by Martin Stevens

As a taster for the recently published 2025 edition – which is available to buy on the Weatherbys Shop – here are five key pieces of information contained within its pages.

Affinisea returns to the number one spot

Affinisea has regained his title as the busiest sire in Britain and Ireland, having covered 314 mares at Whytemount Stud in the last breeding season. The lightly raced, winning son of Sea The Stars also topped the table in 2021 and 2022.

It’s not difficult to see why there was renewed demand for his services. His smaller earlier crops, numbering 72 seven-year-olds and 67 six-year-olds, have produced Cheltenham Festival Grade 1 runners-up Affordale Fury and Only By Night as well as Grade 2-winning hurdler Sixmilebridge.

He has also proved to be a dab hand with four-year-old point-to-pointers, which is so crucial to a National Hunt sire’s commercial appeal nowadays. His best representative in that field in the past 12 months was Hernando De Soto, who bolted up on debut for Ellmarie Holden at Monksgrange in March and was sold to Gordon Elliott and Mouse O’Ryan for £230,000 at the Goffs UK Aintree Sale four days later.

Affinisea’s continued popularity pays tribute to late Whytemount Stud owner Ronnie O’Neill, who built up a fine reputation for identifying National Hunt stallion talent and a loyal following of breeders because of that. It also shows that O’Neill’s legacy is safe in the hands of his son John, who oversaw the covering season at the farm for the first time this year.

‍

Rounding out the top ten of the most active sires in Britain and Ireland in 2025 were Poet’s Word (298 mares covered), Sioux Nation (282), Maxios (281), Starman (267), Luxembourg (261), Mehmas (257), Harzand (255), Order Of St George (234) and Hurricane Lane (216).

‍

Luxembourg leads the new boys

Luxembourg was the most in-demand new recruit to the British and Irish stallion ranks, thanks to those 261 mares sent to him during his debut season on the Coolmore National Hunt roster at The Beeches Stud.

His appeal to jumps breeders is clear. He was a brilliant talent on the track, winning the Futurity Trophy at two, the Irish Champion Stakes at three, the Tattersalls Gold Cup at four and the Coronation Cup at five, and he is certainly bred for the job, being by Camelot– whose sire Montjeu was such a force for good in the National Hunt realm – from the outstanding family of Arcangues and Aquarelliste.

He is also just the physical type that is so beloved of jumps breeders, being a bay with black points and in possession of plenty of size and scope.

Luxembourg’s introductory book of mares included Christmas Hurdle heroine Verdana Blue and the dams of Grey Dawning, Mister Fisher, Nick Rockett, Poniros, Romeo Coolio and Yorkhill. Interestingly, it also contained a few notable Flat names, such as Irish 1,000 Guineas third Princess Sinead and the dams of Irish St Leger winner Sonnyboyliston and Irish Derby third Memphis Tennessee.

The next most popular new sires in 2025 were Auguste Rodin (205 mares covered), Look De Vega (195), City Of Troy(175), Henry Longfellow (172), Mill Stream (170), Arrest (163), Vandeek (161),Big Evs (159) and King Of Steel (153).

‍

Starman enjoys a surge in custom

Starman was the subject of one of the biggest increases in book size between 2024 and 2025 of any sire who stood in Britain or Ireland both years. The son of Dutch Art served 267 mares at Tally-Ho Stud this year, up from 104 last season.

He was no doubt inundated with mares after his very first runner, Lady Iman, bolted up on debut at Dundalk in March, and when more of his debut two-year-olds hit the headlines at the breeze-ups in the following weeks, with Tally-Ho Stud selling a colt and a filly by him for 360,000gns and 260,000gns at Tattersalls Craven.

Starman, who is set to be champion first-season sire in Britain and Ireland, was sent the dams of Eqtiraan, Forever In Dreams, Gaga Mate, Gear Up, Katla, Lusail, Moss Tucker, New Providence, Patrick Sarsfield and Shumookhi this year.

Australia benefited from a significant price cut to €10,000 and covered 154 mares at Coolmore this season, up from 60 in 2024. His many supporters must have been over the moon when he subsequently supplied Anglo-Irish Derby winner Lambourn, Coronation Stakes heroine Cercene and Irish Oaks runner-up Wemightakedlongway.

Perfect Power is another sire whose book size surged this season on the back of a reduction in fee, going from covering 58 mares at £10,000 in 2024 to 134 mares at £7,500 12 months later. The increase in business at Dalham Hall Stud presumably also pays a compliment to the appearance of his first crop, who are yearlings.

‍

No shortage of star mares for Night Of Thunder

Night Of Thunder looks likely to secure a first British and Irish champion sire title this year, with the exploits of top-level winners Desert Flower, Gewan and Ombudsman putting him around £700,000 clear of Wootton Bassett at the top of the standings.

The star-studded nature of the son of Dubawi’s book at Kildangan Stud this season, covered at a career high fee of €150,000, confirms his status as one of European breeding's elite.

Night Of Thunder covered 169 mares including Group/Grade 1 winners Audarya, Queen’s Trust, Sea La Rosa, Seal Of Approval, Sheikha Reika, Skitter Scatter, Sunny Queen and With You, and the dams of top-level scorers Battaash, El Cordobes, Kalpana, Look De Vega, Mill Stream and Tarnawa. Dar Re Mi, who also visited the sire, falls into both categories, having produced Too Darn Hot.

Several mares who have already clicked with Night Of Thunder also returned to him, including the dams of his star offspring Desert Flower, Dynamic Pricing, Economics, Estrange, More Thunder, Ombudsman, Thunder Kiss and Vespertilio.

‍

Wonderful final book for Wootton Bassett

Wootton Bassett might not quite make it to be champion sire in Britain and Ireland this year but he looks odds-on to be crowned posthumously at some point in the future, as he was a consistent source of high-class performers of all ages over most distances, and he has plenty of well-bred young progeny in the pipeline.

The Weatherbys Return of Mares provides full details of what turned out to be his final northern-hemisphere breeding season in the early months of the year, before he died from acute pneumonia caused by choke in Australia in September.

The son of Iffraaj covered 206 mares at Coolmore including high-class racemares Acapulco, Al Husn, Blowout, Blue Rose Cen, Bubbling, Chicquita, Curvy, Empress Josephine, Fairy Godmother, In Italian, Jannah Rose, Lady Bowthorpe, Magic Wand, Nazeef, Opera Singer, Playful Act, Polydream, Quadrilateral, Ramatuelle, Relief Rally, Search For A Song, Sistercharlie, Tahiyra, Treve and Urban Fox.

His final full book also included the dams of Almanzor, Al Riffa, Blackbeard, Camille Pissarro, Capri, Churchill, Latrobe, Palace Pier, Precise, Puerto Rico, Rhea Moon, Sahlan, Scandinavia, Ten Sovereigns, Twain, Unquestionable and Vandeek.

Wootton Bassett was also chosen as the first sire to cover an especially valuable member of the Coolmore broodmare band in Grateful: not only one of the operation’s last Group 1-winning daughters of Galileo, but also a daughter of the short-lived champion Tepin, whose son Delacroix shone so brightly this year.