has also been consistent though he has never won that title. No stallion in India has so far sired a hundred winners in one racing year and Phoenix Tower's personal best is 87. The all time record in this category belongs to Placerville who had 95 winners in 2011-12.

Champion Sire (Numbers of Wins)

1. Excellent Art (99) 2. Phoenix Tower (97)

3. Multidimensional (91)

4. Roderic O'Connor (82) 5. Planetaire (77)

Excellent Art, Champion Sire in 2017-18, had never before headed a 'quantitative' table and but this year had the most number wins. For the last three years, no stallion in India has managed to cross the three figure mark but that is due to a lesser number of races being run, mainly on account of the Covid restrictions. In 2008-09, Always A Rainbow's progeny had as many as 266 wins and it is hard to see that record being broken in the foreseeable future.

Champion Family

1. Schiaparelli Rs. 5.07 crores

2. Snoot Rs. 4.71 crores

3. Pretty Polly Rs. 4.67 crores

4. Mumtaz Mahal Rs. 3.63 crores

5. Frizette Rs. 3.16 crores

Indian Stud Book is the only organisation in the world which compiles the statistics based on the families. That Lord Derby's foundation mare, born in 1935, finished right on top is not a surprise. That it should have bagged fifteen titles in twenty nine years -- the last six in consecutive years -- is a jaw dropping achievement. The first notable descendants of Schiaparelli were imported to India in the early 1980s by the Poonawalla Farms. That was when Charenzaccio and her young daughter Schiaparelli[HOL] arrived. Later, they added Ratifia and her daughter Rasant. These four mares, from the Barley Corn branch of the family, have contributed enormously to the success achieved by Poonawalla Farms. However, Schiaparelli family's lone Classic winner this year, Jake, was born at the Dashmesh Stud.

Pretty Polly, bred and owned by Maj. Eustace Loder, was a great racemare and is now a 'blue hen' of repute. She has won the title seven times in India while the Aga Khan's 'Flying Filly' -- 'Mumty' to her cockney fans -- has finished on top twice.

Frizette and Snoot are rather unfamiliar names in the 'Top Five'. Frizette, an American bred mare, spent most of her stud career in France. It is through her daughters Frizeur and Banshee that she has made her name. (Tourbillon, Mr. Prospector, Seattle Slew, Multidimensional, etc. are some names which can be mentioned readily). Frizette's four Classic winners this year were Alicia, Secret of Life, Still I Rise and Queen Spirit. Zuccarelli and Evaldo's exploits brings the Snoot family into the limelight. Irish bred Snoot was the dam of Caligula, the first English Classic winner owned by an Indian. Since Mr. Mathradas Goculdas, who owned him, could not go to England, he had the St. Leger winner brought to India for him to see !

Leading Stakes Earners

The statistics also mention that Zuccarelli gathered maximum stakes (Rs. 2,87,18,213) among the four year-olds; Supernatural's kitty of Rs.1,42,03,600 was the highest among the juvenile crop while that stout stayer Theon was the top older horse with Rs. 1,35,59,329.

PAST THE POST

After two years of racing interrupted by the pandemic, we had a near normal schedule in 2021-22. Two mid-level farms of long standing -- Ruia Stud and A.B. Stud -- have closed their operations and the foal crop has dropped alarmingly. Racing has always faced problems but has invariably shown the resilience to cope with them. It is to be hoped that it will do so once again.