by Martin Stevens

It details the identity of each mare’s foals and coverings, as well as current and historical statistics on breeding activity in the two countries.

The publication also provides an essential guide to the popularity of sires, the latest news on top mares and crucial clues to the health of the bloodstock business.

As a taster for the recently published 2026 edition – which is available to buy on the Weatherbys Shop – here are five key pieces of information contained within its pages.

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01   Starman waiting in the sky

Britain and Ireland’s busiest sire is nearly always National Hunt-orientated – in the past five years the jumps options Affinisea, Crystal Ocean and Order Of St George have held the honour – but in 2026 it was a Flat stallion who was in most demand.

Starman covered 324 mares at Tally-Ho Stud on the back of his highly encouraging freshman season in 2025, when he was represented by five black-type winners at a handy strike-rate of 4.46 per cent, including Prix Morny heroine Venetian Sun, Prix Robert Papin victress Green Sense and Group 3 scorers Lady Iman and North Coast.

Starman’s latest book featured quality as well as quantity. It included high-class racemares Chil Chil, Esoterique, Intricately, Lady Of The Desert and Moonlight Cloud as well as the dams of stars Big Evs, Blue Bolt, Minzaal, Mishriff, Perfect Power, The Platinum Queen, Time For Sandals and Venetian Sun.

Sky Lantern, another of his concubines, is both a Group 1 winner herself and the dam of a Group 1 winner in Snow Lantern.

Starman has maintained momentum on the racecourse this year with Venetian Sun winning the Commonwealth Cup and Sandy Lane Stakes and finishing second in the July Cup, and Soul Love scoring in a hat-trick of black-type sprints.

Rounding out the ten busiest sires in Britain and Ireland in the past 12 months were Maxios (309 mares), Los Angeles (292), Delacroix (282), Camille Pissarro (278), Crystal Ocean (276), Poet’s Word (251), Henri Matisse (248), Sioux Nation (246) and Mehmas (245).

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02   A warm welcome to Los Angeles

Los Angeles was the most popular new sire of 2026, covering 292 mares at Castlehyde Stud in his first season on the Coolmore National Hunt roster.

It’s not difficult to see why he made so much appeal to jumps breeders. He is a good-looker by the mighty Camelot and he was a Group 1 winner at two, three and four in the Criterium de Saint-Cloud, Irish Derby and Tattersalls Gold Cup respectively.

Los Angeles’ debut book included Christmas Hurdle heroine Verdana Blue and high-class racemare and producer Augusta Kate, as well as the dams of Cheltenham Festival winners Flooring Porter, Martator and Wodhooh.

The next busiest new recruits to the stallion ranks in Britain and Ireland this year were Delacroix (282 mares), Camille Pissarro (278), Henri Matisse (248), Maranoa Charlie (233), Topgear (197), Lead Artist (173), Elite Status (150), Rosallion (145) and Kyprios (143).

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03   Old Persian on the up

Glenview Stud’s promising jumps sire Old Persian received one of the largest increases in book size between 2025 and 2026.

The dual Group/Grade 1-winning son of Dubawi covered 141 mares this season, up from 36 last year, thanks to his first four-year-old crop producing a number of exciting point-to-point horses, including Business Class, Dan De Champ and Persian Palace, all of whom were sold into leading stables for six-figure sums.

Old Persian’s 2026 book included full or half-sisters to celebrities Captain Cody, Dashel Drasher, Doctor Harper, Identity Thief, Menorah, Resplendent Grey, Rock The Kasbah and Synchronised.

Other sires who enjoyed a big rise in demand this year compared to the preceding season included King Of Change (38 to 111), Saxon Warrior (44 to 114), In Swoop (54 to 128), Bayside Boy (65 to 158), Naval Crown (59 to 140), Cracksman (44 to 80), Phoenix Of Spain (68 to 122) and Frontiersman (92 to 161).

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04   Night Of Thunder’s brilliant book

Night Of Thunder received a book fit for a king after being crowned Britain and Ireland’s champion sire for the first time in 2025.

Among the prestigious mares he covered were the dams of his own Group/Grade 1 winners Desert Flower, Dynamic Pricing, Estrange, Gewan and Ombudsman.

He was also sent the dams of top-level scorers Almaqam (and Saddadd), Almeraq, Barnavara, Big Mojo, Blackbeard, Calandagan, Charyn, Ethical Diamond, Hurricane Lane, Kalpana, Makarova, Mill Stream, Naval Crown, Romantic Warrior, Saffron Beach, Tahiyra (and Tarnawa), Waldgeist and Whitebeam.

The matings also included Group/Grade 1 winners Above The Curve, Alcohol Free, Babouche, Chicquita, Fonteyn, Juliet Foxtrot, Mqse De Sevigne, No Speak Alexander, One Master, Opera Singer, Place Du Carrousel, Queen’s Trust, Sea Silk Road, Soul Sister and Sweet Lady.

Night Of Thunder was also entrusted with one particularly special mare in Nahrain, who struck at the highest level twice in her own racing pomp and has produced two Group 1 winners at stud, namely Benbatl and Elmalka.

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05   Coolmore’s eastern promise

Coolmore’s pursuit of premier-league Japanese sires continued apace this year, with theoperation welcoming some blueblooded foals out of mares who were conceived in Asia.

Kitasan Black, the source of world champion Equinox and Classic winners Croix Du Nord and Sol Oriens, is the sire of Irish-foaled fillies out of Amusement, a Group 2 third from the family of Classic winners Dancing Rain and Saxon Warrior; Coolmore, a Group 3-winning and Grade 1-placed full-sister to top-level scorers Gleneagles, Happily, Joan Of Arc and Marvellous; and Dower House, a Listed-placed full-sister to Group 1 winners Churchill and Clemmie. All three dams are by Coolmore’s phenomenal late sire Galileo.

Equinox himself is the sire of a filly out of Starry Eyed, a winning daughter of Galileo and US Grade 1 heroine Nickname, making her a half-sister to Group 3 scorer Ides Of March.

Contrail, a son of Deep Impact who won the Japanese Triple Crown and Japan Cup, meanwhile gave Coolmore a filly out of Heaven Of Heavens, a Galileo full-sister to multiple Group 1 winners Magical and Rhododendron (who clicked with Deep Impact to produce Auguste Rodin), and a colt out of Red Riding Hood, a Group 3-winning daughter of US Triple Crown laureate Justify and Prix Marcel Boussac scorer Ballydoyle, a Galileo full-sister to Misty For Me.

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