Sir Tristram breaks through

Press, 22 November 1989, Page 46

Sir Tristram breaks through

By

DAVID McCARTHY

Unlikely as it may seem, the champion sire, Sir Tristram did not make it into the top 100 stallions on this season’s New Zealand sires’ list until the end of October.

Even more remarkably perhaps, the horse which easily ranks as the thoroughbred stallion of the decade has had only 18 runners here until that stage of the season, for two individual winners of three races. Sir Tristram has since doubled that total. Despite not being in the top 100 stallions in this country, he has topped the Australian sires’ table five times since 1982-83, on three occasions setting new stakes records.

At the end of last season his stock topped $2O million in earnings. He had 124 runners in Australia last term, an indication of how many of his stock find their way across the Tasman. Sir Tristram has left more Group One winners (32) than any other stallion in history and well over 70 individual stakes winners.

If his fortunes in his home country have been slow to move this season the same cannot be said about several South

Island-based stallions. Five of the 11 highestranking stud horses in the country are in that area and a further two in the next 20 best horses. Silver Blaze, with Finnegan Fox by far his largest earner, was seventh in the list at the end of October and should be higher after the Two Thousand Guineas result.

He was one place ahead of Noble Bijou and two ahead of Little Brown Jug, which narrowly headed Palatable and Beaufort Sea, two “locals” of long standing.

Indication, an easy winner over 2400 m at Te Rapa on Saturday, is the latest Little Brown Jug offspring to shine. He looks a cup horse in the making. Only third-placed Zamazaan has left more individual winners than Palatable and Beaufort Sea to this stage of the season, with his tally being a remarkable 14. Sir Fleet and Sir Godfrey are two other Canter-bury-based sires in the top 30 on the national list to October. The list was headed by Icelandic from Star Way and Zamazaan at that point. Icelandic has left a further four individual winners since the last figures were published.