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There are currently two sons of Japanese champion Deep Impact with 3yos on the UK racecourses. One son is with Coolmore, the other is at the Lanwades Stud of Kiersten Rausing. Both were born in the same year, 2015, and both the result of European breeders belatedly realising there was a sire of some consequence in Japan. When both these horses were born Deep Impact was a 12yo and looked to have years of greatness ahead of him: unfortunately, he only had 4 more covering seasons ahead of him.
When Coolmore’s Saxon Warrior won the Racing Post the talk was that this was a horse who could achieve the Triple Crown in 2018. He won the 2000G as expected but was found wanting in the Derby, finishing 4th to Masar and it appeared he did not get the trip. He was tried again over 12f in the Irish Derby but finished only 3rd to Latrobe. The sensible thing was to go back to 10f but again he missed out finishing 2nd twice to Roaring Lion in the Eclipse and Irish Champion before a disappointing 4th in the Juddmonte. The wheels hadn’t totally come off, but it was disappointing after the high expectations put on him. In the September of his 3yo career he was retired to stud after sustaining an injury.
Flaxman Holding’s Study of Man raced only once as a 2yo, winning a maiden. He appeared a different horse as a 3yo winning a Group 2 over 10f before taking the 10&1/2f Prix de Jockey Club. Like Saxon Warrior he was not to win again. He did race as a 4yo getting places in Group races with his best performance being a 2nd in the Ganay to Waldgeist.
On balance, Saxon Warrior probably edged it on overall racing performance but on pedigree Study of Man might be considered to have the upper hand (by a short head). Both were by Deep Impact but Study of Man was out of a half-sister to Kingmambo as her granddam was the excellent Miesque. Saxon Warrior’s family has been in and around the Coolmore organisation since the late ‘70s. Further back he traces to a French family with typical in-breeding to Tourbillon (so favoured by Boussac but not in fact from his families).
Deep Impact was Japanese bred but there’s nothing Japanese about his pedigree being by true American champion Sunday Silence out of an Irish mare called Wind in Her Hair. This filly was by Alzao out of a 3 parts sister to Height of Fashion and so from the Royal Stud family of Highclere, Hypericum and Feola (and of course Nashwan, Baaeed etc.).
Saxon Warrior retired at a fee of €35,000 while Study of Man stands at the Lanwades Stud for a fee of £12,500. Saxon Warrior had his fee reduced for 2024 to €25,000.
Study of Man is a year behind Saxon Warrior so we can’t quite judge them alongside each other. In 2022 Saxon Warrior covered 171 mares, in the same year Study of Man covered 75. In 2023 Saxon Warrior covered 203 mares and Study of Man covered 68. In 2022 Saxon Warrior had his first crop of 2yos on the racecourse and had 57 runners of whom 22 were winners that won 30 races and so finished 5th in the table of first season sires. A great start from a sire who probably was looked at as a source of miler/middle distance horses. It was probably this that caused his covering figure to go up in 2023.
In 2023 Study of Man had 29 runners of whom 9 were winners of 11 races. Although a respectable start for a stallion that you’d expect to sire middle distance horses, he finished only 13th in the table of first season sires. But how did Saxon Warrior’s 2023 2yos do? Well, he had 55 runners of whom 13 were winners of 14 races. Only a little better than Study of Man in terms of winners but with nearly twice as many runners. It was perhaps this that led to Saxon Warrior’s covering fee being reduced.
Both sires have 3yos racing for them this year and it’s my guess that their 3yos, and how they perform, that is going to be the real test of these two paternal brothers. It’s early days of course but so far in the table of 3yo winners Saxon Warrior lies in 13th place (48 runners, 14 winners of 19 races) while Study of Man lies in 26th place (27 runners, 11 winners of 13 races). We have drilled into us by pN that making a stallion is often a numbers game and Saxon Warrior has the advantage of covering many more mares and having more foals (so far). But when you look at the winners to runners ratio Study of Man has it by 41% to 29% and even wins to runners has it by 48% to 40%. Who would you rather have as a stallion for your mare?
As I said it is early days, but I think we’ve seen enough to suggest that Study of Man could just turn out to be the better proposition. He has had 3 excellent 3yo performances this year. The first was by the filly Kalpana who won as a 2yo but then won a good handicap at Newmarket by 10 lengths. She’s out of a Dansili mare called Zero Gravity who is owned and bred by Juddmonte and traces back to a Whitney mare called Peace. She is entered in Sunday’s Pretty Polly Stakes at Newmarket. The second is another filly called Sinology who I’ve mentioned in an earlier post. She’s out of the excellent staying filly Madam Chiang (by Archipenko). Owned by Rausing, she won at Newbury and is entered for next week’s Cheshire Oaks. The third is Sons and Lovers, who won his only 2yo race then ran 3rd in the Craven looking outpaced and as if he already needed further. He traces back to Rausing’s dam of Petoski and is the same family as the filly Sandrine. He has an Irish Derby entry. I’d be surprised if there aren’t more (Ghorgan, Deepone and Francophone may be others).
In Study of Man’s favour I think there is that he was probably the better 3yo. Saxon Warrior was the more precocious of the two but by midsummer of their 3yo career there was little difference. An advantage for the future may be that there is no Galileo or Sadler’s Wells in Study of Man’s pedigree. Sure, there is some Northern Dancer but it’s 5 x 5 x 4, so hardly close inbreeding. Study of Man may be a worthy mate for all those Galileo (and Frankel) mares out there. That could be useful
