Though it’s difficult to believe, breeding season is just around the corner. With the elite stallions being priced out of reach for most smaller breeders, an interesting crop of stallions who are new for 2020 offers affordable prices and great pedigrees, along with stellar Group winning race records. Coolmore Ireland is no exception, as they have three new stallions for 2020: Ten Sovereigns, Magna Grecia, and Calyx.

The most expensive of the trio is Ten Sovereigns, who will be standing his first season at €25,000. By Coolmore star No Nay Never (standing for €175,000 in 2020), he is out of the Exceed and Excel mare Seeking Solace, and was a Group One winner at both two and three, and remained unbeaten in his two-year-old career. His pedigree has the usual concentration of Northern Dancer blood, 7 x 6 x 6 x 5 x 5 x 5 x 5, through such varied lines as Storm Bird, Nijinsky II, Hero’s Honor, Danzig, Lomond, Nureyev, and his daughter, Six Months Long. Through Danehill’s dam, Razyana, by His Majesty, he gets another dose of Northern Dancer’s dam, Natalma, the dam of Razyana’s dam, Spring Adieu, by Buckpasser.

This dose of Buckpasser reaches out to numerous other doses of La Troienne, through various sources. This pedigree is fascinatingly unique in other ways. In his sires’ side, Ten Sovereigns boasts three crosses of Secretariat’s and Sir Gaylord’s dam, Somethingroyal (7 x 7 x 8), while his dams’ side offers two crosses of My Charmer (5 x 6), the dam of Seattle Slew and Lomond. I’ve never seen a pedigree that consists of the dams of two Triple Crown winners in multiple doses, arranged so neatly. Add to that the dam of Capote and Exceller, 5 x 5, in both the sires’ side and the dams’ side, and the mare power of Ten Sovereigns is complete. This pedigree is ripe for the addition of Green Desert, the Machiavellian/Street Cry/Shamardal/Lope de Vega possibilities (with inbreeding to Storm Cat, through Giant’s Causeway, particularly intriguing in Shamardal, as well as the Blushing Groom in Rahy), and other crosses to sons and grandsons of Mr. Prospector.

Calyx, standing for €22,500, is by the stallion of the moment, Kingman, who resides at Juddmonte’s Banford Manor Stud, for €150,000, making his Group winning son a bargain. Calyx’s career was cut short by a pastern injury early in this three-year-old year, but he was unbeaten at two, and brilliant. Like Ten Sovereigns, his pedigree contains a wealth of Northern Dancer, 5 x 6 x 5 x 7 x 5, twice through Nijinsky II, and also through Danzig, The Minstrel, and his daughter, Victoria Star, and the Nijinsky II is complemented by the Blushing Groom of Rainbow Quest. This pedigree also presents the crossing of close genetic relatives Hail to Reason, Klairon and Djebel, and 5 x 4 inbreeding to Mr. Prospector. This pedigree is ripe for the addition of more Green Desert, Giant’s Causeway and his son Shamardal, Lope de Vega, Galileo and his sons, and Kingmambo and his sons.

The third member of the trio is Magna Grecia, standing for the same €22,500 as Calyx. He is a son of the great Invincible Spirit, who stands at the Irish National Stud for €100,000. Magna Grecia was a Group One winner at two and three, taking the 2000 Guineas-G1 as a three-year-old, and got a touch more distance than his two stud-mates, excelling at seven and eight furlongs. His pedigree represents an all-star cast, featuring Green Desert, Galileo, Miswaki, Roberto, Lomond, with a tad of Rough Shod II thrown in for good measure. With only three crosses to Northern Dancer, through Danzig, Sadler’s Wells, and Lomond, Magna Grecia seems ripe for Storm Cat sons’ and grandsons’ daughters, more Mr. Prospector blood (through the same lines as should work for Calyx and Ten Sovereigns), and a presentation of the combination of Nijinsky II and Blushing Groom, available through so many broodmares, as well as more Green Desert (there’s never enough Green Desert).

These three young stallions have a terrific shot at becoming successful, as Coolmore is known for making their new studs, through numbers of mares and a variety of pedigrees in these mares. We can only look forward to their first crops.

-- Roberta Smoodin