Europe's Champion First-Crop Sire: Zoffany

Standing for €7,500 (approx. $8,164US/£5,510) in his first season at stud in 2012, the 84 runners to come from Zoffany’s (Dansili) first crop ran well enough to secure their sire European champion first crop sire honors in 2015 on Racing Post’s rankings.

Zoffany in 2011

With 32 of his runners winning 43 races for a 38.10 percent strike rate, Zoffany earned £808,329 (approx. $1,189,649US/€1,099,186), £294,004 more than the second placed sire Dream Ahead (Diktat). While bested by fellow Coolmore stallion Canford Cliffs (Tagula) in the number of winners (34) and wins (44), Zoffany’s five stakes winners were three better than another other stallion in the top 25 in the European standings.

Zoffany’s best week of the year undoubtedly came at the prestigious Royal Ascot meet where he had three winners with Waterloo Bridge winning the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes, Illuminate taking the Group 3 Albany Stakes (she later won the Group 2 Duchess of Cambridge Stakes as well) and Washington DC rounding out the treble with a victory in the listed Windsor Castle. Those three horses undoubtedly led the Zoffany charge with Waterloo Bridge leading all of Zoffany’s earners with £165,415 in European earnings (approx. $243,420US/€224,796). 

Waterloo Bridge

Foundation added to Zoffany’s group stakes win total in Europe when he won the Group 2 Juddmonte Royal Lodge Stakes after annexing the listed Betfried Ascendant Stakes while Argenero rounded out Zoffany’s stakes winners with a win in the listed Coolmore War Command Rochestown Stakes. While Illuminate was the only filly to give her sire a stakes win, two others placed in stakes with Light Up Our World finishing third in the Group 3 888sport Prestige Stakes at Goodwood and Dolce Strega finishing second in the listed Staffordstown Stud Silken Glider Stakes at the Curragh.

Illuminate

The European countries that count in the European stallion rankings aren't the only place Zoffany has had success with Secret Tale represening her sire at the end of the year with a win in Qatar. The stallion was represented in North America at the Breeders’ Cup World Championships in late October with both Illuminate and Waterloo Bridge taking their chances in the Juvenile Fillies Turf and Juvenile, respectively, with neither hitting the board in their respective race.

Shuttling to Australia every year since he retired, Zoffany has had three of his 35 named foals start in the southern hemisphere as of Jan. 4 according to stallions.com.au with one hitting the board so far.

It isn’t a big surprise that Zoffany has produced early maturing racehorses as he won five of his seven starts as a 2-year-old by a combined 9 ½ lengths. The stallion’s only off-the-board finish that year came in the Group 2 Coventry Stakes while his other loss was a third in the Group 1 Boylesports.com Vincent O’Brien National Stakes. By the end of the year, he had his Group 1 victory, winning the Phoenix Stakes by ½ length.

Zoffany returned to the track at three and finished second in his first three starts, including losing by just ¾ length to Frankel in the Group 1 St. James’s Palace and by a head to Mutual Trust in the Group 1 Prix Jean Prat but tailed off later that year, finishing off-the-board in his final three starts before retiring to stud.

Zoffany is by leading sire Dansili, who has produced 63 group winners including 19 Group 1 winners. Dansili is the sire of such horses as Flintshire, Dank, The Fugue, Miss France, Rail Link and Proviso among many others.

Dansili’s first crop of foals was born in 2002 and the sire has already turned into a promising broodmare sire with his daughters producing nine group stakes winners including Group 1 winners Astaire (Intense Focus) and Chicquita (Montjeu) in addition to Royal Ascot Group 2 winners Snow Sky (Nayef) and Time Test (Dubawi) with eight other listed winners.

Time Test

As a sire-of-sires, Dansili only has two sons with foals of racing age with his other son Harbinger producing two Group 3 winners in Japan (where he stands).

Zoffany’s dam has also produced Group 3 winner and Group 2 placed Wilshire Boulevard (Holy Roman Emperor) and stakes placed That’s Plenty (Dr. Fong). She is out of the listed stakes winner Dust Dancer (Suave Dancer) who also produced listed stakes winner Spotlight (Dr. Fong) and stakes placed Dusty Answer (Zafonic), who in turn produced Counterclaim (Pivotal).

Zoffany’s third dam, Galaxie Dust (Blushing Groom), is where the family gets deep with the mare producing Group 3 winner Bulaxie (Bustino), who in turn produced multiple listed stakes winner Claxon (Caerleon). Claxon went on to produce Classydora (Darshaan), who was the second top rated 3-year-old filly in 2005, stakes winner Classic Remark (Dr. Fong) and two other stakes placed mares. Galaxie Dusty was also the dam of multiple listed stakes winner Zimzalabim (Damister) and the dam of listed winner and multiple group stakes placed Sweepstake (Acclamation).

In 2015 Zoffany earned his first stud fee hike, going to €12,500 (approx. $13,518US/£9,184). This year the stallion stands for a fee of €45,000 (approx. $48,667US/£33,054), the third highest of any stallion with an advertised fee at Coolmore Stud in Ireland.