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Sands Of Mali’s impressive second season with runners in 2025 – headlined by the Commonwealth Cup victory of Time For Sandals and a Nunthorpe second for Ain’t Nobody – combined with the sire having a small third crop of yearlings conceived at Ballyhane Stud at a fee of just €5,000 created the perfect storm for the small number of breeders who kept the faith in him in 2023 to make some gigantic profits.

Coulsty has proved himself a firm friend of breeders on a budget, supplying a decent number of fast, early winners while standing at Rathasker Stud at chicken-feed fees.

Starman’s second crop of yearlings sold like hot cakes after he dazzled in his freshman season, delivering 45 winners and five black-type scorers in Europe – including Prix Morny heroine Venetian Sun – all at very creditable strike-rates.

Havana Grey is so popular that he figures highly in this list even though last season’s yearlings were conceived when his covering fee was more than trebled to £18,500 in the afterglow of his excellent freshman season. 

Minzaal’s first crop took the yearling sales by storm last season, selling for an outstanding average of €86,841 (68,352gns). No fewer than 19 lots changed hands for six-figure prices, hitting a high of 550,000gns for a half-sister to Asymmetric and Mill Stream sold by Redpender Stud to Amo Racing.

Few middle-market sires can boast the sort of roll of honour that Newsells Park Stud stalwart Nathaniel does: the great Enable, further Classic winners Channel, Desert Crown and You Got To Me, other Group/Grade 1 scorers God Given, Lady Bowthorpe, Mutamakina, Poptronic and Quickthorn, and numerous other stars besides.

Newsells Park Stud-based A’Ali made a promising start with his first two-year-olds last year, putting 13 winners on the board in Europe including stakes-placed pair Alarming and Ali Shuffle, as well as Albany Stakes fifth Fairy Oak.

The most expensive stallions don’t usually muster the biggest profitability indices, as a lower multiple of their larger covering fee still equates to a huge financial gain for their supporters, but Night Of Thunder has made it onto this list thanks to his yearlings bred off a €100,000 fee selling for a fabulous average of €517,394 (407,237gns) in 2025.

Sioux Nation has really endeared himself to the industry by being a reliable source of precocious and pacey performers with a touch of class – including Poule d’Essai des Pouliches first-past-the–post Shes Perfect and Rockfel winner Zanthos last year. 

Blue Point is going from strength to strength as a sire, and in 2025 he posted 13 stakes winners in Europe at an impressive strike-rate of 6.4 per cent.

The concluding race on the card was the Listed King Edward VII Ascot Membership Open National Hunt Flat Race, which was won by the Chris Gordon-trained Bass Hunter, who shot to the head of the ante-post market for the Champion Bumper.