To mark the publication of the 57th edition of the Bloodstock Sales Review, we have compiled a top ten of the most profitable British and Irish-based yearling sires of last year. We have worked out each sires’ profitability index by dividing their 2021 yearling average by their covering fee of 2019, when the offspring in question were conceived.
In seventh place...
Due Diligence
2021 yearling ave: 22,127gns/€26,021
2019 covering fee: £4,000
Profitability index: 5.81
As happens with many stallions, Due Diligence had a quiet time of it in his fourth season, as breeders waited to see how his first two-year-olds would fare. The son of War Front covered only 30 mares at a fee of £4,000 that year, but after supplying stakes winners Good Vibes, Sir Boris and Streamline in his freshman season he was sent 100 mares at a fee of £8,500.
Only three yearlings from that smaller, less expensively bred fourth crop came under the hammer last year, but one happened to be Whitsbury Manor Stud’s full-brother to classy sprinter Diligent Harry and he was sold to Clive Cox for £55,000 at Goffs UK. He boosted his sire’s 2021 yearling average to a very reasonable 22,127gns/€26,021.